President George W. Bush’s first trip to Europe was portrayed by the mainstream media as a complete disaster.

A complete disaster because the guy took a stance on an issue and stuck to it? God forbid that ever happen.

The issue – saying “no” to the Kyoto Protocol.

Kyoto was proposed in 1997. It’s a treaty among countries in the United Nations to lower “greenhouse gas” emissions worldwide.

Bush said the protocol is “fatally flawed in fundamental ways.”

That is exactly what it is, flawed. Even the old Clinton team is admitting Kyoto would have trashed our economy.

Former President Bill Clinton signed the protocol, thinking it wouldn’t hurt the economy at all, but the senate voted it down 99-0.

The Clinton team was very much in favor of Kyoto, which would have required the United States to cut back 1990 emissions 7 percent by 2012.

According to a June 11, USA Today article, the Clinton team estimated the cost of implementing the Kyoto targets too low. They said it would only cost between $7 billion to $12 billion per year, starting in 2008. It was estimated the average household energy bill would rise only $70 -$110 a year and gasoline prices would only jump $.06 per gallon.

Turns out they were wrong. The Department of Energy has estimated gas prices will rise $.66 per gallon.

That ends up being 53 percent higher than the projected 2010 price.

Now, Clinton administration economists are coming out and admitting the estimates were unrealistic.

One of the biggest mistakes the Clinton team made was assuming China would take part in Kyoto.

China has opted out and according to Joseph Aldy, who helped the Clinton White House come up with the estimates, no China means the original estimates will double.

They will double, and that is without figuring in India, who will not take part in the protocol.

Would it be a wise economic move for Bush to support Kyoto? Certainly not.

Although it seems many European nations are so eager to cut back on these poisons in the air, only one has actually begun to start implementing Kyoto’s standards – Romania.

If countries like Spain, France, Great Britain and Germany believe Kyoto is the way to stop global warming, they should try following the accord first. See how well it works.

These countries point the finger at the U.S., saying we are the biggest polluter. They say we produce 20 percent of the earth’s carbon dioxide. But, as Bush pointed out we are “also responsible for 25 percent of the world’s economic output.”

Two significant factors are rarely mentioned.

First, Europe has a history of fearing a dominating country. They like to keep a balance of power to be sure one nation doesn’t pose a threat to the rest of them. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we’ve been the world’s only superpower. Could it be that Europe fears that?

It’s known Kyoto will bring us down economically. Signing it would result in layoffs, price increases for consumers and recession.

A country with an economy heading south will have difficulty remaining a superpower. And that will make the Europeans feel comfortable.

Second, global warming isn’t a proven fact. It’s theory.

We always hear about scientists who believe people are melting the earth, but never do we hear about scientists who have other ideas.

Take for instance Robert Essenhigh, professor of energy conservation at Ohio State University.

While most scientist will tell you carbon dioxide is the main component to global warming, Essenhigh said in an article published in the Science Daily, he believes rising global temperatures naturally results in more carbon dioxide.

Essenhigh goes into detail on how many scientist disregard water in the atmosphere as a gas and they simply consider it vapor. He said water in the atmosphere is a “major radiation-absorbing gas.”

He goes on to compare man-made emissions to natural emissions. He said there are 90 billion tons of carbon dioxide circulating between the ocean and the atmosphere every year and another 60 billion tons between vegetation and the atmosphere.

He said 5 to 6 billion tons of man-made carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. That means more than 95 percent of all atmospheric carbon dioxide is naturally produced by the earth.

Essenhigh believes the earth goes through cooling and heating cycles (we are now in a heating cycle) because of the Arctic Ocean.

It’s an idea known as the “Arctic Ocean Model.” According to the 30 year old model, when the Arctic Ocean is frozen over, like it is now, it prevents the evaporation of water which would otherwise escape to the atmosphere and return as snow.

With out enough snow, the Arctic ice cap isn’t being replenished.

If the cap isn’t being replenished, it will slowly begin to shrink. That would explain the retreat of the Arctic ice cap.

As the cap gets smaller, the earth gets warmer until the Arctic Ocean opens again.

Once there is enough water open to begin evaporating, the process begins to reverse itself. The snow causes the ice cap to slowly grow until the ocean is once again closed off.

According to his estimations, the earth will peak within 10 to 20 years, then temperatures will begin cooling again. The cycle repeats itself.

So there is a possibility that the global warming theory is way off. We know it will hurt us economically, yet the Europeans want us to still sign it.

To sign that socialistic, world- governing document would threaten our nation’s sovereignty. We are capable of governing ourselves. After all, that is why we started this country to begin with.

Zach Calef is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Cedar Rapids. He is news editor of the Daily.