Been thinking about doing a top-ten excuses for not going green. Without doubt the Arctic Monkeys of the rundown would be the old China and India complaint: "there's no point in us going green unless China and India...." etc. etc.
Interesting feature, then, on the world service today http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/worldtoday/news/story/2007/05/070501_podcast0105.shtml
Yes - China often tries to derail carbon cutting (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6610653.stm). But it is also the victim of a sleight of hand. Because companies in the west are exporting to Asia not just their manufacturing jobs, but the carbon emissions that go with them. When a British firm makes an energy saving kitchen appliance in China, for instance, the goodwill and the large chunk of the profits go back to the UK. The carbon footprint involved in making it stays in China.
This was a nice feature. We need more people encouraging us to peer behind the 'China/India' cliche and to beware of a nationalist filter when looking at the elaborately interconnected world of global business. World service can be genius
Still haven't forgiven them for axeing 'The Westway', though - the greatest west-london, medically based radio soap opera of all time http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/westway/index.shtml
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