PLEASE, folks, don't reply both on- and off-list! I just spent 15 minutes
researching and writing a reply to this message and sent it to Richard
directly in the belief that he was replying to me offlist.

On Thu, Feb 19, 2004 at 02:11:25PM -0000, Richard Ali wrote:
> >There's a difference between being actively concerned and advocating
> >government as the answer to any and every problem.
> As global climate change is by definition global in nature, how other than
> by government cooperation can effective solutions and strategies be devised?

1) The jury is definitely still out on global climate change. It is not the
absolute scientific fact that some folks paint it as. (See
http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-pm072998.html for one discussion.)
2) Considering that the usual product of government cooperation is crap -
see the OSI protocol stack for another example - it's time to let someone
else try. If there really is a problem, why not simply state it and let the
private sector solve it? If it's really a problem, then financial incentives
are in order. After all, there will be costs associated with the problem, if
there really is a problem, and if you grant private industry economic
concessions that, in the long run, cost less than that, you've come out
ahead.
3) The Kyoto Protocol is a perfect example of the kind of governmental
failure peculiar to the UN: the "let's stick it to America" syndrome. That
body is fundamentally incapable of reaching conclusions that do not strike
at American interests. It's done so time and time again. It should be
completely unsurprising that the US rejects so many of its actions.

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