First, I am freaking freezing so anyone who promised me Global Warmening is a freaking liar.  I'm looking at you, Gore.

Second, what has always, always pissed me off about the fight about anthropogenic global warming is how it completely shifts the focus away from actual, real problems.  I mean it.  I do believe in conservation.  To paraphrase PJ O'Rourke, sure, a clean environment is a luxury good but aren't luxury goods what make life worth living?  The fight about whether or not an Escalade kills polar bears shifts attention away from issues such as whether or not mountains in West Virginia should be mined down in order to reach the mercury to make the batteries for Priuses (Prii?  Smugmobiles?)  Hell, fighting over whether or not to mandate using CFLs for THE POLAR BEAR CHILDREN kind of glides right past the issue as to whether or not CFLs are actually worse, what with the whole potentially toxic exposure to mercury when one breaks.

What about China and India and other developing countries?  Should people in those lands be forced to live in early Industrial Age squallor or are there alternatives?  What is the tradeoff between alternate energy sources and the view from the Kennedy Compound?  What about endangered species?  What happens when there is actual dumping of toxic substances?  Who pays?  What's the successor liability?  How much am I, as the consumer, willing to pay in order to reduce pollution?  Why the hell isn't our power coming from nuclear plants such as is done in France?  Does recylcing actually work?  If so, for what goods?  What do we do about disposing of our waste? 

All of these are serious questions that deserve serious discussion.  And yet, all of that is getting shoved aside because omg you must believe that humans are hurting Gaia or you, sir, are worse that Hitler.  It pisses me off to no end.  Hell, if I were a more conspiracy minded sort, I would say that this is exactly the type of situation that Big Business would want.  After all, if global warming gets debunked, who is going to listen to complaints about benzene disposal affecting water tables? 

One can be unpersuaded by the theory that mankind's actions are the major cause of the current warming period and still be a conservationist.  That's getting lost in all of the screeching. 

No, I do not want to cease using all fossil fuels tomorrow.  But, yes, I do want to look into alternatives.  I do care about habitat destruction.  I live in a former coal mining area and I know first hand the problems with mine collapses and water table contamination.  Hell, I've done some professional work on liability for gas leaks from underground storage tanks resulting in contamination of drinking water for a whole area.  These problems are real and need work.  But when the options are the destruction of the modern way of life or ignoring those altogether, well, I'm going with ignoring.  And the options being reduced to those truly ticks me off.

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 518 words, total size 3 kb.