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Thursday Oct 08, 2009

Diluted Democracy??

The amazing President of the Maldives has now not only committed his sinking country of the Maldives to going zero carbon by 2050, but has announced his cabinet will be meeting underwater!

They say: "It is to send a message to the world. The intention is to draw the attention of the world leaders to the issue of global warming and highlight how serious are the threats faced by Maldives as a result. If we can stop climate change, the lowest-lying nation on earth will be saved."

I think they've managed it.

If ever there was a way to campaign effectively it'd be this! People in power, affected by the problem they are trying to affect themselves, doing something crazy. Apparently, the photo above is of them doing a test dive, but their scuba instructor pronounced the Education Minister "unfit to take the dive". oh dear.

This is only a one off, for the meeting the documents will be sheathed in water-proof plates pinned to the table, but as the lowest-lying country in the world, the Maldives has the most to lose-fastest. Apparently some "officials"-god knows who they may be-have said this'll be a one off, because not only is it impractical, but they fear it would dilute democracy, they may have a point, but I think the Presidents one is bigger.

Do you think Brown might like the idea? I think he'd be pronounced 'unfit to dive', but it would certainly make for an interesting letter to the PM......

Posted by Isabel ( 12:00 AM )
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