Apparently there was tumultuous end to the Bali meeting, which resulted in the US being booed and hissed. The US – rationally – wanted developing nations to be bound to any climate agreement. So, if you believe that climate change is anthropogenic and that carbon reduction targets will help mitigate it (all of which is beyond belief — particularly the latter premise), then you still have the problem of defection.
See, if China, India and other developing nations get to opt out of any agreement, the rest of the world suffers economically while these countries reap all the gains as legacy energy migrates to their shores. Since they’re not bound, why would they comply? They’re getting richer as we speak and they know they won’t get rich if they artificially drive up the price of the master resource. Now, all the booing and hissing is coming from countries that stand to benefit from carbon sink schemes. It’s an end-run around traditional foreign aid channels. And who pays (again)? That’s right: we do.
So as you listen to all the environmental posturing and moralizing, remember that behind any boo or hiss are a bunch of greedy b*#@rds ("bootleggers") trying to benefit from green regulation that will do nothing to abate climate change (that is, if it’s, indeed, human-caused).
-Max Borders
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