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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim S who wrote (22975)	7/5/2006 7:51:31 PM
From: thames_sider	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 541340

How much CO2 reduction is enough? Let's have a goal in mind, not just "every little bit helps." The Kyoto protocols had a goal. 1990 levels. That's probably not enough, but it will serve as a first goal. It'd certainly give us more time. Should we stop all fossil-fueled electrical production? Well, by ~2100 we will anyway. One way or another. Personally, I think possibly the most stupid thing we can do with an limited raw material is burn it, thus consuming the resource AND polluting/warming the planet. So, eventually, yes. And not all at once, no. Say by 2040? Should we take all private vehicles off the road unless they have a government permit to drive? Well, I think you do have driving licences and compulsory registration. What do you think those are if not government permission to drive? Next, see above. Next, maybe alternative fuels will be viable - although far more expensive (because they can't be simply pumped from the ground any more, at such minimal marginal energy cost). But surely the number will fall. And of course there are the social, societal and health benefits of minimising powered transport. Maybe we should go back to an agrarian society and shut down all factories? Overreacting, are we? Still, what would you propose factories produce in (say) 2100, bearing in mind we'll be out of oil etc? Other carbon sources will cost more energy to make ready, and if we're relying on them for oodstuffs and bioenergy then these will all compete. So I fear that factories will greatly diminish in number. Outlaw air conditioning? Why bother? Arabs and Indians have managed to live well for thousands of years without powered air conditioning. You need to design buildings differently, and high-rise blocks don't work too well. Anyhow, local solar panels and roof turbines should provide enough power for this. Especially solar/ambient energy panels, since they'll be most useful when it's hottest. Stop interstate trucking? Once petrol reaches ~$40/gallon, I figure it'll slow of its own accord. It's not a sustainable transport model, not based on burning oil. And so on. It's not Chicken Little. The more we know, the starker that becomes. It's all answerable with relatively little thought and effort, at present, but the further down the slope you slide, the harder it is to get back up to where you want to be. Or go on as you are for 50 years and your surviving grandkids won't worry about the economy risking destruction, because it will already have completely collapsed.