Tuesday, July 08, 2008

lightning fast response to crisis

Let's hear it for the G-8. In response to a world in crisis, they have agreed to halve greenhouse emissions...by 2050! WOW!! Over 40 years from today. Do they really think you could call this a goal? 40 years is more like someday, or when I get around to it, or eventually. It surely isn't a "we've got to do something, and quickly" type response. Do they think that food shortages and water shortages and catastrophic weather are going to get better over that time period?

In 40 years, I could have water-front property --without moving. I could finally have that summer place in the tropics that I've always dreamed about, right here in Maryland. I could have grandchildren who have never seen a tree, or been outside in the daytime, or breathed pure air.

World leaders? I don't think so.

1 comment:

Kitten Herder said...

World leaders? No. World figureheads? More likely.

No one is willing to take a stand on anything that might make them unpopular at home or with a trading partner they rely on.

Beyond the environment, look at economic issues, look at the war in Iraq.

The most anyone is willing to do comes off like a Monty Python sketch: "We deplore your behavior in Iraq. (pause) ... Well, we really think you could have handled that better." "We want to forgive 75% of the third world's debt to the World Bank. (pause) ... Well, we'll just give them a lot more time to repay it at prime plus one percent."