President Bush claims that signing onto the Kyoto protocol would “wreck” the U.S. economy. And the lovely Portland, Oregon — one of my personal favorite U.S. cities — is proving him wrong.
Newly released data show that Portland, America’s environmental laboratory, has achieved stunning reductions in carbon emissions. It has reduced emissions below the levels of 1990, the benchmark for the Kyoto accord, while booming economically.
What’s more, officials in Portland insist that the campaign to cut carbon emissions has entailed no significant economic price, and on the contrary has brought the city huge benefits: less tax money spent on energy, more convenient transportation, a greener city, and expertise in energy efficiency that is helping local businesses win contracts worldwide.
Now, which city would you rather have your county’s environment modeled on: Portland, which is beautiful, healthy, green and experiencing an economic boom; or Dallas, Texas, which under GWB’s leadership quickly rose to be one of the most polluted cities in the country? No one is arguing that the economy is unimportant. But environmentally-sound policies can help to create jobs, not destroy them. And if the rest of the developed world can stick to Kyoto, why can’t we at least give it a shot?