[pp.int.general] Copenhagen, our turn to dive into

[Reinier Bakels]

> Well... my father (an electrical engineer working in the construction of
> power plants, so familiar with some of the issues discussed) thinks that
> Copenhagen is the way in which the western countries want to block the
> economical rise of China and India trying to impose technologies that
> they cannot develop on their own.
The lecture by a General Electric manager I heard some months ago did   not 
avoid the impressiona that this is just one giant business opportunity for 
General Electric.Still, there is apparently a commitment that western 
countries will pay for "climate" measures in lesser developed countries. So 
probably GE will try to achieve that the aid  flowing to lesser developed 
countries makes a 180 degree U-turn and flows back directly into the pockets 
of GE shareholders.
You can't really blame them - but you can blame politicians who allow this 
to happen.

Something else: in my country, far right wing politicians pretend that the 
alleged climate change is just hysteria, and a waste of money that could be 
spent to better purposes like improving care for the elderly. I would not 
like to be identified with these islamofoob assholes.

Still, there is no 100% certainty. Global warming may be a proven fact BUT 
it could still be a natural temporary variation. And even if it is not, is 
it really caused by CO2? Finally, who are the worst wrongdoers? Is it me, 
because I leave the TV on standby rather than switching it off? Or making an 
occasional intercontinental flight? Or is it perhaps the massive burning of 
tropical woods, because poor countries (Brailia, Indonesia) want to turn 
woods into agricultural land - and grow maize for biofuels intended to save 
the environment ...

The counter argument by a progerssive politician in a recent TV debate was: 
we can never be 100% certain, but would you be prepared to take the risk? 
And don't you believe that we have to move away from mineral fuels anyway 
because they are limited - and mostly come from instable (muslim!) 
countries?

Anyway, the most optimistic perspective is that the tormoil about patents in 
connection with climate measures has a catalytic effect onto patent reform. 
Triggered by whom? By Pirates, of course!

reinier