Lots of folks are very quick to critize that the US isn´t really doing much to protect the environment. But when you look closer, this isn´t true at all. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) carbon monoxide emissions between 2000 and 2004 increased by 1.7 percent in the largest economically advanced nation under the sun, while in the member states of the EU during the same time period the average increase was 5 percent - even though economic and population growth was higher there than in the countries of the European Union.An overall American agenda for climate and environmental protection does not exist. Many of the states, on the other hand, have created new realities through amendments that have come into force regardless whether the state is governed by Republicans or Democrats. In Wyoming and Alaska energy consumption per capita is far above the US average, while in California and the New England State of Rhode Island on the east coast it is so low that these two states can keep pace with international comparisons in their handling of resources and exhaust emissions.California, the most populated and economically powerful state in the USA, is the trendsetter in environmental legislation. For generations the people in West Virginia have lived from coal mining. Here an acceleration of environmental laws is not given much support for obvious reasons.Seven states in the northeast – Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont – joined together in 2005 as a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). They want to reach a ten percent reduction of carbon dioxide emission by the year 2018.

The member States of the Regional Greenhouse Gas InitiativeThe federal government appears to be altering the focus of their climate change policies. Already in 2006 President Bush lamented the dependence of American on oil imports. In the meantime the White House seems to be convinced that climate change is expedited by humankind. In spite of this the US government is not setting a maximum limit to toxic emissions, but is relying rather on the promotion of innovative technology and environmentally compatible energy sources.

American President Bush and Brasilien President da Silva after signing an agreement on economic cooperation at Mar 10th 2007The world’s largest quantity of environmentally sound ethanol is produced from corn in the USA. President Bush recently signed an agreement on economic cooperation with the Brazilian president. Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of ethanol.