Asia goes alone for green growth?

Comments on Brad Glosserman “Wisdom of an Asia rising”, 6/08/2009, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/08/06/wisdom-of-an-asia-rising/

I’d like to make some quick comments.

1. Are “self interested” individual countries necessarily incompatible with the common good of a group? Adam Smith had a quite different idea that laid the foundation of economics.

2. While it is obviously very important to ensure human activities are sustainable environmentally, is it economically sound for Asian countries to have greener consumer consumption, irrespective what is happening elsewhere and what the process or trajectory of human green evolution or revolution? Wouldn’t that “go it alone” mentality, especially for developing countries in Asia, be too far ahead the possible reality to be optimal for them?