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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Bearcatbob who wrote (61853)4/27/2008 11:25:38 AM
From: JohnM  Read Replies (1) of 541936
 
For A New, More Realistic Environmentalism
By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

Some quick replies, Bob. I'm no fan of Hanson's work--too bellicose and manichean on foreign policy.

But . . . . some thoughts.

1. This purports to be about the environment but I smell a much stronger frame, one which piggybacks on environmental concerns. And that's his usual foreign policy gig. In this case, it's more about the "dictator" countries that provide oil, than about US dependence on oil. But it, on this point, lacks even a careful analysis of the governments of oil rich countries and the possible effect of a large withdrawal of US buying. He simply uses his "dictator" countries as ad hoc illustrations.

2. He argues that coal and nuclear energy and more drilling in the US would be transition policies on the way to more serious reforms. But neither strikes me as transitional. Such transitional policies are more likely to become as permanent as the present dependence on oil. Coal, so far as I know, still has serious pollution problems, certainly worse than natural gas. The nuclear energy industry still has not solved the waste storage problem. Etc.

3. And none of this rather isolationist argument addresses the broader problems of global pollution. So, once again, it doesn't strike me as a piece about the environment; rather it's one about a rather isolationist view of US foreign policy.
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