So naive was the world about Copenhagen

After giving lots of hope and squandering millions of dollars, the climate change summit in Copenhagen drew to a close without even taking off. Leaders from 192 countries brainstormed for over ten days just to reach a forced consensus to declare an amorphous solution, as a majority of them were forced to accept an Obama brokered agreement on the final day.

The final (?) agreement aims to reduce carbon emissions to limit the increase in global temperatures to 2 degree C, but lacks any specification pinning down commitments necessary to reach that aim, let alone a legally binding agreement. Copenhagen, though, left a possibility of further discussions along the lines of reaching a binding agreement in the future.

Actually the world must have been naive to have thought that their leaders boarded planes to Denmark to hammer out a solution focusing on equal and proportionate distribution of the emission target among countries.

Why should a developed country think that it should suffer more to save the world from global warming? In the same way, why should a developing country should think that it should share the responsibility for the damage caused to the environment mostly by developed countries? This is not about being cynical, but being helpless when it comes to loosening of bootlaces in the midst of a neck to neck global competition.

Competition is something that global regulatory bodies see as necessary to bring about democracy in the market place. This is to make sure that consumers get maximum benefit out of each and every penny they spend. Telecom providers are vying to give out free calls and SMSs to subscribers, breeding a ‘free’ culture in the society.

Four years back, when I went to buy a mobile SIM card which cost 500 rupees, I had to go through certain cumbersome procedures. But last week, a marketing professional from a service providing firm spent a local call to see if I wanted a free SIM. So the current state of affairs has many customers wanting products at a nominal cost. This situation warrants mass production of goods and services to achieve profitability, bringing in a situation where factories all over the world would endlessly spit smoke to the sky.

So do we really need to wait for leaders to act? We, as consumers, can reduce emissions by resorting to a slew of measures like putting computers, electric bulbs, vehicle engines and other machines off while not in use. If the whole world were to do that, only that can take care of the increase in temperatures to a significant extent.