It was you. You did it! So did I and so did my friends and family, acquaintances and colleagues. We all are guilty and we are going to have to do something about it. The IPCC report on global warming released yesterday, which may be found here, paints a fairly dismal portrait of what we have done, and are continuing to do, to the planet on which we live and on which we are dependent. This is especially true when one considers that many scientists feel that it is far too conservative. I will even give equal time to the handful of independent scientists who feel that it goes too far, but not to those in the pay of the energy industry or other global capitalist interests.
Perhaps it is time we all took a hard look at ourselves and faced the fact that if it is possible to do something about the seemingly irresistible rise in the Earth's mean temperature it will not be done without some sacrifice on the part of all of us. The Western lifestyle, especially that in countries such as the US and Australia, is completely unsustainable. That is inarguable.
So we should not be surprised to find that the White House's initial reaction to the report, completely in keeping with its mantra of "every life is sacred", is to firmly state that American jobs are more important than human lives. They do get an "A" for consistency. One has to give them that.
The government says that they "back the report" and therefore it is now the time to talk. With a level of hubris that is truly breathtaking US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, late of the chemical industry, described the United States as "a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world."
It really is going to be a hard slog, isn't it?
Perhaps it is time we all took a hard look at ourselves and faced the fact that if it is possible to do something about the seemingly irresistible rise in the Earth's mean temperature it will not be done without some sacrifice on the part of all of us. The Western lifestyle, especially that in countries such as the US and Australia, is completely unsustainable. That is inarguable.
So we should not be surprised to find that the White House's initial reaction to the report, completely in keeping with its mantra of "every life is sacred", is to firmly state that American jobs are more important than human lives. They do get an "A" for consistency. One has to give them that.
The government says that they "back the report" and therefore it is now the time to talk. With a level of hubris that is truly breathtaking US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, late of the chemical industry, described the United States as "a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world."
It really is going to be a hard slog, isn't it?
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