Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Keep the fingers pointed

One point raised at a session during the World Economic Forum on East Asia is to stop blaming one another for the world's environmental problems and to start working on ways to solve them together.

Some countries like Malaysia feel they are often being blamed for contributing to environmental problems and not been recognised for the good it has done, such as making sure it does not exhaust its petroleum products. According to Malaysia, this is hypocrisy and we should all stop pointing fingers.

True, it is hypocrisy but there's one thing countries (including Singapore) keep forgetting. Pointing fingers WORKS!

Let's be honest; most countries will not take environmental problems seriously if left to themselves. Even countries like the US ignore international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol for its' own reasons. Just think of how bad things would be if no one point fingers. We can all dream of a time when countries have a changed behaviour towards climate change, but that is a dream. Most countries has not (and will not) made any commitments that are required to reduce greenhouse emissions.

It is true that some countries are doing good things in the fight againest environmental problems, but it is nowhere near enough. Blaming one another is the best (and in some cases only) way we have to get actions taken. Until countries start taking actions on their own, keeping pointing fingers guys!

2 comments:

Hachiko Monogatari said...

It's true that pointing fingers does have a certain effect. The only problem is while one finger is pointing at the offender, the other three are pointing back at the accuser. So I guess both sides have to take responsibilities for the mess we're now in.

Unfortunately, as you said, it's quite unlikely that the present grim situation is going to let up. Too many major industries are tied to petroleum (the black gold), to turn back would mean a total disaster of global proportion. And many people (including us), are going to risk losing our jobs and livelihood as well.

So what are we gonna do? You tell me, friend!

Ghost said...

I agree with you on this. No one is willing to take responsibilities for the grim situation we are in. Industries like petroleum, mining etc, are just destroying the world for money. Turning the world back is impossible when even leaders like Bush and John Howard refuse to admit there is global warming. What we can do is slow it down by doing our part in recycling. It's small, but slowing it down is still better than nothing.