China and India arrived late at the CO2 banquet, but with big appetites. Up until now it has been the United States and Old Europe who have taken care of poisoning the planet. The Chinese and the Indians are right. It’s intolerable to let the pollution and destruction of the environment be considered a Western copyright. It’s a competition to see who is the strongest.
We can share in the thinking behind the arguments of Gao aGuangsheng, Director of China’s Climate Change Programme:
“China uses carbon, not because it loves it, but because it’s the resource that it has available.” Gao gets cross with Australia. In fact if China could produce the same amount of CO2 per head. 20 million Australians against one thousand three hundred million Chinese people. That could get to 8,600,000,000 tons of CO2 from the 1,300,000,000 tons currently. It’s obvious. It’s a demographic problem.
Every inhabitant of the planet must have their CO2 quota from birth.
According to the International Energy Agency, China will become the leader in CO2 emissions in 2009. Beating the United States.
If it gets there. 16 of the 20 most polluting cities in the world are Chinese. 400,000 Chinese die every year from smog. A quarter of the Chinese drink polluted water.
We are devouring the world. The West is exporting pollution together with below cost production. It’s often dictating slavery. The more that China and India are producing. The more they export. The more the GDP increases and the prices go down. It is a suicide race.
Governments must change their priorities. Cancel the Ministries of the Environment. They are just an embellishment. They never count for anything. Institute Ministries of Humanity. On which all the others depend. With the power of veto.
A sick economy is accelerating its growth and our destruction. It is bartering the GDP with the planet. The polluting countries, including ours, deserve a new Nuremburg trial.
The judge, who is also the executioner, already exists. It is our earth.
