Rain, More Rain Bear the Responsibility, America!

Is the worst flooding in Europe because of America?

The DPA reported on the 14th that the global warming was indicated as the cause of the downpour in Central Europe, so all the criticism was leaning toward America, which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol (the Global Warming Prevention Agreement). Although America discharges 28% of global carbon dioxide discharge, it announced withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol last March with the protection of its own industrial as a reason.

A German private broadcasting service RTL pointed out, “the recent downpour in Germany was because of the global warming and the failure of the Kyoto Protocol caused by the US President George W. Bush’s refusal to sign.”

A Heidelberg Daily Rhein Tage Zeitung criticized, “This flooding is absolutely a man-made disaster, and America, which has the final right to decide for coping with long term climate change, is not doing anything.”

The German Environment Minister Urken Tritin warned, “The failure of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol will eventually accelerate the unusual change in the weather.” The Green Party Environment Spokesperson Reinhardt Roske also raised his voice to the Bush Administration; “The one who stops the effort to prevent weather disaster is digging not only his grave but also his descendants’.”

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that makes each country liable for reducing greenhouse gases in order to repress the global warming. It forces the developed countries to reduce the discharge of greenhouse gases by 5.2% on average compare to that of 1990, and 74 countries including 15 countries of the European Union and Japan ratified it so far.

Meanwhile, the BBC reported that because of the flooding that is sweeping the Central Europe such as Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria, there are warnings to safeguard the cultural heritages.

In Dresden Zwinger Palace of Germany, which is taking pride in the biggest collection of arts, including Rafaelo, Rubens, and Rembrandt, in Europe, moved some 8,000 art-pieces from flooded underground storage to upper floors. In old capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, the rare art pieces of the National Theater came to a crisis of being flooded.

Because of this flood, 4 million people in Germany have suffered from the flood damage, and 200 thousand people took shelter in the Czech Republic. Up to now, the number of deaths is reaching 100 in Germany alone, and the flooding damage is spreading to Slovakia and Hungary.

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