A time for clarity

But international terrorism kills about 400 people in total each year. How much should we be willing to pay to reduce that death toll by, say, 25% - a billion dollars, a hundred billion?

Meanwhile, in Hawaii, policymakers gathered to discuss a climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The environmental lobby groups want the next treaty to go much further than Kyoto, which is already setting the world back $180 billion (P1.1 trillion) a year. Indeed, efforts to slow global warming through the Kyoto Protocol or a similar treaty will make a miniscule difference, delaying temperature rises by just seven days by 2100.