Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Re: Global Warming

While I would agree that there's no particular reason to expect human life to continue without interruption, there is another moral issue at stake. Global warming will reduce the productivity of crop land in many areas. The United States has more than enough food but other areas are just getting by. While we enjoy the material comforts that come along with fossil fuel use, others will have to endure the harshest consequences. We've got plenty of land to move to if sea levels rise. Can you say the same about Indonesia?

None of the effects of global warming sound good to me. If you know something is going to be bad it makes sense to try to avoid it. It does make you curious though, doesn't it? Someone should write a graduate thesis on the positive effects of global warming.

Turning off your computer would help a little bit I suppose, but the real solution is to start with businesses and work down the chain of consumption. Systems that require people to choose to be good rarely work well.

9 comments:

Little Earl said...

"but the real solution is to start with businesses and work down the chain of consumption."

Could you elaborate? I am curious.

yoggoth said...

If someone has the choice between a regular light bulb and one that is 75% more efficient but looks slightly weird or costs a bit more they will often choose the old bulb. So instead of relying on the consumer to choose correctly simply charge businesses taxes based upon the energy consumption of their products. The company that sells the better bulbs will succeed in introducing them into the market. Companies already want changes like this. Of course, they want tax breaks for efficent businesses rather than higher taxes for inefficient ones. A mix of the two would probably be a good compromise.

Little Earl said...

So the bottom line is that the government has to care. No argument from me on that.

I'd argue more but Southpark is on. Be back in 30 min.

Little Earl said...

Sorry, but it was the episode with the underpants gnomes. An oldie but a goodie.

Anyways, Gore covers all of that stuff in the movie. Clearly no meaningful change will occur until the government changes, and the government won't change until the citizens change (this may already be happening - witness the midterm elections). My point is that I'm not the guy who needs to be convinced that the government needs to change, hence my comment that I am probably not the target audience for the movie. But I worry that the REAL target audience might not ever watch the movie because of Al Gore's very presence. However, if they DO watch the movie, then I guess the scare tactics will serve a purpose. Conservatives tend to think about life in terms of themselves, so if someone tells them that THEIR OWN LIVES are going to get worse, then that might be what it takes to get them to change. I'm just looking at it from my snarky Buddhist perspective.

yoggoth said...

Family Guy has surpassed South Park as the new satirical and edgy animated comedy of choice. It makes South Park look like Scooby Doo.

Little Earl said...

What channel is Family Guy on?...

I used to watch it sometimes in Davis. Southpark is less verbal and more about the running gag of the cheap animation, which still works after all this time.

You also realize that it is the greatest compliment to compare a cartoon to Scooby Doo, which is the guiding force of my existence and the summit of all entertainment.

yoggoth said...

Family Guy made a joke with dead American soldiers as the punchline. AND it was broadcast on Fox during primetime.

It's on the cartoon netwoork at 8 all week and new episodes are on Fox after the Simpsons on Sundays.

Little Earl said...

Well right before Southpark I was watching a Simpsons re-run (that's how channel 44 does it), and the Simpsons went to a Springfield Isotopes game, and one of the players hit a home run, and the announcer said, "And that ball - like America's credibility in the rest of the world's eyes - is GONE!"

yoggoth said...

That is pretty good.