Friday, August 01, 2008

Hollow Cost

Oh, The Krug Man is worried 'bout the planet. The Planet can't afford John McCain's cynicism. His nihilistic political opportunism threatens to reverse the movement of the tectonic plates! His gaseuous eruptions will poison the seas and skies!

You know, I for one, am a believer in anthopogenic climate change, but it ain't The Planet that's gonna get screwed beyond unscrewing, but rather the viral upright monkeys who caused that shit in the first place. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Rousseau. Man in a state of nature is extinct.

Posted by IOZ at 11:11 AM | email »
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7 comments:

McKingford said...

it ain't The Planet that's gonna get screwed beyond unscrewing, but rather the viral upright monkeys who caused that shit in the first place.

Except we're going to be taking a whole lotta shit down with us...

12:25 PM
Mr.Fundamental said...

and to think, that the carbon we release was once in the atmosphere.

humanity is but a fart in time.

1:29 PM
Solar Hero said...

Dis is what I'm talking about!

2:09 PM
Thomas Daulton said...

Ummmm, frankly, I am rather worried about John McCain's "gaseous eruptions poisoning the seas and skies". Dude's gettin' old. Every time he flashes that decaying-zombie smile of his, he looks just like my uncle saying "Quick, pull my finger"...

Krugman sez: if a completely bogus claim that environmental protection is raising energy prices can get this much political traction, what are the chances of getting serious action against global warming?

Yeah, gee, what would be the chances of getting serious action against global warming?? If only, for example, instead of John McCain, what if the author of a book called "Earth in the Balance" could have spent, say, EIGHT FUCKING YEARS in the White House?? Surely we could expect U.S. carbon emissions to go down during the 1990s? Surely we could expect "serious action" on global warming?

Yeah, what are the odds? What are the chances that yet another Democratic Administration will just sit around wringing their hands, show off an electric car prototype or two, extend the home solar panel tax credit, and then punt the issue for our descendants (if any) to deal with?

What are the odds that the American populace is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to tackle this problem, rather than reaching for another handful of Cheetos and saying that Science and the Free Market are going to solve the problem without costing us anything?

I suspect our species is pretty much doomed. Cockroaches, yer up, let's see what you can do with the place once we're outta the way.

8:25 PM
Mr.Fundamental said...

I'm with ya on the doomed part.

but sacrifices, for what?

I'm tiring of the pantheism.

1:49 PM
Thomas Daulton said...

Mr. Fundamental sez: but sacrifices, for what? I'm tiring of the pantheism.

I part from our host somewhat, in that I believe it might theoretically be possible for human society to continue in a form vaguely like it exists today, maybe even with a population not much less than today. I live in Mexico right now, and I'm living fairly comfortably with probably 1/3 the carbon footprint that I had five years ago back in California. A few more changes in lifestyle, a bit less miserly hoarding of technology for profit, and we could reduce that even further. For everyone.

And I part from IOZ in that I think the continuation of human society might ultimately be a good thing. Or, hey, if we all die off and nature takes over, that's cool too. It's all cooooool.

It's just that American society certainly cannot continue the way it is now, nor can (nor should) it expand such that other countries adopt our lifestyle rather than vice versa.

So what I'm saying is, the sacrifices are for the continuation of the human experiment; not sacrifices for "Gaia" or "the Treez" or whatever. I place a lot of value in nature and ecology and sh#t like that, but at this point the problem has little to do with nature ipso res. Humanity, or at least America, has to manage itself better or else there will be a big crash which will cause a lot of death and suffering. The sacrifices are an attempt -- not a guarantee, an attempt -- to avoid preventable death and suffering. That's all I'm sayin'.

But, like IOZ, I believe the safe money is on the cockroaches.

11:13 AM
Mr.Fundamental said...

I just don't see it.

but I mean, do what you want.

2:53 PM

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