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the high demand of human consumers for a stable, comfortable and safe environment which is in increasingly short supply. Either the supply must increase through reducing the effect of climate change, or the demand must drop, with fewer consumers able to afford stability, comfort and safety. As far as the markets are concerned, defeating climate change on the one hand and drastically lowering our expectations on the other are two equally viable solutions. As far as humanity's concerned, there's a pretty big difference.

Position 5: OK, OK,

> climate change is happening,
> it's happening as a direct result of human activity,
> it's a bad thing,
> the markets won't be able to sort it out on their own,
> but we won't lift a finger to stop it because
> it will cost more to stop it than it would just to live with it.

So climate change isn't exactly a good thing, but surely it can't be worse than the effect that trying to stop it could have on the economy? Yes it can. This argument was thoroughly rubbished by the Stern Report, which most governments are at least pretending to take seriously. Next!

Position 6 OK, OK, OK,

> climate change is happening,
> it's happening as a direct result of human activity,
> it's a bad thing,
> the markets won't be able to sort it out on their own,
> it will cost more to live with it than it would to stop it,
> but we won't lift a finger to stop it because
> it's not us, it's those bloody Chinese!

We, the citizens of a small group of countries, developed arguably to the point of decadence, have got used to being quite an exclusive Polluters' Club. That China (and India and Brasil and Africa and, indeed, all the rest) are now starting to build factories and cars and supermarkets too brings us to new heights of hypocrisy in our indignation. China will, in a couple of years, become the biggest polluter in the world. China has had the biggest population in the world for decades, so proportionally it's still under-performing.

Per head, EU citizens emit nine times as much atmospheric carbon as their Chinese counterparts. In fact, this statistic grossly underestimates the imbalance. Gather all the consumer junk you've bought in the last few years together (or at least, all the junk of a certain type, to make the comparison easier. The example I saw was with children's books) and sort it into piles. How many come from the EU (or your country/trading bloc of origin), and how many come from China? If you buy crap that generates carbon but was made in a factory

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