The G8 has made an announcement…they have a common vision. Fantastic! Great! Amazing!…or is it?
We’ve heard so much about vision yet the truth is that until execution matches the vision and until India and China are willing to agree to specific targets, there will be little delivery. The fact is that these two major countries will contribute huge amounts of carbon emissions in the coming decades, and we must understand that we need to think about their positions. Basically, these two countries argue that developed countries have been permitted to spew out greenhouse gas emissions for decades without paying anything…so why can’t they?
At first glance, it is a reasonable position, yet frankly they must take into account the fact that nobody knew they were damaging the environment to the extent that they have. Ignorance is not an excuse, yet we can not excuse countries that now know the damage, and continue to invoke the past. We must all look forward and cannot use the ills of our past ways to determine our future responsibilities.
All countries understand this, the issue is one of negotiation. Its about what India and China can extract from the other countries as part of a settlement of “allowance”. They basically want an exclusion to some extent to permit their countries to continue rabid and uncontrolled development. Anyone whose been there can tell you that the air is hardly breathable in some cities, that the land is full of garbage and that the environment has been the least of their concerns. When you are trying to bring up your population’s standard of living, you do what you think is right. However what is right changes as information evolves.
The governments of these countries know full well the damage they are doing to their environments. They understand very well the concern of others. They are simply posturing, to the detriment of their own people, in order to extract something out of the developed world.
Its only a matter of time when self-service will take over and these countries will have to fall into the fold. That is why the G8 is in no rush to make that happen, despite appearances. They know that all will come into line eventually with much less “payoff” than required today. Its all a game…and the only people who lose are you and me. Pity…
Sass