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Unfortunately pollution is not easily reversed. It's easy to say that if someone pollutes your water you'll sue them, but in reality it's unlikely that you'll
by ebikelaw 8y ago
Unfortunately pollution is not easily reversed. It's easy to say that if someone pollutes your water you'll sue them, but in reality it's unlikely that you'll be able to recoup your damages; pollution is often irreversible and the other guy doesn't have any assets anyway. Example: Libertarians love to hate RoHS and other lead controls. But one standard bar of lead is enough to poison tens of millions of people. Much better to prevent that, hence regulations.
You're right that coastal cities pollute. Large groups of people can make decisions as badly as small groups and individuals. It's an unsolved problem.
- DennisP 8y agoYou just said upthread that rather than relying on lawsuits, nearby countries would "roll up in a boat and just blow it away" if a seastead polluted. If you're right then the seastead has a pretty good incentive not to pollute; if you think now that you're wrong then we have nothing to argue about. In any case, for a long time the main industry for seasteads will be open-water aquaculture, which is completely nonpolluting in experiments so far, and able to clean up the excess nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff and coastal city waste.