Economies rising from a long colonial slumber are going to tell the developed world that it's their turn now to play by the old rules, particularly since they still contribute less to global poisoning than the richer nations. India, China and Brazil have just begun to contribute to the ruin the environment, so their turn to clean it up can only come after the developed nations have paid their dues.

Naturally, this will never be said in any official communiqué. Piety will always fill the hypocritical air at any convention sponsored by that patron saint of good intentions, the United Nations. But in practice, nothing much will be done to curb the pursuit of the "good life" – as defined by consumer societies and fine-tuned into the prevailing ideology by economic superpowers.

Maybe you should revisit this question a full five years after President Hillary Barack Clinton Obama signs the Kyoto treaty, because only then will be know whether the huge American IOU for the ozone layer has finally being paid or not.