Jul 23 2001
From The Space Library
In the midst of increased concerns over the long-term effects of the depletion of Earth’s ozone layer and concerns over global warming, scientists learned that Mars’s average global temperature had increased 50°F (10°C) in one month. A research team at Arizona State University analyzed and made public data that Mars Global Surveyor had collected, indicating the planet’s drastic change in climate. Scientists concluded that a massive dust storm, originating in Mars’s lower latitudes, had caused the increase in temperature. The researchers believed that the dust had trapped sunlight, eventually causing a heat wave to envelope the Red Planet; they predicted, however, that the planet’s temperature would cool when the dust particles began reflecting sunlight. ( Los Angeles Times, “Science File in Brief; Global Warming Strikes Another Planet: Mars,” 23 July 2001.)
Diplomats from 178 nations reached a compromise agreement to enact the Kyoto Protocol, a pact designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases, which scientists believed were contributing to global warming. The United States, represented by Undersecretary of State Paula J. Dobriansky, had rejected the final agreement. Calling the agreement “fatally flawed,” President George W. Bush expressed concern over the effect of the treaty on the U.S. economy. Although Russia and Japan had also expressed major reservations, the two countries had eventually signed the Kyoto Protocol when negotiators included language in the final draft delaying the date of compliance. The treaty called for industrialized nations to limit the emissions released by automobiles, plants, and factories, but the mechanisms for enforcement defied easy solutions. However, according to final rules, each nation must reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions or pay fines for violations. Nations throughout the world criticized the United States’ rejection of the treaty. For example, the chief negotiator for the European Union expressed disappointment at the United States’ decision, saying, “Almost every single country stayed in the protocol. There was one that said the Kyoto Protocol was flawed.” Although an international consensus had emerged, the treaty still required the ratification of the 55 nations responsible for 55 percent of the world’s carbon-dioxide emissions in 1 990. (Traci Watson, “Compromise Rescues Kyoto Protocol; Nations Hope Global Warming Treaty Will Take Effect in 2002; U.S. Says Pact ‘Is Not Sound Policy’,” USA Today, 24 July 2001; Peter N. Spotts, “Global Climate Treaty Moves Ahead, Without US,” Christian Science Monitor, 24 July 2001.)
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