Remembering Pascal - Taking care of our planet
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Urghh.. Politics
Yes, I get too, I despise it as well. We know that the conversation regarding climate change has been made into a political espectable for the clowns at the circus. In plenty of political arenas the demonization of the opposition through the dichotomy is one that has not allowed us to be pragmatic about evidence and certainly not about legislation.
However, What does that have to do with the constituency? Meaning that if two Senators are fighting for the podium of virtue signaling because that's all the effectively know about politics, How does that negate the observations being made, the actions we the people should take?
That's my only point. Yes, I get it, the carbon tax is impeding business. Yes, I understand some of the regulations are just there for governmental power grabs. But again, How does that make the conversation no worth having?
Strawman moment... please forgive yours truly...
Person 1.- "Listen... I don't want to talk about my leaky roof, because what's happening here is that the city is trying to fine me for having an ugly house. Its their way of taking more money from me and I simply won't have it. It's my right"
Person 2.- "Yes of course, you make sense, but... the roof is still leaking..."
Person 1.- "I don't know, I think they invented leaking so they could tax us more"
Person 2.- "But, you've lost all your furniture to water damage"
Person 1.-"I don't know about all that, people lose furniture all the time, they are not meant to last forever you know"
Person 2.- "Nobody is saying it should last forever, but three couches in a year is not normal"
Person1.- "Furniture quality is changing, it's all outsourced now, how do you know it's not normal?"
What's the risk?
I guess that's the only point I'm trying to make. Let's assume for a moment that all the climate research is wrong, that everything about the CO2 levels is inaccurate and that it's all a scam, a scam for governments to make more money. Let's assume all that.
What happens then? - Are we not still helping the planet a little bit? Even if it's a fraction of the help it needs. Are we not polluting less?
I remember a friend telling me how a volcano pollutes the air more than a city, and how my argument made no sense. To me, it sounded as if he was saying that we have millions of volcanoes constantly erupting. So yes, he did have a point, but we were comparing apples to oranges.
Maybe I'm idealistic
Maybe that's my problem. Because to me this, this little conversation is the one were I would like to evoke Pascal's wagers. If we are wrong, if the planet is doing just fine, us doing a better job taking care of it is not a bad thing.
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Hmm sure, that makes sense from a global perspective, but the friction to business, which you already point out, is exactly the point in which this argument becomes not so productive.
Because... If it isn't real, they shouldn't be wasting resources to prepare for it, at least from an efficiency stand point. However, it does seem completely detrimental to everyone (even themselves) if they are spending money exactly to fund a biased and unscientific alternative narrative.
I don't think I'm talking crazy here, I feel like we've seen plenty of examples of exactly this kind of behavior of funding studies that engage in some unethical practices in their studies to alter the desired conclusion. Unfortunately I do not come prepared with any references, so you should all take what I'm saying with a grain of salt too.
Oh listen, I'm willing to have a conversation regarding this subject with anyone. But the arguments, the points have to be sound.
When I hear things like... Oh... but I don't believe in climate change and I ask... What does that mean? and their response again is... I just don't believe in it. Then we are just having a conversation while sitting in a pond of ignorance.
I understand the cost to business, I get it. I'm trying to imply however that some things are more common sense than others. I'll give you an example, a concrete example.
Here we are defending the coal industry when it's the energy equivalent of us trying to keep the FAX machine alive. Why have we not moved on? Why is the romanticism even have a ticket to the deli counter on this one.
My father was a miner, my grandpa was a miner... so I wanna be a miner.
Yes, I get it.. but listen my brother, your lungs... this is toxic, you are not only killing yourself, its not good for the planet... We have options now..
Oh... but mer jerb...
You can do other jerbs...
I dunno. I guess I'm being a bit insensitive.
Oh yes 100% agreed. This is why I was offering a problem that perpetuates this issue, beyond just people that simply deny it. Because somehow there are these studies that they also point to and say "see? Science says otherwise" and that's just annoying and hard to unravel.
Have you ever seen the book Radical Simplicity? It is the most honest look at personal environmental ethics that I've seen.
The author's point is that your resource consumption load on the environment can be boiled down to how many children you have and how much money you spend. He figured that his fair share of the Earth's resources amounted to one child per lifetime and $6,000 of consumption per year. If you team up with a domestic partner and pool your resources then your household would consist of two adults, two children, and $24,000 of annual consumption. That also happens to be the federal poverty line.
I enjoyed reading the book even though the conclusion is sobering. He got his point across by setting his own goals for himself and showing the kind of world that he was trying to create through his personal action. He also acknowledged that others would choose different goals and would be willing to accept different outcomes. All he really asked his readers to do is take an honest look at what they were doing and what the consequences of their actions would be.
oh that's pretty crazy... I've never heard of this book... i'm going to nerd out and buy it...
thanks for sharing
Your “what’s the risk” section immediately made me recall a comic...
There you go. This comic summarizes that mentality quite accurately.
hahahahha i love that comic, I will keep in muh computer from now on!
this is perfect!
I think that idealism is the only thing that has kept this planet going. All evidence suggests we are screwing up big time when it comes to polluting and accelerating whatever destructive process is taking place. I lived that straw man conversation you made up. It is just like that when politics messes up with science and common sense.
In Venezuela, when you want to argue with a person who supports the government and you ask them for a logical explanation for our economy to be this bad and their inability to stop inflation, human rights violations, etc. etc. and they come up with the whole economic war thing, and the US government not having the moral to criticize any other country because they also violate human rights and their economy is not that good.
So i know exactly what you're saying.
The discussion must be made; we have to insist that we cannot encourage progress and technological development at the expense of the planet (just because if we destroy this one, by then we will be able to just colonize another one).
Oh man... its tough.. I've given up with some people, simply because it becomes so emotional, you can't keep civility.
I understand the claim against the right wing of venezuela, but if its not working.... gosh in the name of pragmatism, a change needs to happen. escape goating is not feeding one single child.
More than that, scapegoating is literally killing people on a daily basis. My wife and mother-in-law have just come from a wake of a young woman who just died of cancer, leaving 3 kids behind, one of them just 3-month old. University professors, who used to have the highest life expectancy, are dropping like flies. And chavistas keep blaming "the empire". As you say, how can we keep civility with these people?
Regarding global warming and the like, the government actually has, as the fifth item in their "plan de la patria", nothing less than "to save the planet" and you have to see the entrance of every town in Venezuela (the infamous rellenos sanitarios). Pollution in the streets is at an all-time high and with the exploitation of gold and other minerals down south, they have destroyed more hectares of land than ever before. Thus, cynicism is probably the only department in which we are a power force!
intersting post...
please followe me and upvote me please....
˙ʎʇᴉunʇɹoddo sᴉɥʇ ǝɯ ǝʌᴉƃ noʎ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ ʎʞɔnl os ɯ,ᴉ ˙˙˙ʎɐp ʎʞɔnl ʎɯ ǝq ʇsnɯ ʎɐpoʇ ˙ʇɐɥʇ ǝɯ llǝʇ ǝuoʎuɐ pɐɥ ɹǝʌǝu ǝʌ,ᴉ 'ʍoʍ ɥo
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