Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
I've had a brilliant macro-economics professor at Cornell. He used to say: <<Whenever you guys see someone proclaiming something "for the sake of our children!", it probably means that good logic and sound economic sense cannot be used to support the argument. Most of the time, it also means that politicians somewhere want to get some additional billions of tax dollars.>>
As for personal sacrifices, I don't want to make any mandatory personal sacrifices for something that is arbitrary. Over time, issues that once seemed unresolvable tend to get resolved. New scientific discoveries come, new technologies get developed in time etc. I also don't want to make any personal sacrifices knowing that the sacrifices are allocated unevenly and unfairly. Why should I pay carbon tax for myself (driving an efficient vehicle, installing an efficient furnace) and for someone who gets a full refund for driving a stinky old clunker and burning fire wood?
If humans are in fact the primary cause of climate change, then most of the damage comes from SE Asia (China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia), where about half of the world population live and pollute everything around them like there's no tomorrow. What sacrifices are they willing to make and can they even make them without devastation?
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I understand your sentiment. But, I would encourage you to take an honest look at the things you buy and consume, and figure out where 99.9% of it comes from.
It seems to me, everyone’s quick to point out nations with terrible environmental practises, as if it’s an exoneration. The greater question is WHY are these nations polluting so much, and what can WE do about it. Albertans are quick to point out ethical oil, but not so quick to point out ethical consumerism. If you have a legitimate concern about the outputs of some of these nations, consider where your shoes, jeans, shirts, televisions, appliances, car parts etc etc etc all come from. Nothing worse than hearing about “China” this from someone who actively supports the very business models the contribute to the issue at hand.
Not saying you specifically, just a vague observation on one of my pet peeves.