One of my nagging problems with anti-global warming activists is that they seem to be using the problem as an excuse to smuggle in a lot of anti-capitalistic, anti-technology ideas which have endured close to the surface for generations. It seems the problem with fossil fuels is only partially their role in global warming. There's also all this rhetoric about how oil is the lifeblood of the global capitalistic system the left dislikes. When the Greens call for "weaning" the West off of oil, it often sounds like they're calling for the West to wean itself of a lot more than just oil. Also, some see global warming as a yet another excuse for empowering the state to make decisions the left doesn't want left to the market place. The story of economic debate for the last century and a half is largely a tale of a bunch of people greeting every new problem or challenge and saying "Aha! this proves the state needs to do more economic planning." These two motivations only loosely overlap, but uniting them somewhat is the general Green yearning for the West to shed capitalistic individualism, live more communally, and live in a more "natural" state.Well said. It is no coincidence that the rise of the Greens ensued upon the heels of Marxian socialism's collapse. The organizational and institutional links between the two brutally utopian movements are unmistakable.
Read it here.
UPDATE:
Jonah adds:
[So] America contributes more greenhouse gasses than other countries. Okay, guilty as charged. It's not like these greenhouse gasses don't have a context. The American economy sustains the planet, pulls millions out of poverty, keeps the sea channels open, develops most of the medical breakthroughs, provides most of the funding for international institutions (including the finger-waggers at the UN's environmental divisions), offers the best higher education to the world's leaders, and generally provides a blanket of security for much of the planet. I could go on, but you get the point.Read it here.
2 comments:
Yes because compared to the economy, the planet and billions of human lives are minor concerns.
False choice, guy. "The planet" is such a nebulous term as to be meaningless. And there is no reason to believe that American economic development in any way threatens billions of people's lives. The choice is between rational and reasonable approaches to environmental concerns and hysterical polemics such as your statement.
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