01-Jul-2010 12:32
By Bruce Hopkins
To lead or not to lead - that is the question!
Nick Smith says out in the open "we (NZ) don’t need to save the planet" - now there’s forward thinking.
Whether or not you agree with the ETS, it seems one thing is clear, we human beings are making a bloody mess of our living room. When we’re not slaughtering each other or the other creatures we share our place with, we’re taking the rubbish out and dumping it over the fence.
I much preferred when ETs were little ground breaking digital animation characters that rode on bikes with their human buddies, and made millions for movie producers. I am a simple person, and find it hard wrapping my brain around many of the clever schemes that those who purport to be our leaders think up. So can we get back to basics?
It seems to me the approach to humankind's contribution to the world's environmental/climatic decline, is being handled much like the approach to the GFC. Lets check out the root cause of both... the Global Financial Crisis was a result of that lovely human condition called greed. The Emissions Trading Scheme is a reaction to conditions brought about by that lovely human condition called... greed.
So how do the wise ones think these issues should be dealt with? The GFC apparently can be dealt with by creating the right conditions for people to SPEND MORE!
The levels of pollution we create, which is essentially what the ETS is about, can be dealt with, according to our wise leaders, by making people hand over more money, or planting a tree.
Phew, so we don’t actually need to alter what it is we do, that’s a relief. If you’re rich it’ll be a nuisance but it’s only money, if you’re not rich well hurry up and make yourself rich, otherwise hard luck.
Quick, man the printing presses, we just need more money! The solution to all our woes. Inflate, deflate... our lungs do it with every breath.