THERE’S a glaring incongruity in the public discussion of global warming. Here is perhaps the largest problem imaginable, the direct result of how people around the world have gone about producing and using energy for years. It is the epitome of a collective problem, and can be curtailed only if nations collectively agree to impose tough regulations on industrial carbon dioxide emissions while investing in new energy technologies.
Yet in the public sphere emphasis is repeatedly placed on individual behaviour – buy a hybrid car, turn out the lights, purchase carbon offset credits. As if reducing one person’s carbon footprint…
