Strange updates from Copenhagen climate talks

So I've been sucked into the media frenzy surrounding the Copenhagen climate talks, which led to this fascinating quote coming my way.

Stern was firm: "We absolutely recognise our historic role in putting emissions [in the atmosphere], but a sense of guilt, culpability or reparations I reject."

Todd Stern was speaking on behalf of the United States, the nation whose delegation he leads at the Copenhagen climate change talks.

Stern's statement begs the question: what exactly does the United States recognize?

Back when I lived in the US, I thought it was incredibly short-sighted that developing countries didn't just pull their act together and limit emissions. Now, I live in a developing country. Our ministers In India are correct - for us, carbon dioxide emissions are a matter of providing electricity to 400 million people who live without the most basic human necessities (running water, lights, etc)

Can the United States argue such an imperative for continuing to pollute? They can't. And yet they haven't really committed to anything. Cutting CO2 by 17% over 2005 levels isn't a concession, it's literally the least the US can do. It's not even a tenth of what Europe has offered.

Stern's remark strikes me as particularly interesting because it provides the classic argument that governments use to excuse past misdeeds. Ie, "It wasn't morally wrong because we didn't know any better."

An individual accused of a criminal defense can take advantage of this argument, but can a nation? Does the fact that "we didn't know" years ago really excuse an entire country from behaving responsibly in the present?

And speaking of the principle of collective responsibility. Shortly after the September 11 attacks, I remember talking with several friends who asked, "Why don't Muslims just speak out against fundamentalism, if Islam is really a religion of peace?" Never mind the fact that this question was really just a cape thrown over rank bigotry. Let's turn it around. Why don't more Americans speak up about the fact that the United States pollutes so damn much? The people of the Maldives will go under - the process has already begun.

Why don't more Americans seem to care? In this case, the evidence for collective responsibility is much more convincing. Americans emit a vast amount of CO2 by driving cars everywhere, whereas the average Muslim doesn't go around committing acts of race violence. Will future generations look on the American attitude as a moral failure?

I am increasingly convinced that the world won't really act on climate change today. There are many reasons for this, but the primary one is that most people just don't believe in consequences they cannot immediately see. Recent study results showed that Americans are 2% less concerned about global warming this year than in the past. It's possible that the sleeping monster of public opinion, awoken by Al Gore, is drifting off again. If, from a public perspective, global warming is a flash in the pan, that's unfortunate. From a scientific point of view, it's here to stay.

(And on another note: let's say the worst happens and 100 million people do die. Will future generations look back on those who let it happen and say, "of course they knew what was happening, they just didn't do anything?" I realize that to a certain type of person these questions will seem naive and alarmist. Maybe that's true.)