Filthy Mexico comes to lecture us
Perhaps Iran's president will be next in line, to teach us something about the treatment of women, and China's president will come to give us tips on a free press.
Mexico City isn't famous for much, but it is famous for its filthy air. That's a picture of it above; here's a story or two about it.
Pollution isn't Mexico's only problem, of course. Massive corruption is another problem; brutal gang wars are another. Et cetera.
And then there's the drip, drip, drip murder of Canadian tourists down there.
Hey, do you have some free time? Why not read Amnesty International's 100 press releases about Mexican human rights violations. Oh, did I say 100 press releases? I meant that the table of contents for all of their press releases about Mexican human rights violations is 100 pages. The page count of the press releases themselves is closer to 1,000.
So back to our news story: Felipe Calderon, who presides over this corrupt, dirty, crime-ridden country has come to lecture Canada on the environment. On the Kyoto Protocol, to be precise. He wants it enforced.
Well, of course he does. Because, if you read Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol (the last page) you will see that Mexico is exempt from reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Just like OPEC is exempt, and China, India, Brazil and most of the world's other polluters.
Not that Mexico has reduced its emissions voluntarily, either. According to this United Nations chart, Mexico has actually increased its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 megatons a year since 1990, the baseline year for Kyoto calculations. It hasn't cut a damn thing.
Here's a chart of our respective countries, for the last six years of comparable data. We're pretty much unchanged; it's the Mexicans who are increasing their emissions.
So what is Calderon getting at?
His country is as dirty as ever, when measuring real pollution.
When measuring carbon dioxide -- which is not pollution, but let's ignore that for now -- he's increasing at a rapid clip.
So why does he want Kyoto implemented?
Well, for the same reason that China does: because Kyoto has a built-in fudge factor for the developed countries listed in that Annex B that I mentioned above. If developed countries can't meet their Kyoto targets (and none can), Kyoto comes with a built-in loophole: those countries can either buy carbon "credits" from countries like Mexico, or can get credit by spending foreign aid money in countries like Mexico, on make-work green projects.
Calderon doesn't actually give a damn about the environment -- you can see that just by looking at his home town. What Calderon cares about very, very much, is getting countries like Canada to give him free money.
You know what? I don't think Mexico needs free money. In fact, I think more free money will make Mexico an even worse place. And I don't think Canadians are interested in cutting a cheque to the presidente of a country that increasingly resembles a banana republic -- and has a penchant for killing our tourists.
P.S. Oh, speaking of Mexico and the environment? I have one word for you: Ixtoc.
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