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What's always bothered me about the global warming debate is that everyone seems more concerned with who to blame, rather than how to solve the problem. One sid
by axiom 19y ago
What's always bothered me about the global warming debate is that everyone seems more concerned with who to blame, rather than how to solve the problem. One side is spewing absurd doomsday scenarios completely out of touch with reality, and the other side is just pretending the problem doesn't exist.
The doomsday side is essentially advocating atavism - shutting down economic activity, and relying on grossly inefficient sources of power (how many environmentalists advocate the only sane option i.e, nuclear?) This will obviously have profoundly negative economic consequences. Especially in developing nations. No serious economist disputes this. In effect this argument is like saying that because car accidents cause a lot of deaths, the solution is to stop driving.
The "ignore it" side is basically claiming that this isn't a problem and we should just keep doin' what were doin'. So if this problem does end up biting us in the ass, we would be completely unprepared to deal with it.
But there are numerous solutions here. Nuclear power is probably the simplest. Helping developing nations industrialize is another - it's pretty well established that industrialization = wealth = less pollution. Then there are more radical solutions like installing CO2 scrubbers.
The point is that technology always has costs associated with it. Nothing is free. What we should be concerned with is how to deal with the costs, rather than eliminate the life saving technology.
- gwenhwyfaer 19y agoNot everyone. Just the people in a position to do something about it. (We need new people in those positions.)
- rms 19y agoWait, isn't the industrialization of China/India greatly contributing to carbon emissions? Without any industry, what is there to do the pollution?
- axiom 19y agoRussia, China and India are some of the worst polluters. So are many countries in Africa. The problem is that when you're absymally poor, you don't have the resources to worry about how clean your wealth production is. Which is why they clearcut their forests without replanting and don't process their waste. And you can forget about things like recycling. Here's an interesting fact that you rarely hear. Air and water quality in the US has been going up for the last 80 years. Right through all the industrialization and double digit increases in life expectancy and productivity. The reasons are simple - improved waste management, more efficient production, better recycling programs etc.