Monday, February 22, 2010

Guess they've never heard of Skype

Claudia Rosett notices that the UN eco-luminaries are meeting again. And check out where:

Now they’re at it again. The UN Environment Program, which is based in Nairobi, is convening a set of meetings this week – not in Nairobi, or New York, but at the same Bali beach resort (and convention center) where they sacrificed all that time for the greater good in 2007. Never mind the UN’s continuing campaign — in the face of its crumbling “climate science” — to restrict and control carbon emissions. Yet again, we are asked to believe the UN deserves special exemptions from its own preachings. Its conferees are jetting to Bali for the greater good of all the little folk, whose job is merely to pay the bills for such pleasures, and live with any resulting rationing and regulation. According to the Jakarta Post, some 1,500 people from 192 countries are expected to attend this shindig — where UNEP claims that envoys of some 140 governments will be present. The pre-session events (the UN goes in for a lot of those on Bali) have already begun.
Unless all the attendees arrived via the Kon-Tiki or something, this conference represents a lot of airline miles and features a Bunyanesque carbon footprint, doncha think? I guess I'd be more inclined to believe that there's an impending crisis if the crisis-mongers actually behaved as if there were a crisis.

7 comments:

Night Writer said...

Heh. I suspect Kate will remain impervious, as will the delgates. Skype, however, is great.

My wife and daughter (the younger) both have it installed on their new laptops along with webcams. When the young author is pounding away up in her room (most of the time) it is nearly impossible to call to her without busting a blood vessel due to the layout of the house. We've used primitive drumming methods until know (pounding the inside of the laundry chute that runs next to her bedroom) but now my wife "calls" her from the living room via Skype. What hath God wrought?

my name is Amanda said...

Okay look, I'm only hearing about it here, so I'm not prepared to defend whatever extravagances will possibly be involved.

But dude, this is an international organization. SOMEONE is going to have to travel outside their own country. Lots of someones. Skype is great, but it doesn't match personal interactions.

Mr. D said...

Okay look, I'm only hearing about it here, so I'm not prepared to defend whatever extravagances will possibly be involved.

Well, you don't have to defend it. As a rule, it's wise not to defend the indefensible. But you're going to do it anyway, of course. :)

But dude, this is an international organization. SOMEONE is going to have to travel outside their own country. Lots of someones. Skype is great, but it doesn't match personal interactions.

If the conference is necessary at all, which is hardly a given, I'd suggest that Nairobi (where the organization is headquartered) would be a more centrally-located choice. But what fun would that be?

Like I said, if AGW is really a crisis, folks like the conferees in question should be setting an example by curtailing their own travel. They aren't, though, which should tell you something.

Chuckwagon Boy said...

Mr. D., have you seen this article:

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/02/19/how-al-gore-wrecked-planet-earth/

Mr. D said...

Thanks for sharing that, CB. Mead has been writing quite extensively on these matters the last month or so and while I hadn't seen this piece, it's an apt summation.

my name is Amanda said...

The UN is a worldwide organization. It would make sense to have it in any country in the world.

Mr. D said...

The UN is a worldwide organization. It would make sense to have it in any country in the world.

Any country? How about North Korea, then? Or maybe Uruguay? Or perhaps Vanuatu?

For a normal conference, perhaps. But these guys are AGW acolytes and they are telling us that man-made pollution is killing the planet. And then jetting across the world to Bali to celebrate themselves.

They are headquartered in Nairobi, so they ought to meet there. Or break out the Skype.