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Eales.
     
    “Sure. Art’ll set it up.”
     
    “Mike, you haven’t made any of this public,” said Benton.
     
    “Would you have?”
     
    “But you thought you could do a deal on this with the Chinese government?”
     
    “Listen, Joe,” said Gartner, “this is bigger than partisan politics. Way bigger. You heard what Richards said. This process accelerates itself. If we’re going to do anything about it, we have to put an end to it right now.”
     
    “And the Chinese? What’s the angle with them?”
     
    “China hasn’t honored a single agreement on emissions it’s signed up to. Not a single clause. Not Kyoto 3, not Kyoto 2.”
     
    “We haven’t been much better,” said Eales.
     
    “That maybe true, Mr. Eales,” replied the president sharply. “But China is worse. They overtook us as the world’s biggest polluter in absolute terms twenty-five years ago. That’s a whole quarter century, but they speak and behave as if they’re still a developing country. They have to take some responsibility.”
     
    “Mike,” said Benton, “I accept that. But if it’s not for partisan reasons, I don’t understand the secrecy here. We’ve got Kyoto 4 coming up. Surely that’s the forum for this.”
     
    “You may choose to make it the forum, Joe. That’s your decision now.”
     
    “I said all through my campaign we have to engage internationally, and I meant it. With respect, Mike, I think failure to engage in multilateral forums was one of the mistakes of your administration and of Bill Shawcross’s, and I think the American people have just shown that they agree.”
     
    “With respect, Joe, that’s just so much horseshit. The campaign’s over, it’s time to govern. You can say what you like when you don’t have to deliver. Go ahead, deal with it through Kyoto 4 if you want. But you listen to me. I signed Kyoto 3. Bill sent me. Remember? I was the one in Santiago with the pen in my hand.” Mike Gartner sat forward in his chair and stretched out his arm. “This hand right here. Now let me tell you something. There were a hundred and fifty-three other leaders there that day in the Palazzo whatever-the-hell-it-was, and they all signed, every last one, and I swear to you, as they signed those papers, not one of them intended to stick to the obligations they were signing up to. And not one of them did. And that includes the Chinese, and the Indians, and the Brits, and the EuroCore, and whoever the hell else was there. And us as well, I’m not saying it doesn’t. And Kyoto 3 was weak. Remember? We were coming off the back of the recession and it looked like the global economy was doing half the work of emissions control for us. But when the global expansion started up, no one remembered that, and we all just went for growth like we always do. Held the line that new technologies would make everything better without any pain. Voluntary measures were enough, we’d all act honorably, no need for sanctions. The usual Kyoto crap, we’ll all just wait ten years and see where we’ve got to.” Gartner sat back in his chair and shook his head in disgust. “The pace never gets any quicker. A chunk of ice the size of Maine floats off some ice shelf in the Antarctic...Art, where was that again?”
     
    “The Ronne Ice Shelf, Mr. President. And it was the size of New Hampshire.”
     
    “Right. And when was that? Eight years ago?”
     
    “Nine, Mr. President.”
     
    “Right, nine. The size of New Hampshire. Splash! And what do we do? Same process, same speed. Like a fucking snail that’s only got one gear. So you can listen to me, Joe, and take it from someone who knows, or you can learn it the hard way. Try to do it through Kyoto 4 if you want, just like you promised in your campaign. Spend another two years negotiating while this feedback cycle keeps ramping up, and then spend another five years monitoring until it’s obvious everyone’s in breach, and then it’ll be time to start negotiating