But some act like the issue isn't a matter of saving us from doom as much as it is a matter of shaking down the West for money:
A plan put forward by the European Union sought strong language that would bind all countries equally to carry out their emissions commitments.
India led the objectors, saying it wanted a less rigorous option. Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan argued that the EU proposal undermined the 20-year-old principle that developing countries have less responsibility than industrial nations that caused the global warming problem through 200 years of pollution.
"The equity of burden-sharing cannot be shifted," she said in angry tones.
Chinese negotiator Xie Zhenhua gave heated support for the Indians, saying the industrial nations have not lived up to their promises while China and other developing countries had launched ambitious green programs.
Even if you accept the notion that global warming will kill us all, shouldn't saving the planet take priority over taking cash when failure to join the West in carbon emission reductions could fail to halt global warming? I mean, what good does cash do you when we're all dead? If India and China truly thought global warming was a problem, they'd understand that the equity of death-sharing cannot be shifted to the West alone for our past sins.
So it is just a shakedown. And as a bonus, they get a chance to catch up with us economically as we guiltily attach a ball and chain to our ankle.
We'll cripple our economies if the Durban crowd gets its way. If the perils of global warming really do turn out to be correct, we could find ourselves doing too little to halt global warming yet destroy our ability to do anything about it.
That sounds about right for the sainted international community. They can all just bite me.
