Copenhagen Summit - Duuh!

[joggerjayne]

Well, that was a waste of time.

Before the Summit, I said that the best contribution the delegates could make to global warming would be to cancel the Summit, and not fly to Copenhagen.

How true that turned out to be.

What a farce !

So ... anyone got any better ideas?

[birdie1971]

Yes it was a complete farce. Not concluding the talks with a legally binding deal pretty much means that the whole endeavour was a waste of time and more importantly, money. Just how much has this pointless exercise in grandstanding actually cost?

I see even the Great God Obama couldn't sort it out. He swans in at the last moment and expects everyone to suddenly dance to his tune. The arrogance of the man is quite a thing to behold. I recently heard that he had awarded himself a 'B+' for his first 11 months in office during a hard-hitting interview with... Oprah Winfrey! What a prat.

http://news.yahoo.com...p/uspoliticsobamayear

[birdie1971]

As to having a better idea, I have one.

Let's take politics out of scientific research. As soon as politics sticks its nose into science, the science is corrupted by it. Previously dispassionate scientists are now leaned upon to produce a particular result. What happens then?

Data is manipulated. Research exploring alternative explanations is stifled. Lies are reported as truth. The public is mislead by the media and the media, fuelled by ratings, very rarely report the alternate viewpoint. The whole cycle repeats and culminates in a pointless, expensive farce much like we have just witnessed.

Politics poisons science.

[rov1200]

As the decisions are only made by the US and China the rest of us could have tuned in remotely to watch the proceedings. We got ourselves heard by promising a cut of 42% in emissions and forking out £6bn. Our powers of persuasion have got the rest of the world pledging taxpayers cash.. But IOU's are a con trick and are often defaulted upon as previous ones have shown.