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DAM-L Toronto Star: U.S. is expressing serious interest in taking (fwd)
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From: Right to Water <right-to-water@iatp.org>
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Subject: Toronto Star: U.S. is expressing serious interest in taking
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 18:01:43 -0500
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Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org) Posted: 07/31/2001 By svarghese@iatp.org
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Excerpts from an article Published on Thursday, July 26, 2001 in the
Toronto Star
Let's Teach Americans a Few Lessons by Rachel Giese
Anyone who thought last fall that inexperienced, silver-spooner Governor
George W. Bush would make an ineffectual, do-nothing president with little
presence on the world stage has been proven wrong.
Less than a year into his presidency, he's already refused to endorse a
United Nations' plan for a permanent international court for war criminals,
announced plans to break the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, rejected a new
international agreement on the enforcement of a 1975 ban of biological
weapons, and, most recently, refused to adopt the Kyoto accord negotiated
last weekend in Bonn, Germany.
No wonder he and his nation have become international pariahs, alienating
even longstanding allies like Canada and Britain. While the U.S.
increasingly treats the rest of the world like its very own combination
Sandals resort, sweatshop, shopping mall and toilet, its policies grow more
isolationist. [snip]
The U.S. is the planet's biggest polluter, responsible for a quarter of all
greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The devastating climate change caused
by global warming affects poor tropical countries - those least to blame
for the problem - the most. The United Nations estimates that the costs of
disasters attributable to climate change in the developing world - floods,
storms, hurricanes - are running annually in the hundreds of billions of
dollars.
There's even been a call for developing nations to take the U.S. to court
over environmental damage. [snip]
Now, the U.S. is expressing serious interest in taking our water. After
mismanaging its own supply for decades, it is now facing an enormous water
crisis. Global warming is one contributor to the problem, environmentally
unsound farming practices is another. Farmlands and ranches in California
and the Southwest are parched and existing water supplies cannot meet
current demand. Just prior to the G8 summit in Genoa, much to Ottawa's
surprise and chagrin, Bush told reporters that he's "ready anytime" to
discuss a continental water pact with Chrétien.
It's a dangerous proposition to even consider. Though the North American
Free Trade Agreement specifically excludes bulk water exports, if Canada
does agree to sell water, free trade provisions will kick in, requiring
that open trade continue. So far, thankfully, Ottawa has said it isn't
interested. [snip]
Redemption is possible, however. The cringing, hangdog attitude that we and
so much of the rest of the world assume in the face of U.S. bullying has to
end. It may be the only global superpower, but it isn't more powerful than
the rest of the world combined. We can refuse to trade our water. We can
meet and exceed the Kyoto targets. We can set a global example of making
the sacrifices necessary to stem greenhouse gas emissions.
We could freeze the U.S. out. If standing trade agreements make tariffs and
sanctions against the U.S. impossible, then global consumer boycotts of
American goods, in particular, American oil, should be enacted.
Someone, soon, for the sake of the survival of this planet, has to say,
loud and clear: "Yankee, go home and stay there."
Copyright 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited
<http://www.thestar.com/news>
**************************************************
Jim Riker, Ph.D.
Nonprofit Leadership and Democracy Project
The Union Institute, Center for Public Policy
1710 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20036-3007
Phone: 202-496-1630, ext. 2317
Fax: 202-496-1635
E-mail: jriker@tui.edu <mailto:jriker@tui.edu>
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