[...]Nobel laureate Paul Krugman has said those who oppose the new climate change Bill in the United States are committing "treason against the planet". Other less reputed academics have said irresponsible environment policies must be treated as "crime against humanity". Some are saying there is too much democracy which is preventing a firm decision on emission cuts to be undertaken by all countries.
Cutting per capita carbon emissions by 80-90% will not happen through such mechanisms as carbon trading and technology transfers. In short, climate change cannot be seen as another instrument for enhancing global trade in new, low carbon technologies, desirable as they may be, per se.
For a real solution, we may have to go back to Gandhi's position that the world has enough to satisfy everybody's need, but not enough for anyone's greed. At a moral level, which is also ecologically compatible, each individual will have to examine his/her carbon footprint and each country its development model for any meaningful consensus to evolve on the climate change debate. This is too critical to be left merely to global diplomacy![...]
