Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
I do not really understand why clima sceptics are even discussing here, just because of the Kopenhagen conference is taking place. It is very clear that Kopenhagen is not about trying to do as much as possible, not to mention: to do as much as is needed. Kopenhagen is about how to get away with having done as little as possible. Kopenhagen is an alibi event. If I were a member of the sceptics' band, i already would be happy and celebrate.
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Why would we be celebrating? We see the whole thing as a waste of time, money, and the progress that could be achieved with those things.
Are you suggesting that just because we have not wasted the amount of time and money that we could have on climate change agendas that we should be happy? A money pit is a money pit, no matter how much money is thrown into it. You might as well say that we should be pleased with spending $5,000 instead of $10,000 on a car insurance policy for a car we do not and may never have.
What you do not see, Sky, is the potential of all that capital. The resources that could have been used and the jobs that the associated industries could have created with that capital are now gone. That portion of economic production has been sucked into a political black hole that will never yield anything beneficial. Rather than alowing those monies to fuel commercial progress, we have chosen to steal and then waste them on political nonsense and the special interests that govern that nonsense.
We can crunch the numbers if you like, but I think that you already know that the money spent on climate whatever-happens-to-be-the-popular-term has not yielded satisfactory results. Emissions reductions in participating countries can't even keep pace with worldwide population growth rates, to say nothing of the increasing emissions of nations in the process of industrialization.
What would you have us do? Would you impose a global standard on emissions? Would you seek, in any way, to control societal and/or economic development? People do not work that way, my friend. The consequences of such actions would be disastrous. There is simply no way to impose a singular will upon a species of social individuals.
Our best bet as developed nations is to set an example that cannot be ignored. We must embrace free minds and free markets, in order to develop the kind of societal and economic prosperity that leads to lower birth rates and more efficient products. Some nations may follow and others may not, but those that do not will quickly find themselves outclassed and faced with civil unrest, and will soon be begging for the aid of free nations. Even then, we must offer them nothing but trade.
Slowly but surely, all nations will come to realize and implement the benefits of free trade, so long as we treat them with dignity and respect. There will be blood and tears in the process, but at least they will be ultimately accomplishing something, unlike what they have heretofore been practicing.