Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Deal or No Deal...

It’s been a long, very long past two weeks or more. The trip took a lot out of me. Long hours in the save the world conference drained the mind. The mind which was already on slow snail tortoise like speed due to the cold weather. It was very very cold. Temperatures in the capital of Legoland were below zero at times. Had multiple layers of clothing on. Add to that gloves, long johns and a silly hat. Silly it was but good to keep the ears warm. It was snowing too. Well after many years not seeing snow, some of us were so sakai about it. Took pictures in the middle of the night with some of the locals looking amused at our antics. They must be thinking who are these sakai lot.

Saving the world is not easy task. Even when the world agrees we are facing catastrophic future if we continue our lives business as usual. With 192 countries involved, all with differing agendas and priorities, it was very difficult, almost impossible to come to an agreement. So there we were, 192 countries; more than 110 heads of states or governments in attendance from various background, culture, style of government. Hearing them, one by one from small island nations to major powers. Some inspirational, some brought tears to the eyes and some brought disappointment. But as in many things in this world, the strong dictates the weak. Here is no exception. The major powers tried to dictate. Fortunately, we are under the United Nations where one country has one vote. Not so simple for them to steamroll their wishes. In the end, after marathon sessions, they came up with an agreement where only few countries signed up. The rest just took note. Was it a good deal? It seemed to bring all, everyone, to agree to a deal was impossible. Even more so if each country put their self interests first, which is understandable.

But all is not lost. We, the ordinary people can contribute. We can reduce our carbon footprint in our everyday lives. Little by little, here and there, maybe we can help reduce our carbon emission and save the world.

P.S.
Picture this: on the radio, quiz session, the DJ asking the question, the caller supposes to answer. Then at the start, the DJ asked the caller 'are you ready WITH the question?'. I didn’t know the format is the caller is asking the question. Very creative indeed. Or maybe they want to make it into a hilarious show. Funny indeed. Listening to the supposed to be number one radio station always brought surprises and unearths gems like this.

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