Comments on: Copenhagen: EPIC SUMMIT FAIL http://numero57.net/2010/01/08/copenhagen-epic-summit-fail/ a blog by Jim Bliss Tue, 15 May 2012 02:49:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: merrick http://numero57.net/2010/01/08/copenhagen-epic-summit-fail/#comment-2183 merrick Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:08:01 +0000 http://numero57.net/?p=1960#comment-2183 <i>Any nation or government that genuinely feels combating Climate Change by limiting emissions is more important than economic growth (hint: it is) would simply announce unilateral cuts and wait for the rest of the world to catch up. They go down in history as The Good Guys</i> Not so sure on that one. They'd have to be certain that the rest of the world would definitely catch up. If they believed, as looks likely, that the rest of the world would romp ahead to the abyss making bumper profits until then, then the Good Guy nation would actually just be giving themselves some hardship before other people pull them to their deaths. And, of course, the ruling elite of that coutry would be overthrown very swiiftly indeed. As Danny Chivers put it in <a href="http://www.newint.org/features/2009/01/01/climate-justice-countdown1/" rel="nofollow">New Internationalist</a> <i>Imagine 10 rabbits lost at sea, in a boat carved out of a giant carrot. The carrot is their only source of food, so they all keep nibbling at it. The boat is shrinking rapidly – but none of them wants to be the first to stop, because then they’ll be the first to starve. There’s no point in any of them stopping unless everyone stops – if even one rabbit carries on eating, the boat will sink.</i> Any nation or government that genuinely feels combating Climate Change by limiting emissions is more important than economic growth (hint: it is) would simply announce unilateral cuts and wait for the rest of the world to catch up. They go down in history as The Good Guys

Not so sure on that one. They’d have to be certain that the rest of the world would definitely catch up. If they believed, as looks likely, that the rest of the world would romp ahead to the abyss making bumper profits until then, then the Good Guy nation would actually just be giving themselves some hardship before other people pull them to their deaths.

And, of course, the ruling elite of that coutry would be overthrown very swiiftly indeed.

As Danny Chivers put it in New Internationalist

Imagine 10 rabbits lost at sea, in a boat carved out of a giant carrot.

The carrot is their only source of food, so they all keep nibbling at it. The boat is shrinking rapidly – but none of them wants to be the first to stop, because then they’ll be the first to starve. There’s no point in any of them stopping unless everyone stops – if even one rabbit carries on eating, the boat will sink.

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