|
AnimusRex -> RE: The Rise Of Republican Nihilism (12/25/2009 12:44:26 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Kirata
What does it take to keep some focus on reality here? Nobody denies "climate change". The questions revolve around whether or not CO2 (anthropogenic or otherwise) is really a driver of warming, and the motivation behind "solutions" that seem designed to have a greater impact on the economic well-being of billions of people, and the sovereignty of nation states, than on global climate.
Agreed, but a few thoughts about this lack of focus. The prospect of changing the climate of the entire world is such an abstraction, it lends itself to the worst aspects of doctrinaire politics- free market disciples on one side, central government advocates on the other.
The real issue, as you allude to, is what to do about our effect on the natural environment- the air we breathe, the soil we plant in, the water we drink.
No one can deny we are having a terrible effect on these, and that these effects directly endanger the lives and security of billions of people.
Its been my experience that thebigger the problem, the less chance of having a rational discussion about it- talking about how to "fix the planet" is so large, so abstract, we may as well talk about how to avert The Rapture.
Maybe a more fruitful discussion would be to have more targeted discussions- for example, how excessive coal mining poisons the watersheds, and pollutes the air. And this leads to discussions of using less electricity, by making buildings (that consume 60% of all energy) more efficient by adoptiong more stringent building standards.
None of this has crap to do with Al Gore's waistline, or Obama's birth certificate.
|
|
|
|
