Lately, beliefs about global warming have been changing. The dire scenarios that used to be written off as a mere speculation, or even fiction, are now appreciated for what they are: frightening reality. The human footprint on earth has become unsustainable. Each day brings new evidence, a new report, a new event to back the concerns of environmentalists and scientists over rising levels of greenhouse gases emissions and the damage they wreak on the climate. Sure, if we had another planet to move to, we could hold out for hard proof. But we cannot afford to put our life on earth in jeopardy any more than we have already done. It is not reasonable.

Developed countries must adopt mandatory reductions of carbon emissions to the level that assures us the earth’s tipping point will not be reached. The United States of America, the world’s largest polluter, can no longer stubbornly refuse the Kyoto Protocols. It ought to be leading the way to a post-Kyoto agreement. Fortunately, help is coming from the strong American Federalism.

After so many states and cities launched their own initiatives to cut carbon emissions and encourage consumption of cleaner energy, a reluctant president George Bush finally admitted that there is a “serious challenge of global climate change”. So far Europe is leading the way. It is about to raise its mandatory cap on emissions. Ironically, the market-oriented mechanism adopted by the Protocol, a cap and trade system, known as the Clean Development Mechanism, resulted from a joint proposal by the U.S. and Brazil.

China, the second largest polluter, is trying to escape from its responsibility on the pretext it is a developing country. China is no longer a developing country. Besides, even if it were, there would be no excuse for its high level of carbon emissions.

The Brazilian government and many other middle-income countries have argued that a developing country should not be held accountable for global warming because their industrialization is too recent. Supposedly, they have not had enough time to damage earth’s climate. This is a preposterous idea. No country has a license to poison the atmosphere we all depend on to live. All countries should be held proportionately responsible for mitigating the greenhouse effect, each adopting mandatory targets for controlling its major sources of emissions.

Nevertheless, poor countries also have a point when they ask for international help to reduce poverty. They need to create new jobs for workers currently employed in activities that destroy natural resources. They also need new technologies that enable them to use clean energy and to curb pollution.

Finally, it is urgent to strengthen the global climate governance system to overcome the gridlock in international negotiations on climate change. Please, let’s get radical: we must protect our global commons.