"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

“Phil thinks we have to do it.”
“Okay, what do you want to discuss.”

There was a pause while Roy found a place in the draft. “Here we go. Quote, ‘The Congress, being
deeply concerned that the lack of speed in America’s conversion from a hydrocarbon to a carbohydrate
fuel economy is rapidly leading to chaotic climate changes with a profoundly negative impact on the U.S.
economy,’ unquote, we’ve been told that Ellington is only concerned, not deeply concerned. Should we
change that?”

“No, we’re deeply concerned. He is too, he just doesn’t know it.”

“Okay, then down in the third paragraph, in the operative clauses, quote, ‘The United States will peg
hydrocarbon fuel reductions in a two-to-one ratio to such reductions by China and India, and will
provide matching funds for all tidal and wind power plants built in those countries and in all countries that
fall under a five in the UN’s prospering countries index, these plants to be operated by a joint-powers
agency that will include the United States as a permanent member; four, these provisions will combine
with the climate-neutral power production—’”

“Wait, call that ‘power generation.’”

“‘Power generation,’ okay, ‘such that any savings in environmental mitigation in participating countries as
determined by IPCC ratings will be credited equally to the U.S. rating, and not less than fifty million
dollars per year in savings is to be earmarked specifically for the construction of more such
climate-neutral power plants; and not less than fifty million dollars per year in savings is to be earmarked
specifically for the construction of so-called “carbon sinks,” meaning any environmental engineering
project designed to capture and sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide safely, in forests, peat beds,
oceans, or other locations—’”

“Yeah, hey you know carbon sinks areso crucial, scrubbing CO2out of the air may eventually turn out to
be our only option, so maybe we should reverse those two clauses. Make carbon sinks come first and
the climate-neutral power plants second in that paragraph.”

“You think?”

“Yes. Definitely. Carbon sinks could be the only way that our kids, and about a thousand years’ worth
of kids actually, can save themselves from living in Swamp World. From living their whole lives on
Venus.”

“Or should we say Washington, D.C.”

“Please.”

“Okay, those are flip-flopped then. So that’s that paragraph, now, hmm, that’s it for text. I guess the
next question is, what can we offer Winston and his gang to get them to accept this version.”

“Get Winston’s people to give you their list of riders, and then pick the two least offensive ones and tell
them they’re the most we could get Phil to accept, but only if they accept our changes first.”

“But will they go for that?”