If Al Gore is so concerned about Global Warming, why did he not push Kyoto?

Question

How do people justify asking to have Bush Admin. sign the Kyoto Protocol, when it came out in 1997. For those of you not paying attention, Bush was not President then. Bill Clinton was President, and Al Gore was VP. And yet, Al suggested that the U.S. NOT sign the treaty. Also, the Senate voted 95-0 to NOT sign the treaty. If these people are so convinced we are killing ourselves, why did they not sign the protocol back in 1997. And can they really complain of others not signing it now when they did not sign?

Trevor,
But was it not true that the Senate voted on it whether it should be signed and the result was 95-0 against signing it?

Answer 1

So he could make money selling carbon offsets from the company he holds a major share in. What a bunch of bull! In 10 years, everyone will see that Gore scammed everyone worse than PT Barham.

Answer 2

You are taking the actions of President Clinton, Al Gore and the Senate out of context. You make it sound as if they just straight refused to have anything to due with the Kyoto protocol, when in fact:

"On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized (although it had been fully negotiated, and a penultimate draft was finished), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[64][65] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or "would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States". On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations."

Gore did push for the protocol, and DID sign it. However, it was not considered for ratification because key developing countries were left out of the treaty.

Please stop intentionally misconstruing history to make your "point."

Answer 3

Al Gore, in his capacity as Vice President, signed the Kyoto Protocol on Novermber 12 1998. The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification. The Senate having made it clear that they were not prepaerd to ratify the treaty unless it obligated the developing nations in the same way it did the developed nations. The Senate were also concerned that the Protocol could be economically detrimental to the US.

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RE: YOUR ADDED DETAILS

The Senate never voted specifically on Kyoto, what they voted on was something known as the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, in essence this was a resolution that the US would not be party to any agreement that treated the developed and developing nations differently. Because it was clear that the Senate wouldn't ratify Kyoto the Clinton Adminsitration never submitted it to them (it would have been a waste of time to have done so as the outcome was a foregone conclusion).

Answer 4

I think the millions of people who wanted Bush to sign Kyoto are not hypocritical because they aren't the US Senate or Al Gore. Just beacuse Gore and the Senate missed the boat doesn't mean that nobody's allowed to be on Bush's case now.
Anyways, the reason for not signing it, which is a strong reason, is that 3rd world countries are not included - that includes China. And we can all see that they will be a pivotal part in reducing global CO2 levels.

Answer 5

To be blunt, Clinton and Gore failed us by not pushing harder to pass Kyoto.

Over the past 10 years, a mountain of evidence has emerged to show that humans are the primary cause of the current warming, and that we're running out of time to avoid catastrophic consequences. If we had this information 10 years ago, I have no doubt that Clinton, Gore, and Congress would have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

While they failed us in 1997, that's no excuse for our government to continue to fail us today.

Answer 6

If Gore really believed in global warming he would have put out a factual movie, not drive around in the cars he has, not use the amount of electricity in one month that the average person uses in a year. But he buys carbon offsets, there is a joke they are pulling on us. Don't worry about how much we use, we buy carbon offsets, which you cant, so you better cut back. All Gore cares about is keeping his name and face in the public eye.