The Copenhagen Summit has been another example of how easy it is to control people by promising them something for nothing. It happens every day, it’s the definition of the flim flam. Almost all humans believe in the Free Lunch Delusion, not just about climate change but about anything. Our brethern will blindly believe in the wonders of industrial agriculture, in endless economic growth [the mother of oxymorons], in consumer credit and a million other self-deceptions. Humans seem capable of believing any arguement that says some miraculous set of circumstances are going to deliver the goods without they themselves having to do the work it really takes to get them.It always turns out the same, the promises are bogus, what benefits do accrue go to those who were promoting the flim flam. People just shrug, learn nothing and go on to believe the next con man. P.T. Barnum said of the sucker mentality "there’s a new one born every day", but he far underestimated the math.
In the climate change debate the free lunch the folks in the industrialized world want to believe in is that they can keep shitting in their nest without nesting in their shit. The roots of this Free Lunch Delusion go deep, but there are no climate miracles. The only solution to overconsumption is to consume less.
Our species is in big trouble, the modern world is powered by a selfish greed paradigm. Materialistic blinders block any thought of wanting less or of consuming less in the present to attain some elusive goal far into the future. The worldwide shopping culture won't remedy any problem unless the results are quick and easy to see. Consumers feel entitled to their goodies, want stuff and want it now. So, big trouble is our future. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.
#1 quote from Copenhagen on Twitter: "If the climate was a bank, the United States would already have saved it," -Hugo Chavez
