24 February 2014
Who’s At Fault for Climate Change? It Doesn’t Matter.
There are many ways that the world’s richest communities can react to even the observed (as opposed to the modelled) warming of our global climate. We can diminish our habits that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We can invest in finding less harmful substitutes for those technologies. We can learn to live with the consequences.
But refraining from restricting the consumption of fossil fuels by the world’s poorest countries because it deprives them of the benefit of hydrocarbon-fueled economic growth is a red herring. As we in advanced economies increasingly rely on alternative energy sources which cause less environmental damage, we can make them affordable for the nations that need them to spur their development.
It’s all a matter of cost. Regardless whether climate change is man-made, cyclical, or caused by factors we don’t yet understand, it will be expensive to deal with if we want to preserve an ever-improving future. The piper has to be paid so we can keep dancing.
There are many ways that the world’s richest communities can react to even the observed (as opposed to the modelled) warming of our global climate. We can diminish our habits that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We can invest in finding less harmful substitutes for those technologies. We can learn to live with the consequences.
But refraining from restricting the consumption of fossil fuels by the world’s poorest countries because it deprives them of the benefit of hydrocarbon-fueled economic growth is a red herring. As we in advanced economies increasingly rely on alternative energy sources which cause less environmental damage, we can make them affordable for the nations that need them to spur their development.
It’s all a matter of cost. Regardless whether climate change is man-made, cyclical, or caused by factors we don’t yet understand, it will be expensive to deal with if we want to preserve an ever-improving future. The piper has to be paid so we can keep dancing.
07 February 2014
Apres Moi Le Deluge
Apres Moi Le Deluge
Like Louis XV, Saddam Hussein and the George W. Bush Administration knew
that without their respective costly repressions of dissent and
sectarian strife, French and Iraqi societies would descend into chaos.
But that doesn't mean that violent suppression is justified.
Stephen J. Hadley was wrong to imply in the January 31, 2014, WSJ, that
the credibility of the U.S. and U.N. depends on their instilling fear
that they will intervene militarily when they believe their interests
are threatened (even in an ersatz nation created by a deluded colonial
power following WWI). A slower, more painstaking process of
community-building would be longer-lasting. Perhaps the disassembly of
Yugoslavia in the nineties can serve as a model for bringing peace to
this troubled region of the world.
Like Louis XV, Saddam Hussein and the George W. Bush Administration knew
that without their respective costly repressions of dissent and
sectarian strife, French and Iraqi societies would descend into chaos.
But that doesn't mean that violent suppression is justified.
Stephen J. Hadley was wrong to imply in the January 31, 2014, WSJ, that
the credibility of the U.S. and U.N. depends on their instilling fear
that they will intervene militarily when they believe their interests
are threatened (even in an ersatz nation created by a deluded colonial
power following WWI). A slower, more painstaking process of
community-building would be longer-lasting. Perhaps the disassembly of
Yugoslavia in the nineties can serve as a model for bringing peace to
this troubled region of the world.
