Discussion on Tuesday

I found the discussion we had yesterday to be very interesting. I felt that both sides of the debate were very well represented. One of the key topics in the discussion was how much right was it to live the lifestyle that we live. The issue that America dumps garbage into India and China was very interesting. I spent some time and looked on the internet, but I was unable to find anything on America dumping in India or China, which I found odd, because either A) we do an amazing job at keeping it a secret or B) that girl had her facts wrong. Anyway, I did find an article claiming that Britain dumps garbage into India. The article stated that there is a "black market" for garbage, which I found odd, but then I realized it made sense. Nobody wants to dump their trash in their backyard, so you pay somebody (corrupt officials) to let you dump it in theirs. I think the thing that we have to remember is that we are taking steps to becoming a "greener" nation. I think America is picked on unfairly for our pollution. India and China are among the world's highest polluters, but it seems that it is only America that is getting the flack for it. Pollution is not going to stop overnight, people have to realize that it takes time, and to be patient.
The problem I see is that I haven't seen any real committment by our nation to being a more energy conservative nation and also to look for new means. I still see the same truck commercials when they talk about how much power and how big the truck is......They wonder why their sales are down, and their answer to the problem is.....lets builder even bigger and more powerful vehicles. It seems that just recently some of the major vehicle companies are getting the idea to start working on increase their gas mileage, and also they need to be paying close attention to the next source of energy, because I'm sure (I HOPE) that there are going to be some big changes in the form of energy coming soon.
I heard the kyoto protocal brought up, and it annoys me to hear about it. People bring it up to say how America is unwilling to become a greener nation and work with other countries. The kyoto protocol was a complete piece of junk. O, all the other nations of the world signed it, no wonder. It would put us at the disadvantage, while putting them in a good spot to make some $$$ off of us.