22), and this may be one reason the United States is not participating in the Kyoto Protocol, the limits and agreements reached with 178 other nations are not effective in this country. With disregard for solutions such as Kyoto, it seems difficult to see how a global principle of fairness can be reached at all. Clearly, economic fairness must also be discussed in the principle of fairness. Singer notes that economic forecasts vary, but that many experts believe spending the money to implement global warming and greenhouse gas initiatives would be cost effective in the end, and actually add to the global economy (Singer, 2002, pp. 25-26). It seems Kyoto might be a stepping-stone toward solving the problem, and many experts wonder if the cost is worth the effort. However, Kyoto is a step, and right now, that is more than many nations are doing or even contemplating. The latest IICC study seems to indicate the problem is growing faster than earlier anticipated, and that means that a solution needs to come about even more quickly. Thus, solutions like Kyoto need to be implemented as soon as possible, and more solutions...

The industrialized nations of the world have more resources to fund and study the problem, and they should be the first to become heavily involved in the fight against global warming.
Finally, the history of the situation indicates that the industrialized nations of the world historically began the problem of greenhouse gas emissions when they began to industrialize, and that means they have been responsible for the crisis longer, and should bear more of a burden in the solution. Great Britain was the first to industrialize, and America soon followed suit. That places another burden of responsibility on these nations, and others who quickly industrialized, to bear the responsibility of their historic actions and help clean up the planet before it is too late.

References

Singer, Peter. (2002). One world: The ethics of globalization (New Haven and London: Yale University Press), Chapter 2, "One Atmosphere" pp. 14-50.