A sinking feeling in the Maldives

This is just sad.

The government of the Maldives has held a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the threat of global warming to the low-lying Indian Ocean nation.

President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet signed a document calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.

Ministers spent half an hour on the sea bed, communicating with white boards and hand signals.

First Kiribati announces it’s going underwater and asks the world to take its people in. Then the Maldives say they’re shopping for a new homeland. Then Tuvalu (pop 12,000) announces it’s going carbon neutral. Now this bit of absurdism. With climate negotiations coming up, island nations have been reduced to using  guerrilla theater to get their message out.

President Nasheed was asked what would happen if the summit fails. “We are going to die,” he replied.