The world was watching Copenhagen, the location of the 2009 Climate Change Summit. Attention to mother earth’s overheating problem finally got its long awaited center stage. Centuries of deforestation and pollution have proven mother earth is hot and mad as heck. Scientist have screamed for years, “You’re killing the earth!” Corporations have whispered, “You’re killing our profits.” In the middle of this yelling match are species being fished into extinction and snow capped mountains only seeing mud on their tops.
Earth activist saw the climate summit as an opportunity to protest and become a pain in the royal neck of rich countries known for polluting. Their protest also brought attention to corporations that cause contamination to populations around the world. Poor countries finally had an audience to tell how drought causes famine and that economic debt rises in proportion to temperatures.
Wall Street also took an opportunity to capitalize on this Climate Change Summit. According to climate economists, pollution can be measured as a commodity and sold for profit. These economists presented a proposal to help reduce pollution worldwide and it caused much debate. The program is called Cap and Trade. This program would cap a limit on the amount of pollution (carbon) a country or corporation could release in water, land or air. If the country or corporation does not exceed their carbon pollution limit (cap), they would be able to sale the excess as a pollution “credit” on the open market. These unused carbon credits would then be traded as a commodity on Wall Street.
If you look at a nighttime global picture of earth you’ll see Africa is dark. This darkness is a symbol of carbon pollution. Where lights exist, so do industry, manufacturing and carbon pollution. Needless to say, the richest countries are brightly lit even from space. As China, Europe and the United States burn carbon they will no doubt benefit from this Cap and Trade idea. To me, it looks a lot like Wall Street’s mortgage loan bundling scam and the cause of our current recession.
As our SUV’s guzzle gas processed in plants that pollute our air, and we talk on cell phones that pull electricity from power plants built near dams that block rivers and kill fish, earth is sick and Wall Street wants a piece of the action. Even though this Cap and Trade idea is deviously bright, I ponder if we should sale the earth’s health on Wall Street. To take the earth’s pain and make a profit just doesn’t seem right. If Cap and Trade is adopted only time will tell if it contributes to earth’s healing. Unfortunately, only our grandchildren will witness the outcome.
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Earth activist saw the climate summit as an opportunity to protest and become a pain in the royal neck of rich countries known for polluting. Their protest also brought attention to corporations that cause contamination to populations around the world. Poor countries finally had an audience to tell how drought causes famine and that economic debt rises in proportion to temperatures.
Wall Street also took an opportunity to capitalize on this Climate Change Summit. According to climate economists, pollution can be measured as a commodity and sold for profit. These economists presented a proposal to help reduce pollution worldwide and it caused much debate. The program is called Cap and Trade. This program would cap a limit on the amount of pollution (carbon) a country or corporation could release in water, land or air. If the country or corporation does not exceed their carbon pollution limit (cap), they would be able to sale the excess as a pollution “credit” on the open market. These unused carbon credits would then be traded as a commodity on Wall Street.
If you look at a nighttime global picture of earth you’ll see Africa is dark. This darkness is a symbol of carbon pollution. Where lights exist, so do industry, manufacturing and carbon pollution. Needless to say, the richest countries are brightly lit even from space. As China, Europe and the United States burn carbon they will no doubt benefit from this Cap and Trade idea. To me, it looks a lot like Wall Street’s mortgage loan bundling scam and the cause of our current recession.
As our SUV’s guzzle gas processed in plants that pollute our air, and we talk on cell phones that pull electricity from power plants built near dams that block rivers and kill fish, earth is sick and Wall Street wants a piece of the action. Even though this Cap and Trade idea is deviously bright, I ponder if we should sale the earth’s health on Wall Street. To take the earth’s pain and make a profit just doesn’t seem right. If Cap and Trade is adopted only time will tell if it contributes to earth’s healing. Unfortunately, only our grandchildren will witness the outcome.
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