A propos postmodern

Alles was zum Gipfel in Kopenhagen noch zu sagen ist, sagen Michael Schellenberger und Ted Nordhaus in einem sehr unterhaltsamen Essay auf dem Blog des Breakthrough Institute. Zwei Auszüge:

"With all hopes of a treaty abandoned months ago, diplomats and greens are in a state of serious cognitive dissonance, attempting to resolve the seriousness of the problem with the total lack of a meaningful government response. They do so, not by asking hard questions about the viability of the Kyoto framework, but rather by creating a simulacrum of action to substitute for any meaningful action to reduce emissions or adapt to a warmer world. 

In this, Copenhagen represents the first truly postmodern global event in human history. Other generations had Versailles, Yalta, Bretton-Woods -- agreements that re-organized nation states and shaped the modern world. We, by contrast, have Copenhagen, which has no power to do anything. In reality, Copenhagen is no more effectual than the made for media confabs like Davos. But the United Nations, multinational green groups, and sympathetic reporters have succeeded in creating the impression of action where there is, in fact, none at all. (...)

Yet, from London to Canberra to Washington, D.C., liberals and greens sell business-as-usual policies as the keys to averting ecological apocalypse. And everywhere conservatives and skeptics warn that these same policies will lead to economic ruin. The denialists' pas de deux continues, the multiple echo chambers spinning in unison.

In this environment, skeptics and greens alike make hallucinogenic statements and create bizarre media stunts. The president of the Maldives, a nation of 300,000 people, summoned the press corps to a 'cabinet meeting' -- under water, in scuba gear -- based on the apparent belief that such media stunts will persuade China and India, nations of two billion people, to fundamentally alter their development paths. Youth climate activists sing 'Give Peace a Chance' not because global warming is like war but because it's the best protest song they knew.

Skeptical conservatives insist that Copenhagen, a Davos-style green media event, is in fact the beginning of a new, secret global government. And Senator James Inhofe, who not only denies man-made warming but also believes that it was invented by a vast conspiracy, announced that he would travel to Copenhagen to act as a one man 'truth squad'."

(via Roger Pielke Jr.)