Besides, I didn't accuse him of denying global warming. I accused him of not taking it seriously, which is a whole other question. Cheaper fur coats, indeed. There's one worthy of Bush himself. "My True Religion Is Kindness" -- The Dalai Lama
You're angry with Russia, with Putin for not doing more, or anything, about global warming. So am I. Get in line. And yes, I am also mad at my own leaders. My solution is not to simply bitch about it. Like a lot of Kossaks, I've been busting my ass for 7 years trying to be part of the solution. I'm not sure it's doing any good, but I find it preferable to just complaining and doing nothing. So... again, besides complaining about Putin's inaction re:the environment (and using it as an opportunity to add something about or civil liberties, or democracy, or the rule of law, and old-style Soviet party bosses and Empire fetish), what can we do about it? Diplomatically we've burned our bridges and exhausted our leverage, just when Russia doesn't need us to pay the bills for them. And rather than leading by example and creating a movement so strong that Russia's lack of cooperation could have real repercussions for that country, our own leaders are doing little to give Russia any motivation to be more environmentally responsible
Look, I try to remain optimistic and constructive about the situation. Probably, like the US, Russia will have to see real tangible negative impacts of climate change and be swayed by financial incentive before they proceed to do anything about it. Given their geography and economic situation, that could be a long time coming. What to do in the mean time? I don't know. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
