Shame On Them And Shame On Us

From all accounts, it looks like there won't be an agreement reached on a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen next month. In fact, some are speculating that it may take up to a year to iron out all the differences between nations.

This is just shameful. Shame on everyone involved and shame on us for letting them off the hook so easily.

I've been thinking that they should just cancel the whole shindig. If no one goes to Copenhagen, then the potential emissions saved will be enormous.

No aeroplane emissions from flying thousands of delegates to Denmark. No car emissions from the taxis and buses used to ferry them around the city. No extra power demands from the thousands of people looking for 24 hour entertainment instead of working hard. No cardboard and wood wasted in thousands of placards which get bandied about once before being discarded at a roadside. And no waste of water being pumped out of the police water cannons!

Of course they do need to meet, and perhaps getting them all into the Copenhagen melting pot may clarify things and get some heads banged together. Or perhaps the protesters can barricade them into the conference hall and refuse them permission to leave until the come up with a legally binding agreement!

Either way, I'm despairing at the whole process. It seems set up for delegates to nitpick ways to wriggle out of the process rather than to stand united and find a way to meet all our obligations.