Chances are you’ve heard it mentioned a hundred times on the news. The Kyoto Protocol. A treaty put forth in the United Nations to set standards to help with the problem of climate change.

The Asia Times Online has written an interesting article on the history of his historic protocol and why its named after a city in Japan. (In case you didn’t already know).

I think this year more then any year I can recall, climate change was very much on my mind. Now I’m not a tree hugging hippie and I think weather patterns fluctuate over time and that an record hot summer one year doesn’t mean the damn world is coming to an end. But I will admit that the weather has been extreme around the world to say the least and I fear that it will only get worse.

Under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries must reduce their emissions of several greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels during 2008-12. The protocol sets separate gas-reduction targets for individual industrialized countries. In Japan’s case it must reduce emissions by 6%, to 1.185 billion tons carbon dioxide equivalent from 1.261 billion tons. Despite its firm commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, however, Japan’s emissions have actually risen from the 1990 levels. While those from the industrial sector -which account for about 40% of the nation’s total - may have declined slightly from the 1990 levels, those from household and transport sectors have risen strongly during the same period. Thus, in order to be in compliance Japan must now slash emissions by 14.1%.