House motion passes supporting Kyoto

[tml12]

Obviously 'some' people could care less about the environment when they can't even be bothered to...

Obviously a lot of people don't care about anything other than themselves and will engage in all sorts of destructive behaviour if there no negative consequences. That's where penalties and taxes for such behaviour come in.

That's a tough one Saturn. Are you arguing that not enough people have a good sense of personal responsibility so they need the state to pressure them into conforming to a certain societal position?

[Saturn]

Obviously a lot of people don't care about anything other than themselves and will engage in all sorts of destructive behaviour if there no negative consequences. That's where penalties and taxes for such behaviour come in.

That's a tough one Saturn. Are you arguing that not enough people have a good sense of personal responsibility so they need the state to pressure them into conforming to a certain societal position?

Exactly, that's why we put people in jail - because they don't have a good sense of personal responsibility and commit crimes. We have sin taxes that amount to 2/3 of the price of cigarettes and ban smoking in public places because people aren't responsible enough to stop poisoning themselves and others. We have many tools and many measures in place to discourage and penalize destructive behaviour. The same tools should be used to discourage and penalize energy waste and the resulting pollution. If people aren't reasonable enough to minimize their damage to our environment, then they should be forced to.

[Argus]

That's a very good point, and when our tax dollars start going to china and india and other countries to purchase carbon credits so we can meet our kyoto targets, us right wingers will hold you to that.

In that case, you right-wingers better get your act together because if we end up giving any of our tax dollars to China and India, we'll hold you responsible for that.

Why? The Conservatives have been in power for 1 year.

The Liberals, who set out our targets and signed off on them, were in power for 13 years and did nothing.

And you clearly don't hold them responsible for anything.

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Our politicians are really smart. They blame everybody for everything and accept no responsibility for their actions.

From my little soap box, I don't give a rats behind about who did what when they were in power. What I want is to see the people in power NOW get off their behinds and do something.

Kyoto or not, there is a freaking problem to be dealt with. The way I see it is that the government in power at the time signed onto an international agreement in our names. We therefore have some responsibility to live up to our word as given by our elected officials. The time for pointing fingers and posturing is over, and it is time to get our collective act together and do something.

[Argus]

Our politicians are really smart. They blame everybody for everything and accept no responsibility for their actions.

From my little soap box, I don't give a rats behind about who did what when they were in power. What I want is to see the people in power NOW get off their behinds and do something.

Kyoto or not, there is a freaking problem to be dealt with. The way I see it is that the government in power at the time signed onto an international agreement in our names. We therefore have some responsibility to live up to our word as given by our elected officials. The time for pointing fingers and posturing is over, and it is time to get our collective act together and do something.

Why?

Even with herculean efforts, our affect on climate change will be extremely minimal. Nothing we do will even slow down the growth in greenhouse gases for at least fifty years. Then, if all the world works really hard at it, we'll be able to ease off on the growth - that doesn't mean cutting down on the gases, just easing how fast they grow. And that's if the whole world, including China, India, Russia, and the US, who are not doing a thing, really work at it.

The only thing which will make a serious difference is technology. We should, if we care and are worried about climate change, be putting our money into better technology, especially technology to produce energy. Everything else is just a bandage on a gushing wound.

And that presumes that global warming is really the responsibility of man. I have my doubts, and I've seen a lot of common sense statements to the contrary. Nor does it impress me that the UN issued it's "summary" of the scientific findings before the findings, and says that's so the findings can be adjusted to bring them in line with the summary. That, on the surface of it, is jaw-dropping lunacy. The summary, btw, was written largely by non-scientists.