Greedy human

Soaring oil prices should dampen the demand for oil if the invisible hand really does its job. Some analysts predicted that after feeling the pain caused by expensive oil, government and industries would inject more resources into the development of renewable energy. This will reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time alleviate global warming. But all these are only wishful thinking. Instead of taking the massive loss of ice-caps in Arctic as a warning sign of aggravating climate change, leaders from the major powers only spare their effort to secure the last drop of oil in this region. The greedy and selfish sides of human nature are nowhere to hide.

Leaders of great nations should have the political and moral responsibility to take a leading role in curbing global climate change. Decision makers should take the long-term benefits of mankind into consideration rather than being blinded by short-term economic returns. G8 members failed to reach a consensus on limiting carbon dioxide emission. Once again, short-term economic benefits won. Politicians just pay lip service to the promise of alleviating global warming.

Whether our civilization can sustain or not depends very much on whether our leaders have the determination and vision to achieve the long-term goal. However, the fact is modern civilization is not much better than that of the ancient Polynesian. They built giant statues to glorify tribal chiefs even at the cost of destroying the entire forest. Not being aware of the dire calamity, ancient Polynesians logged the last tree and the society was destined to collapse.