A caveat, as we flip through the news accounts of the latest UN climate-change report, which now has the likes of Jacques Chirac, Al Gore and other political horse-traders chiding us that unless we all sign on to yet another UN grand plan for the planet, involving upfront yet more powers, more meetings and more taxpayer money first and foremost for the UN and its pals, then the mountains shall sink and the oceans shall rise — or something like that.
For years, UN-backed environmental initiatives have themselves been polluted by the sleaze of political backroom deals — seeking to soak U.S. taxpayers while exempting and enriching industrialists in some of the world’s top producers of environmental crud, such as China and India. One question is whether any UN report emerging from this grossly politicized ethos is as authoritative as the UN assures us it is. This report, as it happens, involved some 17 UN agencies, and was edited by government officials from more than 100 countries. Wow, that sounds important. But is the input of 17 UN agencies and 100 governments — served up on a platter by French President Jacques Chirac — really a recipe for unimpeachable wisdom and integrity?
Similar group efforts at the UN have brought us everything from Oil-for-Fraud to the farce that parades as a Human Rights Council to the latest scandal involving cash funneled via UN agencies to the rogue regime of North Korea.
The earth is a big place; much remains unknown, and of what we do know, the most accurate insights may not sprouting inside the UN hothouse. It is quite possible that centuries from now, historians will look back on the current furor over global warming much as we now smile at such quaint notions as the earth being flat.
But if, indeed, we face any sort of climate crisis, then surely it ought to be handled under auspices less murky, corrupt, politically compromised and full of hot air than the UN.
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