3 ms·

Why isn't the government doing this? Why do we have to depend on the benevolence of billionaires to do something so essential?

rhino369 11y ago
There isn't a strong consensus among the worlds people that global warming is 1) real 2) bad, and 3) preventable. I myself doubt whether there will be strong action until major changes already start. And unless the whole world agrees to act in unison, it doesn't make sense for America to act unilaterally. China and India will just eat our lunches and do the polluting for us.
- cossatot 11y ago
  I agree about the former, but not with the last two sentences. China and to a lesser extent India have massive incentives to get clean energy ASAP. The pollution in China is out of control, and is a major toll on public health, tourism, and agriculture (especially fishing). In the US, with its low population density, we worry more about climate change, which is more abstract than the local environmental pollution that is so visible and problematic in Asia. While unilateral US action through regulation and taxation might not directly do anything to ameliorate the global problem, US investment in technology might. The US can absolutely sell technology to China and India, whether it's intellectual property sales/licensing, product sales/licensing, or simply by charging huge amounts of tuition for Asian engineering students to learn at US universities (this is currently a very large subsidy to US education).
nikdaheratik 11y ago
The politics for this entire issue are very tricky. Putting your money where your mouth is and dropping hundreds of millions to fund clean energy is a good way to get the denialists to stop stonewalling. They can't claim that "it's all a conspiracy to grab some gov't money" if the person is actually putting even more of their own money towards this issue.

3 ms·

Why isn't the government doing this? Why do we have to depend on the benevolence of billionaires to do something so essential?

by littletimmy 11y ago

rhino369 11y ago
There isn't a strong consensus among the worlds people that global warming is 1) real 2) bad, and 3) preventable. I myself doubt whether there will be strong action until major changes already start. And unless the whole world agrees to act in unison, it doesn't make sense for America to act unilaterally. China and India will just eat our lunches and do the polluting for us.
- cossatot 11y ago
  I agree about the former, but not with the last two sentences. China and to a lesser extent India have massive incentives to get clean energy ASAP. The pollution in China is out of control, and is a major toll on public health, tourism, and agriculture (especially fishing). In the US, with its low population density, we worry more about climate change, which is more abstract than the local environmental pollution that is so visible and problematic in Asia. While unilateral US action through regulation and taxation might not directly do anything to ameliorate the global problem, US investment in technology might. The US can absolutely sell technology to China and India, whether it's intellectual property sales/licensing, product sales/licensing, or simply by charging huge amounts of tuition for Asian engineering students to learn at US universities (this is currently a very large subsidy to US education).
nikdaheratik 11y ago
The politics for this entire issue are very tricky. Putting your money where your mouth is and dropping hundreds of millions to fund clean energy is a good way to get the denialists to stop stonewalling. They can't claim that "it's all a conspiracy to grab some gov't money" if the person is actually putting even more of their own money towards this issue.