Tis to laugh

So what's with the G8 Leaders planting trees? There they were, picture splashed around the world, bunch of guys in suits, shovels in hand, planting a bunch of trees.

Why is it that every time the suits get together to talk about the well being of the "world", someone thinks that it's a good idea for them to go out and plant trees to show their concern for the environment? Do they really think we're fooled? Is that why there are no stated times for the reduction of carbon emissions or other measures that would bring tangible changes. Come on, for years the leader of the "free world", aka George Bush, has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

"The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases (GHG), or engaging in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these green house gases.
The Kyoto Protocol now covers 181 countries globally but only 60% of countries in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions. As of December 2007, the US and Kazakhstan are the only signatory nations not to have ratified the act. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012, and international talks began in May 2007 on a subsequent commitment period."

Let's forget for a moment that the Head Suits usually travel with a posse of secondary suits and then the host country is required to provide a bunch of services and a fleet of transport vehicles, plus the usual entertainment etc. Is is really necessary to continuously have these mega-conferences? I'm sure Hokkaido Toyako is gorgeous, but you'd think, we sent a man to the moon we could figure out how to video-conference in real time right.

I think Hollywood is responsible for a lot of sins but most of all, I'm beginning to suspect all those doomsday prophecy movies have made leaders think that someone will come along and save us from ourselves at the last minute. It's getting to be more obvious that global warming is not a Will Smith movie and yet, lots of fiddling going on. I have friends who are what I call international Public Servants and the stories they tell about the lack of real concern for issues that do not involve arms, huge amounts of commerce, gas and oil at these mega conferences, can make you really wonder. There is so much to do; I hate that I have to quote Madonna and Justin Timberlake but "tick, tock, tick, tock". Are we really going to wait until we have four minutes to save the world?

By all means go plant some trees, we could sure use 'em, but please also get off your collective asses and make some real commitments to change please.

Reduce, reuse, recycle.