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Are income inequality and environmental progress linked somehow? Do people believe they are? Is there propaganda that climate change is a conspiracy of the weal

Are income inequality and environmental progress linked somehow? Do people believe they are? Is there propaganda that climate change is a conspiracy of the wealthy? If people think they are linked, we're in deep trouble, and we need to demonstrate the opposite fast.

darkpuma 8y ago
>"Are income inequality and environmental progress linked somehow?" They are insofar as anything that negatively impacts the population as a whole will be felt worst by those at the bottom. This is not limited to environmental progress, it applies to just about anything you can think of. Who will suffer the most when sea levels rise? The poor, who cannot easily pick up their lives and relocate. Who will suffer the most when gas is taxed at 500% to reduce consumption? The poor who have little if any surplus income and for whom gas expenses make up a larger fraction of their budget. When the people at the bottom see people at the top have their discomfort cushioned by their wealth, a tense situation can develop.
harry8 8y ago
Just as there is a mountain of BS funded by oil companies amongst boosters and faux-researchers saying "no problem, do nothing." There is an equal, less talked about, but massive mountain of BS pushed by radical socialists hitching their "smash the system and end capitalism" bandwagon to climate change concerns. When you're trying to work out what constitutes good policy it makes it really, really hard to sift through and discard all this BS to work out what is likely to happen, what are the various options that can be realistically pursued and which ones make sense in terms of cost and benefit. (Would we be better off spending the resources on something else to improve the world for its people? Is this a massive spend that achieves precisely nothing and should be held in reserve to deal with consequences that will still happen regardless. Difficult questions that are forefront of any sensible policy and significantly harder with so much nonsense being peddled on all sides - wrapped in emotion, religion and righteousness - I have no solutions to offer).

darkpuma 8y ago

>"Are income inequality and environmental progress linked somehow?" They are insofar as anything that negatively impacts the population as a whole will be felt worst by those at the bottom. This is not limited to environmental progress, it applies to just about anything you can think of. Who will suffer the most when sea levels rise? The poor, who cannot easily pick up their lives and relocate. Who will suffer the most when gas is taxed at 500% to reduce consumption? The poor who have little if any surplus income and for whom gas expenses make up a larger fraction of their budget. When the people at the bottom see people at the top have their discomfort cushioned by their wealth, a tense situation can develop.

harry8 8y ago

Just as there is a mountain of BS funded by oil companies amongst boosters and faux-researchers saying "no problem, do nothing." There is an equal, less talked about, but massive mountain of BS pushed by radical socialists hitching their "smash the system and end capitalism" bandwagon to climate change concerns. When you're trying to work out what constitutes good policy it makes it really, really hard to sift through and discard all this BS to work out what is likely to happen, what are the various options that can be realistically pursued and which ones make sense in terms of cost and benefit. (Would we be better off spending the resources on something else to improve the world for its people? Is this a massive spend that achieves precisely nothing and should be held in reserve to deal with consequences that will still happen regardless. Difficult questions that are forefront of any sensible policy and significantly harder with so much nonsense being peddled on all sides - wrapped in emotion, religion and righteousness - I have no solutions to offer).