Emission Failure
Amid the photo opportunities, pro-tester-bashing and jostling for political points, the Copenhagen summit
on climate change once again proved
that saving the planet comes a paltry
third place on the global agenda —
some distance behind preserving
national interests and traditional East-West mistrust.
As we commence 2010, the event
in Denmark was supposed to be a
defining landmark in the battle to
cut environmental emissions, but
no sooner had delegates settled into
their comfortable chairs than old
wounds and divisions became
apparent.
Even the strangely last-minute
arrival of President Obama failed to
inject a modicum of urgency into the
proceedings, and the endless gathering of world leaders, hangers on and
environment entrepreneurs cooked
up a timely, tasteless Christmas
turkey of an agreement which no one
really found easy to digest.
Oh, yes and there remains the
“China Conundrum.”
The country is continuing to rocket
head-long toward the Communist
government’s goal to be a commercial
superstar and in the process enhance
the living conditions of its inhabi-
tants. Can anyone really have a prob-
lem with that dream?
