<i>Industry lobbied the Ronald Reagan White House and tried to get the Senate to deny ratification of the Protocol, warning of dire economic impacts resulting from a phase-down of their products.</i><p>Not only did the lobbyists fail, they didn't get a single vote in the Senate:<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/15/science/treaty-on-ozone-is-backed-in-senate.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/15/science/treaty-on-ozone-is...</a><p>One important difference between the CFC ban and carbon emissions caps is the availability of inexpensive alternatives: HFCs.<p>In a twist of irony, though, these HFCs themselves appear to be contributing as greenhouse gasses:<p><a href="http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/TabId/684/ArtMID/1768/ArticleID/11414/HFC-greenhouse-gases-a-tale-of-two-or-more-futures.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/TabId/6...</a>
It amazes me that we humans were able to trust science, pass a law, and fix this problem. The Ozone Layer was a huge thing during my childhood in the late 80s and early 90s. Now faced with a similar threat, in the words of the great Jim Mora, we can't do "diddly". Even the Paris treaty doesn't go far enough or include the United States.
This treaty should also inform people on how to approach the current CO2 situation:<p>You need an alternative! Telling people to not use the product (conserve) will NOT work.<p>All those UN treaties about reducing this or that are a total waste of time, and are just there to make people feel like we are doing something.<p>They should do one thing, and one thing only: Fund research on alternatives.
> Our global climate would be at least 25 per cent hotter today without the Protocol, said Garcia, a co-author of two world-avoided studies.<p>Hmm, without the protocol, the average daytime temperature would be (287K)*0.25 = 71.75 K hotter [1]. Phew :) I wonder what the article is trying to say.<p>[1] Using an average surface temperature of 14 degrees Celcius.
Sorry that USA messed up all the other environmental treaties, like the Kyoto that they signed but the Senate didn't subscribed. Maybe we wouldn't have Irmas and Marias by now.