God, this climate change shit just pisses me off more and more every day.

Here's the latest:

China and India should be spared the full burden of fighting climate change, the United Nations said on Tuesday in an agenda-setting report published just days ahead of an intergovernmental conference to agree to a successor to the Kyoto protocols.

The report of the UN Development Programme recommends that countries such as China and India should be required to reduce their emissions by only 20 per cent by 2050, while the rich industrialised countries shoulder a cut of 80 per cent.

The report will provide ammunition for developing countries wishing to avoid adopting stringent targets on emissions. China, India and others have argued that rich countries should carry more responsibility for the climate because most of the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere came from the growth of their industry. {...}

Did you get that? China and India would only have to reduce emissions by 20%, whereas the rest of the developed world should have to reduce their emissions by 80%. You know, because climate change is the result of our industrial growth, not theirs.

Saving India for another time, let's keep in mind that this is the same China with whom both the US and EU have trade deficits, not surpluses. The same China that's hosting the Olympic Games next summer and is doing so, partly, to show off how "developed" their country has become over the past twenty years or so. This is the same China that has a freakin' moon program. This is same China that is currently set to pass the US as the worst polluter in 2010. And, most importantly, this is the same China that's currently ruining my niece's Christmas whimsies because most of the toys on the shelves are produced there and her mother won't let her have any because of safety concerns.

Leaving aside the fact that man-made climate change has yet to be conclusively proven, why on earth is this country getting a pass? China's not developing. It's developed. If they've got a freakin' space program that should be a big fat honking clue that they're not hurting for cash. They can go on and on about how they're not to blame for this supposed round of climate change, but what will their excuse be for the next great environmental disaster to befall the world? Because at the rate they're sucking up natural resources, and the slip-shod manner they're using to do so, whatever comes down the pike will be their fault.

What will they say to get themselves off the hook then?

Posted by: Kathy at 11:32 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 446 words, total size 3 kb.