Hot Air Emissions
True, Global Warming is an issue that cannot be overlooked. It strangles the imagination to think of all the warnings that have come our way, in violent weather-related events causing incredible loss of life and dreadful hardship and turmoil to the lives of survivors of these catastrophic events. It's even worse contemplating what may eventually result upon this living green-and-blue globe as emissions continue to accelerate and warming continues.Whether or not the problem is anthropogenic in origin, or in small part is irrelevant actually; we're in a zone of probability when it comes to realizing that our lives are slowly becoming more complicated and that our future less assured. What to do about it is the Tyrannosaurus Rex running amok in our anxious consciousness. The angst of "did we or didn't we" cause much of what we now understand is occurring - although we don't really quite understand it - is moot.
How, after all, were we supposed to realize away back in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution that we had invested our future with a danger fraught with the potential to take us right back to primeval existence? As we learned to love our technological advancements, and take our newfound wealth and leisure for granted, anticipating more and greater achievements, how could we possibly take that mental leap into a future of grave insecurity?
We've become aware that everything we do impacts deleteriously on our environment. And an ill-functioning environment comes back to impact upon us in the most vicious way conceivable. We're reduced to mouthing platitudes, to blaming one another for the state we find ourselves in. The creation of man-made flight was a miracle; now it's a major impactor on the state of the environment.
Despite which, fully ten thousand individuals, members of environmental groups, lobbyists, government groups, scientists, academics, reporters from around the world have assembled yet again, this time in Bali, to discuss the issues, wring their collective hands in despair and issue news bulletins. In Bali. Indonesia has suffered greatly in recent environmental disasters. It is not a wealthy country, yet the delegates gathered in Bali are housed in sumptuous buildings, air conditioned for full comfort.
Ironically, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change somehow overlooked the optics of having participating governments - of which there are fully 187 representative nations - include off-setting projects in their budget. On the other hand, public relations being what it is and human beings so acutely aware of having to practise what they preach, they are publicly insisting that many of them have taken steps to "neutralize" their attendance emissions.
"We're offsetting all our travel with emissions credits", crowed the spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, speaking for himself and the other 80 WWF representatives. Offsetting emissions has become yet another business. Delegates have been cautioned when purchasing carbon credits that they should exhibit some care in so doing, as some companies purporting to assist in carbon trading are "cowboys".
That's what we do best, we humans; play our little games at mitigating the harm we do - or think we do - to enable ourselves to like what and who we are. So here's the nub of the thing: do the world's emerging economies get a free pass, while the world's economically advanced nations get to carry the burden of responsibility, or are we all in this together?
Just asking.
Labels: Environment, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Friday, December 07, 2007
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