I think the evidence is in that A) climate change is happening (its been happening for all of earth history, why would it stop changing now?) and B) that human activity is one (of many) variables involved in changing the climate. But the question is, how do reduce or mitigate harmful climate change (or at least the impact of human activity)? I think both the left and the right have the wrong answer. The right is often wrong by definition - they simply claim its not happening and therefore its not a problem. One of the reasons for this, I would imagine, is because they dont want to get the government involved in regulating business. For politicians on the right, they have vested interest in not allowing this to happen. This is wrong because its allowing ideology to dictate their facts, as oppose to letting facts dictate their ideology. Blinding oneself to the diagnosis doesnt allow anyone to treat the disease. The left is wrong because, as the right fears, their solution is more government involvement. They want the government to reign in the private sector when it comes to pollution and emissions. I wont even go into the fact that the US federal government has the largest carbon footprint in the world** Because I think there is a more philosophical issue here. The issue with both of these views is that it removes any sort of personal responsibility. The right says its not an issue, therefore I dont have to do anything. The problems with this are obvious and dont really need further elaboration. The left says it is and issue, therefore someone else (the government) has to do something to fix it. Rarely do people say theyll take their business elsewhere. Theyll continue voluntarily giving their money to polluting corporations and just demand that those corporations continue giving us the same quality of products at the same prices and hire employes for the same wages, but completely change everything else. If you dont like someones business practices, why would you want to continue giving them money? The issue is that changing your own habits would be hard, so people want the government to force other people to change their habits. Some habits that can be changed that would make a difference (and things you can peacefully and voluntarily convince other people of): 1. Buy local. If enough people did this, it reduces emissions from long distance shipping and reduces the use of plastic packaging, which becomes pollution and is where about 2/3 of petroleum go. 2. Do your research. For things you cant buy local, find out who has business practices and waste management policies you like and give them your business - vote with your dollar. Why would you want to give money to bad businesses or evil people forced to change their business practices anyway? 3. Small personal responsibilities. You really only have control of your own actions, so if everyone makes small adjustments to how they do things, there can be a large aggregate change. Of course, once again, all this hinges on accepting the fact that human activity has an impact on the environment. https://youtube/watch?v=YZlsKvOkHIY ** federaltimes/article/20110428/FACILITIES01/104280302/1001 ** washingtonpost/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090906850.html
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 17:30:01 +0000
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