|
December 13, 2006
Shrinking is growth!
I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you! Via M. Simon, I see evidence -- from no less than UN sources -- that Global Warming is not as hot as previously thought. To which Simon adds: ...water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas and that the models used for prediction do not handle cloud cover very well.There are so many surmises involved -- so many shifts demanded in so many, um, "paradigms" -- that I don't know where to begin. Until quite recently, it was insisted upon that the deadly automobile was the primary culprit. Now it's cattle gases: Cows generate more greenhouse gases than all forms of transport combined, a United Nations report has revealed.Drastic action! No bull! I can't think of better news for radical vegans and animal rights activists. Newly empowered, they can demand a meat-free society in the name of saving the precious earth. But it's human activity that's the principal collective target, and collective destruction is needed to save humanity from collective destruction! As I've observed before, moving backwards is the new direction for "progressives." It fascinates me that there are still so many traditional leftists who still believe in things like "economic growth" as the best solution for the world's pressing problems. Economists tend to be left of center, but most of them are still thinking in terms of development and growth, and I find myself wondering.... Just what will happen to the old growth progressives under the coming new paradigm shift? If all human activity is to be labeled bad, growth will become the new taboo, and progress will mean moving towards primitivism. What are the implications for economics itself? The aspect of this which most amuses me ought to frighten me, and that is that there's no possibility of rational debate. Each side thinks the other is ignorant, stupid, and blind to all logic. It's starting to remind me of the Culture War stuff. The difference, though, is that in this case I'm evil not because of any alleged lifestyle issues, but merely because I'm alive. What would they have me do? Stop eating beans? (Nah, I'd still be breathing.) posted by Eric on 12.13.06 at 10:14 AM
Comments
Not only do I remember that, but I remember being taught that by my paleontology professor as a freshman at UC Berkeley in 1972. He had done a huge amount of research, had graphs charts, and his thesis was that we never left the Ice Age, but were simply in one of the warmer periods -- soon due to run out. Another era, another theory. Eric Scheie · December 13, 2006 03:28 PM |
|
March 2007
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
March 2007
February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
War For Profit
How trying to prevent genocide becomes genocide I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight Wind Boom Isaiah Washington, victim Hippie Shirts A cunning exercise in liberation linguistics? Sometimes unprincipled demagogues are better than principled activists PETA agrees -- with me! The high pitched squeal of small carbon footprints
Links
Site Credits
|
|
And then there are some of us who remember all the talk about the "incoming ice age" back in the 1970s, which of course was just around the corner.