www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13404 -
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Published on: 6/20/2008
Last Visited: 6/23/2008
William C.G. Burns, a professor at Monterey Institute of International Studies, denounced America's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
Burns noted that "several States and peoples in recent years have begun to contemplate, or have taken active steps to initiate, actions against States or private actors" in a variety of international forums, including the LOST, which, he contends, "may prove to be one of the primary battlegrounds for climate change issues in the future."
He cites the Treaty's expansive definition of marine pollution, writing that "the potential impacts of rising sea surface temperatures, rising sea levels, and changes in ocean pH as a consequence of rising levels of carbon dioxide in sea water" could "give rise to actions under the Convention's marine pollution provisions."
"While very few of the drafters of [the Treaty] may have contemplated that it would one day become a mechanism to confront climate change, it clearly may play this role in the future.At the very least, the spectre of litigation may help to deepen the commitment of States to confront the most pressing environmental issue of our generation," Burns wrote.
By being publicly honest, Professor Burns violated the earlier injunction from Bernard Oxman, a long-time LOST supporter at the University of Miami.