Kyoto II

My traffic has been pretty decent this week, but posting about Global Warming always seems to get a bit of a storm going on SayUncle, so I thought I’d give it a try. The EU is getting pissed at Bush over global warming. Although this is about as newsworthy as John Edwards in a hair salon, I was taken aback by this:

But the plans are starkly different from the proposal tabled by Germany for next week’s G8 summit, which would require leaders to agree to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius and require stringent emissions cuts.

It seems to be this is something out of la la land. Even if we are almost certain global warming is happening, and even if we’re pretty sure that man is making a contribution to it. Do we know how much carbon we have to cut over what period of time to prevent a two degree temperature rise? Do we have that kind of fine control over global climate? Maybe in Star Trek, but not in real life.

I also kind of agree with bringing in China and India. No solution that doesn’t involve them is going to matter, as China is set to exceed the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and they run one of the most energy inefficient economies in the world.

The Europeans may want the symbolism of pushing for drastic emissions cuts, but that’s not possible, and probably is a cure worse than the disease. Personally, I’d like to start out by building more nuclear power plants, and encouraging people to make their homes more energy efficient. We had a drop in emissions this year because of milder weather. What could we accomplish if everyone pitched in to conserve? Here’s a modest proposal. Anyone who can cut their home energy usage by more than 10% can apply for a 5% reduction in their income tax rate?

Sure, that would mean the government has to scrimp too, from the lost revenue, but why shouldn’t the politicians have to sacrifice too?