Sign of the times: In this article about people proposing that $30 billion per year should be given to them for some alleged "green" reason, there's no mention of global warming, climate change, or CO2

Rio+20 Earth Summit Facing Deadlock, Delegates Walk Out Of ‘Green Economy’ Talks - International Business Times

Asserting the importance of cash and intellectual property to implement the proposed measures for a sustainable economy, a senior Brazilian negotiator warned against using Europe's financial crisis as an excuse for inaction and underfunding at the Rio+20 conference in Brazil Thursday.

Protesting the reluctance of the rich nations in funding environment projects and transferring technology that would help achieve the goal, diplomats from developing nations temporarily walked out of a working group on the "green economy," underscoring the friction between the negotiating nations.

The G77 developing nations and China have proposed a global fund for sustainable development with an initial annual budget of $30 billion, the Guardian reported. However, wealthy European nations, battling the global economic meltdown, are hesitant to loosen purse strings.

Brazilian diplomat Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, undersecretary at the Brazilian foreign ministry, dismissed austerity measures as an excuse to avoid funding the projects saying, "We cannot be held hostage to the retraction resulting from financial crises in rich countries. We are here to think about the long term and not about crises that may be overcome in one or two years."