The Great Copenhagen Cock-up (Politics)

[Mick Harper]

So what is the phenomenon I am referring to? We usually suppose that when it comes to anything Green, governments are moderately 'good guys'. They don't want the earth turning into a fiery ball any more than anyone else does.

We understand too that it pays them--because it pays us--for everyone else to be saving the planet while we carry on with the old ways. Unless you're American or Chinese, what your country does is not going to determine when or whether we reach the fiery ball stage. So 'boxing clever' we understand.

'Hypocrisy' we understand too but it struck me the 'tyre recycling scam' went beyond hypocrisy, beyond careful ignoral, it verged on the downright criminal. It is the very fact that both the British and Indian governments -- and presumably other governments as well, both in the first and third worlds -- have erected a sophisticated 'tyre recycling scam' they know is a scam, is the phenomenon I was referring to.

* It is not like, say, the 'wood pellet electricity' scheme. It is possible, just about, to argue (to believe) that this is doing some good or at least not causing much harm.
* It is not like, say, the 'carbon capture scheme'. Who knows, despite all the evidence, that might turn out to be viable.
* The 'recycling tyre scheme' is just an assemblage of actual, honest-to-God, well-known facts.

Of course my own scheme is to use it to put the boot into recycling generally but this will do as a first step. If only I could find a way of getting the message out there.