emission rights

[kandrathe]

I don't have to tell you how damaging this kind of scams are for people's belief in the government when it comes to the greenhouse effect.

The thing about slime is... The harder you try to grip it, the more that squeezes through your fingers. I'm old now, and I've earned the right to be a cynic. Oh, and BTW, Google has a passable translator. Here is your link, filtered through the translator; Hint of cheating around many CO2 projects. You need to read it with a Yoda accent for full effect though.

Money begets politics. Politics begets legalism. Legalism begets lawyers. Lawyers beget loopholes. Loopholes beget money.

Every election cycle, politicians ply you with the idealistic words and charm that you want to hear. They have to pretend to be a common person, just like you, who believes in the same ideals that you believe in, in order to get your vote. Once the first office is secured, and they've proven to be useful to the money interests in the cycle I've described above, incumbency and the power brokers do the rest. They perpetuate the system. Anyone who does get in with the aim of dismantling the system will be expelled.

In the US, it is not a coincidence that when you look at the professions of most of our politicians you would see they are lawyers. Most look at a stint in public office as a way to claim a niche market, and then represent clients as they pick their way through the jungle of laws they helped to build.

The question for you and I would be; Where can we best disrupt the cycle? I believe the answer is in choosing the type of person who is willing to hack down the jungle of law, and to simplify the system such that we do not need so many lawyers.

This is the point of contention between Pete and I in our previous discussion. In order for things to work for the people, the people need to diligently ensure they elect officials who serve their interests. They don't. People become complacent, and because they know little about what is happening around them, they are susceptible to charm, cunning, wit, and lies. The people, including you, keep perpetuating this system which mostly serves to separate fools from as much of their money as is possible without making them destitute. The politicians practice a smoke and mirrors deception, funneling your money into the interests which elected them, while attempting to convince you that its for your own good. I could cite any number of examples... But, yours will do.

More links, links, and links on how the Carbon Credit schemes are fraught with fraud and abuse. I would say in general, because they too are environmentally idealistic, whereas the people (companies really) who have money interests are profit motivated, and don't really care about the environment. Here is Dr. Micheal Wara's testimony to the US congress. Note where he says, "The good news, in theory, is that most of the growth in CDM has been outside the HFC‐23 sector (and projects involving other industrial gases with similar drawbacks). The bad news is that these new projects reveal even deeper problems with the CDM mechanism—problems that, for projects that could theoretically deliver the largest reductions in emissions, can’t be fixed."

And, I would add that even if the system begins with the best of people and intentions, that over time, our systems tend to become corrupted and complacent with the status quo. The key word is diligence. Much like any UN sanctions program against Iran, Iraq, or North Korea, eventually the system itself become the generator of wealth through the black market. The prohibition of alcohol in the US, became the engine of economic power for those people who were willing to operate outside the laws (and in this case, in the gray area). In reality, our legalistic systems tend to harm the bulk of peaceful, idealistic and law abiding citizens, yet, rewarding the minority of slime who ooze beyond the law. Similarly, in the US, we can crush drug cartels over and over again south of the US border, but while the demand for product remains, eventually the diligence to containment wanes resulting in the rapid return to empowering the wrong people.