“ This is analagous to the ‘indulgences’ that the Catholic church sold in the middle ages. The bishops collected lots of money and the sinners got redemption. Both parties liked that arrangement despite its absurdity. That is exactly what’s happening. We’ve got the developed countries who want to continue more or less business as usual and then these developing countries who want money and that is what they can get through offsets [sold through the carbon markets].
James Hansen (head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) talks about Obama’s “cap-and-trade” legislation in Copenhagen climate change talks must fail, says top scientist
