India Embraces Frugal Prudence

It appears that, at least for the time being, India has thwarted the West's bold commitments to action for the sake of action and a justification of detrimental means to idealistic, and questionable, ends -- the move to prevent 'global warming'.

India has taken the hardest line in the negotiations so far. Along with China, India refused at the meeting of the Group of Eight industrialised nations this month to sign up to a target of cutting global emissions by half by 2050. The countries were holding out to gain concessions from the west on financing.

The claims from Mr Ramesh that Western science was wrong on the question of melting Himalayan glaciers appeared to reinforce Delhi’s recalcitrant stance.

Mr Ramesh on Friday reiterated that India would not accept emissions caps to held curb global warming, Bloomberg reported. “The world has nothing to fear from India’s development ... An artificial cap is not desirable and not even necessary as we haven’t been responsible for emissions in the first place,” he said.

Earlier this week, he also challenged Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, over her appeal to India to embrace a low-carbon future and not repeat the mistakes of the developed world in seeking fast industrialization.

Yes, of course, brilliant! Who would want to industrialize quickly? We should have more people impoverished for longer periods of time. I'm sure all impoverished people in the third world would love to hear that. I wonder how many gallons of jet fuel Hillary consumed in order to tell the poor in person that they should continue living in the slums longer for the sake of the environment.

Hillary Clinton is about as useful, and intelligent, as a stress ball. All joking aside -- asking a poor and developing nation to curb its growth outright by cutting energy use, or undertaking more expensive (cleaner) energy alternatives, is like telling a person who makes minimum wage to buy an $80,000 Lexus instead of a used $2,000 Chevy because of its cleaner running engine and safety features.

As detrimental as 'green' policies like cap & trade are to developed nations, burdening countries that cannot provide clean water to most of its citizens with expensive emission caps will likely lead to significantly higher and prolonged levels of poverty amongst its citizens, as well as decreased economic growth. Maybe Clinton can visit Darfur next, and tell them how they ought to install solar panels immediately.