Frank's Musings

The purchase of carbon-offset credits by polluting countries from corrupt developing country governments is just a scheme for burnishing the reputations of polluting countries and their businesses in the eyes of climate change activists by burying their taxpayers’ funds in the pockets of crafty LDC politicians.  If influential people express their concern for the future livability of planet Earth, the temptation will always exist for scammers to convince the public to devote their resources to soothe their consciences by supporting a trading charade that can be portrayed as a solution to global warming. Of course, there are also eager partners in less advanced economies who are more than willing to participate in the scam by selling credits for the “greenness” of their own unfortunately still undeveloped industries.

Society’s level of concern with the impact of climate change on the survival of life on Earth, and with that impact’s immediacy, will determine whether it takes effective remedial action.   The world will likely simply trust in the innovation of our progeny to correct the problem and  assuage our guilt for leaving them behind in an environment much less promising than the one into which we were born.