Do U.S. Emissions Violate Human Rights?

Northern Canadian Residents Tell Panel That Carbon Emissions Destroy Health And Property

(AP)  Northern Canadians told an international commission Thursday that carbon emissions from the United States have contributed so much to global warming that they should be considered a human rights violation.

One activist said temperatures have climbed so much that Arctic residents need air conditioners.

The case was pressed by the Inuit community before the 34-nation Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In a petition, the group asked the commission's assistance "in obtaining relief" from the impact of global warming, and makes specific reference to the United States as the country most responsible for the phenomenon.

However, the commission lacks the legal authority to compel the United States to take action.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit activist, said the well-being of her people is under threat — and that the need for air conditioning is just one example of the spread of global warming.

Climate change, she said is "destroying our right to life, health property and means of subsistence," she said. "States that do not recognize these impacts and take action violate our human rights."

She said ice formations are much more likely to detach from land and take unsuspecting hunters out to sea, where they face an uncertain fate.

Beyond that, she said hunters can no longer be sure of ice thickness and whether it is safe to travel.

"Many hunters have been killed or seriously injured after falling through ice that was traditionally known to be safe," she said.

The United States did not respond to the Inuit claims before the commission, an arm of the Organization of American States. The Bush administration has said it is taking steps to reduce global warming, but domestic and international critics say it is not doing enough, given that the United States is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

Scientists generally agree the Arctic is the first place on Earth to be affected by rising global temperatures. They say that unless developed nations such as the United States — responsible for one-fourth of world's greenhouse gases — do not dramatically reduce their emissions within the next 15 years, the Arctic ice likely will melt by the end of the century.

The Inuit population hails from Canada, Russia and Greenland, as well as Alaska, where they are known as Eskimos. They have been trying to tell the world for more than a decade about the shifting winds and thinning ice that have damaged the hunting grounds the Northern peoples have used for thousands of years.

Watt-Cloutier was nominated with former Vice President Al Gore for a Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change.

[atwabn]

The day we all agree that global warming is being caused by man is the day that science, and the scientific method dies. I am suprised that the animal rights people are not on here going nuts. The hunters fell through the ice? Hunters? What were they hunting? Baby seals? Maybe "global warming" insert sarcasm is a good thing. Now maybe the Eskimos can grow soy so they can stop butchering the innocent little baby seals. One word summarizes this article....ridiculous.

[dconine2000]

The Chinese pollution is coming from our money which was used to buy our old factories and is used to make that pollution while manufacturing cr-p we don't even need.

If you want Change, keep it in your pocket. Your dollar represents the resources we are stealing from our children.

[lars008-2009]

Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. Madison: You American haters bore me to tears, Ms. Barham. I've dealt with Europeans all my life. I know all about us parvenus from the States who come over here and race around your old Cathedral towns with our cameras and Coca-cola bottles... Brawl in your pubs, paw at your women, and act like we own the world. We over-tip, we talk too loud, we think we can buy anything with a Hershey bar. I've had Germans and Italians tell me how politically ingenuous we are, and perhaps so. But we haven't managed a Hitler or a Mussolini yet. I've had Frenchmen call me a savage because I only took half an hour for lunch. Hell, Ms. Barham, the only reason the French take two hours for lunch is because the service in their restaurants is lousy. The most tedious lot are you British. We crass Americans didn't introduce war into your little island. This war, Ms. Barham to which we Americans are so insensitive, is the result of 2,000 years of European greed, barbarism, superstition, and stupidity. Don't blame it on our Coca-cola bottles. Europe was a growing brothel long before we came to town.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057840/quotes

[lars008-2009]

Is islam a violation of international law???

islam practices slavery on non muslims
islam practices apartheid on non muslims
islam practices rape on non muslims
islam practices rape on babies and animals
islam practices genocide on non muslims

all are violations of international law and are crimes against humanity

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/world/main2505445.shtml
Imam Khomeini - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
http://www.homa.org/Details.asp?ContentID=2137352826&TOCID=2083225445
Malaysia women 'suffer apartheid'
The daughter of Malaysia's former prime minister has launched a scathing attack on the roles and status of Muslim women in the country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.stm
A matter of tolerance
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/2006/12/matter-of-tolerance.html
Marina Mahathir
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/

[hawksprings]

OlGreyGhost is right on.
The Global Warming Hysteria is about Power and Control over people.

Then Algore goes and says it's a 'moral issue' implying that if you dissagree with him you are immoral. While at the same time Algore's mansion and other homes he owns use multiple times the global warming energy the typical American uses.

But he's part of the Liberal Elite, so he and his kind are excused from the restrictions, laws and taxes he would impose on us.

.

[musty2u]

This makes me want to go out and burn tires this weekend just to watch the black smoke curl into the cloudless sky.

[mnelsonix]

Willie...You are so right about China and other developing nations. What Krapp!!!

[mnelsonix]

) MMVII The Associated Press. There is something wrong with these "Journalists."

I guess I violate human rights every time I break wind!! And that's often.

These writers are insane.

[lwilli201]

Has anyone mentioned that China is pumping C**p into the air at an enormous rate. They don't have any enforcable laws against polluters. What is happening in China makes the USA look ultra green.

[rf35]

Insanity! They act as if they are the only people who are being affected by global warming. So is the US supposed to pay every person on the planet? Even assuming global warming is caused by human activity, then the Intuits apparently have a claim against everyone who has ever released any greenhouse gas. Not to mention methane-producing cattle, sheep, and plants! Go sue a tree!!

I do believe the US (and every other country) should take steps to clean up its act. Even if global warming has nothing to do with human activity, renewable energy and an end to oil dependency is a goal worth pursuing vigorously.