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It's easy to be pessimistic but do you remember CFCs[0]? I don't have time to re-read the article but my recollection of the timeline of events goes somewhat li

It's easy to be pessimistic but do you remember CFCs[0]? I don't have time to re-read the article but my recollection of the timeline of events goes somewhat like this: 1. CFCs invented 2. CFCs are in high use 3. Thesis: It's bad for the environment; ozone layer is depleting 4. Antithesis: It's problematic for some businesses to give these up 5. Synthesis: Global effort to stop using them and find replacements 6. Ozone layer is slowly getting better On one hand, I'm hopeful something similar could happen again. On the other, the aforementioned events happened in a pre-post-truth world so it might not. You might argue that would be natural selection at work. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorofluorocarbon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorofluorocarbon

qsymmachus 7y ago
Phasing out CFCs was much easier to do because CFCs do not make up the backbone of the global economy the way fossil fuels do. There were some hacks in the aerosol and chemical industries who tried to deny that it was a problem (the chairman of the board of Dupont declared that ozone depletion theory was "a science fiction tale...a load of rubbish...utter nonsense"), but they were small fry in relative terms. The bottom line is that too many powerful peoples' wallets are lined with money earned by burning fossil fuels. That's why there is no Montreal Protocol for carbon dioxide.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
CO2 and global effort were being talked about and the IPCC was being created out of UNEP right back when we were starting to take action on CFCs. Reagan and Thatcher together pushed for global action on CFCs, and were pretty central to the Montreal Treaty getting signed. Only Thatcher pushed for global action on CO2 in the late 80s. Her speech to the UN from 89 is surprising, if naively optimistic about business' role in things, but she seemed very well informed about a then little known or understood science, and even talked of stopping forest and species loss. Approach the mid 90s and Thatcher was caught up in her dogmatic, failing government, while science, CO2 and plenty of other things were forgotten. Reagan wasn't at all keen, even of the then new IPCC. Maybe had he been interested too... https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/science/the-montreal-protocol-a-little-treaty-that-could.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/science/the-montreal-prot...

qsymmachus 7y ago

Phasing out CFCs was much easier to do because CFCs do not make up the backbone of the global economy the way fossil fuels do. There were some hacks in the aerosol and chemical industries who tried to deny that it was a problem (the chairman of the board of Dupont declared that ozone depletion theory was "a science fiction tale...a load of rubbish...utter nonsense"), but they were small fry in relative terms. The bottom line is that too many powerful peoples' wallets are lined with money earned by burning fossil fuels. That's why there is no Montreal Protocol for carbon dioxide.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

CO2 and global effort were being talked about and the IPCC was being created out of UNEP right back when we were starting to take action on CFCs. Reagan and Thatcher together pushed for global action on CFCs, and were pretty central to the Montreal Treaty getting signed. Only Thatcher pushed for global action on CO2 in the late 80s. Her speech to the UN from 89 is surprising, if naively optimistic about business' role in things, but she seemed very well informed about a then little known or understood science, and even talked of stopping forest and species loss. Approach the mid 90s and Thatcher was caught up in her dogmatic, failing government, while science, CO2 and plenty of other things were forgotten. Reagan wasn't at all keen, even of the then new IPCC. Maybe had he been interested too... https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/science/the-montreal-protocol-a-little-treaty-that-could.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/science/the-montreal-prot...