[lbo-talk] Patrick Bond on climate change strategy

[James Heartfield]

Patrick, since you propose free electricity supply for the 'couple of 
billion people' who lack it (a proposal I applaud), of around 2kilowatt 
hours per day (which seems a bit stingy to me since UK consumption is 
3,880kwhrs annually, or 10.6 kwhrs per day), you are proposing an increase 
in domestic supply of four billion kilowatt hours per day. I am not 
convinced that you can achieve that but cutting out waste in the aluminium 
industry. In any event, if  we succeeded in transforming people's living 
conditions to that extent - and there seems to me to be no reason why that 
is unattainable - you would change their consumption patterns, too, leading 
I would guess to a much greater market for electronic goods, of which metals 
would be a large component. That would be "would be *great* from the 
standpoint of public health, gender equity, economic development and other 
merit goods."

James