February 19 - Poking the Bear

C'mon, pushing other people's buttons is fun. In good nature, getting ones buttons pushed can be fun too if you are in sufficient good humor. In any case here is a little bear poking for today.

Leaving a parking lot today, I spied a bumper sticker that said:

I thought, what a cool idea. I've noticed that bleeding heart do-gooders generally want to do good with MY MONEY. Until they've secured my money they are loath to part with their own. I find that to be hypocritical but rationalization is a powerful tool.

One of the things that BHDG's (tm) are on about these past few years is Global Warming and how it is caused by all the CO2 that man, meaning primarily the U.S., is spewing into the atmosphere. The solution, they say, is to reduce or eliminate these emissions, damn the cost. They are willing to give the rest of the world a pass on this, though, until the western nations do it first. The U.S. is one of the few hold-outs in signing on to this philosophy codified in the Kyoto Treaty. The Kyoto Treaty set limits and provides for accounting for CO2 emissions. It has some neat provisions such as: one country can purchase CO2 "credits" to offset any CO2 overage they might have and countries can also pay money to reduce CO2 emissions in another country in order to offset their own emissions. More on this in a second.

The things is, just because the U.S. has not signed onto the treaty does not mean that Americans can not now participate. For an appropriate cost, Terrapass will ensure that your personal CO2 footprint is offset, taking into account the emissions due to your home's and your autos' energy consumption. Frankly, if you have come to the conclusion that man-made CO2 is the cause of global warming and that it must be stopped, I have difficulty finding a rationalization not to do this. I expect all my concerned BHDG friends to be sporting these bumper stickers in short order. I know I could not stand the hypocrisy. Well, actually, I could, but that's just me :-) For your benefit, here is a link: TerraPass

Back to the Kyoto Treaty. Apparently it provides for CO2 credits to be granted to countries who pay to reduce CO2 emissions in another country. It also gives an unlimited pass to certain countries. Do we see a problem, here? An opportunity for a sweet scam, maybe? China is one of these free pass countries and they've figured it out. They are throwing up cheap coal-fired power plants (with no CO2 penalty) and selling them at a premium to countries in western nations who tear them down and probably sell the property back to the Chinese who promptly erect another cheaply made, CO2-spewing power plant and so on. This, according to that right-wing rag, the Wall Street Journal. This is wrong in so many astounding ways, further words escape me.

The vaunted Kyoto treaty is the current linchpin in beginning reduction of CO2. One would think that it, therefore, represents the best thinking in the relationship between CO2 emissions, economics and Global Warming. The best thinking is not too impressive.