Start spreading the news, Hatoyama's leaving today for New York, N.Y. Or has already (but that kind of ruins the intro, never mind). Yeah, he's going to one of those tedious hot air conferences that folk from all corners of the world attend to collect more air miles and score brownie points pontificating about how much they might do to save the planet, in the near future, honest miss, just as long as you go first. Japan's new PM has crooned about making a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gasses on 1990 levels by 2020, if everyone else agrees. What does this mean?
Our Man hasn't got a clue.
A few problems off the top of Our Man's head:
1. What greenhouse gases are we talking about?
2. How reliable are the measurements of them (ie which bureaucrat lackey came up with Japan's fictitious figure?)
3. Does anyone remember what was so hot about 1990?
4. Was that the year the Channel Tunnel opened? Guns N Roses released November Rain? (guitar solo at 5:30)
5. Who is going to measure whether Japan has succeeded in its noble mission?
6. None of these pols will be in power in 2020, so whadda they care?
Hatoyama says he wants a society not dependent on carbon. Our Man too, but Our Man also wants an undersea secret base like Dr No where he can sup martinis when he's not churning out pulp novels and playing craps in his own casino with leggy temptresses with all their own teeth. It's not gonna happen is it?
How have we powered anything since we first climbed down from the trees and fancied a fry up? We burn shit. Branches, charcoal, coal, oil, methane, fag packets, uranium - you name it, we bung it on the fire and cook our toast, drive our cars, recharge our iPods and power up Google.
Sure, we should conserve what we've got left to burn (and aren't we doing a good job at that), but ultimately we're gonna burn it and burn it all. Short of a technological miracle, really, the only viable solution is a lot fewer people. Unfortunately, the Earth seems to be arranging for that to happen.
You wanna stop global warming? Start leading, quit whining and get used to hardship.
Anyway, enjoy your trip to NY, good luck with your numbers, Mr H.
Pic lifted from here.
2 comments:
Our man,
I enjoyed this post and found it quite funny. Passed it on to a mate who knows about this stuff for a laugh and instead got a serious response to your questions (he does have a sense of humour, just thought he'd educate us):
1990 was when the Kyoto protocol first commitment period began. The main GHGs are CO2, NOx, water vapor, O3 and methane. They have different intensities of greenhouse impact and are each given a different multiplyer to create a weighted sum of GHG, usually measured in CO2 equivalent. This is measured by the government and reported to the UNFCCC. There isn't much incentive for deliberately misreporting.
Measurements are quite reliable. Certainly sufficiently reliable that measurement error would be the weakest part of any system designed to reduce emissions. Every country has been obliged to report GHG emissions since 1990.
Politicians wont be held accountable to 2020 benchmarks, but they will be held accountable to perceived progress toward those benchmarks, because people care a lot about this. Its been the main political issue in lots of elections around the world. Howard lost largely because he didn't do enough about this. The DPJ won partly because they had more credibility in their commitment to take action on this issue. If they don't, they'll just be booted again.
I don't know about q4 off the top of my head.
Lord have mercy, can't be doin' with serious responses to Our Man! Whatever next? Comical responses to serious commentators?
But, thanks. Sure, the political capital to be had in spouting green views is hotter than it has ever been, and Hatoyama has clearly won plaudits for that and all (though just missed out on the Nobel).
Our Man admits a lot of ignorance on this (and many other issues), but the problem is the environment is such a big issue, so couched in technicalities and therefore so hidden behind statistics (which we all know what can be done with them) that it's hard to believe any Johnny-come-lately with a new set of pie-in-the-sky targets.
Our Man would vote (if he could in this country) on stuff he can see - he can see if he has a job; how much money is in his bank account, if his kids are getting a good schooling, but his eyes glaze over confronted with:
"different intensities of greenhouse impact and are each given a different multiplyer to create a weighted sum of GHG, usually measured in CO2 equivalent. This is measured by the government and reported to the UNFCCC."
- no disrespect to your point or veracity, it's just it's not in the same league as "I pay loads in tax and my kids can't read, so I ain't voting for this lot again."
"Shit it's hot and it's xxxx's fault" would work, but we're not that far gone yet, are we?
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