Tighten Controls on Greenhouse Gases

SUDDENLY, THE DEBATE OVER global warming is all but decided. In Paris this week, the first phase of a massive report prepared by scientists from around the world will attribute the steady rise in ocean and atmospheric temperatures to greenhouse gases released by cars, factories and other products

In New Jersey, 33 mayors have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which pledges to lower greenhouse emissions to below their 1990 levels. New Jersey has enacted its own tough controls and is considering others. This is only fitting since Garden State highways and industrial facilities have been big contributors to air pollution.

While there is little dispute about the feet of rising temperatures, arguments still flare over their cause and what to do about them. The United States refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the blueprint for the U.S. mayors agreement, on the grounds that it exempts China and would harm the U.S. economy.

But such concerns resemble rear-guard actions. The scientific evidence increasingly shows that global warming is real and linked to the burning of fossil fuels and other sources of greenhouse gases. In the face of that reality, and the growing environmental damage that it portends, moves by all levels of government to limit greenhouse emissions are not only prudent but essential to health, the quality of life and economic well-being.