Gotta Love Those Danes

Those danish protesters really raise the bar for demonstrations, they're so darn civilized. No tearing down the barricades or flinging paving stones at the 'pigs', the Danes take arrest in stride and actually cooperate by lining up nicely for police transportation. And, surprisingly, they show up in as great numbers every day,  for more. they must be serious about that global warming. Problem is some folk, in the hall, aren't.

One of them is our cosmic muffin, Steve Harper. Now don't get me wrong, it's not as if Steve is in favour of polluting the environment his grandchildren might develop in, no way. But he's not a knee-jerk tree hugger, either, and sees a solution that helps business help the environment as a natural way to go. After all, don't we live with the marvels of manufacturing, the delights of Dow and the blessings of Enercorp? If it wasn't for corporations, we wouldn't have any multi-million dollar mansions and all the electronics we've got.

And that's maybe the essential part of the problem, guys like me and Steve and the way we live. Why I'd bet that, between the two of us, we've emitted more carbons since we got up this morning that the wealthiest 20 percent of Matabeleland. Geez, while we were sleeping more energy was expended on our behalf, than in a large part of Fiji.

Since this global whatever is going to hit everybody alike, in Steve's estimation, shouldn't everybody share alike in reducing the carbon footprint? Shouldn't the Basuto or the Kalmuk reduce their emissions on the same relative scale? If all those third worlders were to be 'moved ahead' to a place where they had the blessings of industry, the world couldn't take it. Sooooo .... since we've already got it, expecting us to go without is about as fair as expecting us to pay the poor to live on less, or gad forfend, to become more developed, right? So that's where the nub lies.

In the estimation of some, then, the nonsense of too much carbon starts to make sense, because having to do something about it is something we just can't afford to do. And if you remember the adage about the ease of apology compared to getting permission, well you see where this is headed. If, in, say, fifty years the planet is thoroughly screwed, our descendants can tap into our recorded apologies if they can pedal fast enough to generate a spark, or get the solar panels defogged.

And as far as the  Danes go, well I gotta hand it to them. If Al Gore's right, they can thank me and Steve Harper when their little city becomes another 'Venice of the North'. If  I was looking at having to buy a boat, instead of wanting to buy a boat, I'd be 'taking it to the streets' with a slingshot.