Hundreds of leaders, civil servants, and NGOs gathered from all over the world in Copenhagen to address the problem of global warming.

They flew in using private jets, were driven around in gasoline-guzzling limousines, and ate gourmet food flown in from hundreds of kilometers away in order to create an accord that would deal with the excessive use of our limited resources.

Millions of dollars were spent hosting the summit. Enormous effort was expended in the countless meetings and negotiations.

The final result?

A three-page, non-legally binding document that has no long-term targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Even if this document were binding and had targets, given the political and economic realities of the time (i.e., governments don’t want their citizens rioting due to lack of work), it is extremely doubtful this accord would actually have been implemented. (Do any countries actually follow the Kyoto accord?)

Never before has so much money, time, and effort been spent to produce such a thin document of so little value.

Actually, it’s a wonder that even this document was produced. Given how difficult it is to get consensus on a simple user guide, giving two weeks for 120 of the world’s leaders to agree on a document that could change the world is an impossible task.

It’s like trying to write every software guide that has ever been written from scratch…

…in a one-week period…

…using only two tech writers.