Comments on: Repent, Recycle, Reuse

By: reed

reed — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:48:41 +0000

Thanks for the video Raffi. He’s got a great point.

By: George P. Wood

George P. Wood — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:58:12 +0000

I have a dim view of Al Gore and his acolytes. Gore himself is a hypocrite, as evinced by the energy use of his house, his private jet use, his use of SUVs to drive from one event to another, and his monstrous house boat. The day he moves to a 2,000 square foot house without airconditioning, flies commercial, drives a Prius, and quits spending like a nouveau riche hillbilly, I might listen to him.

Many of his acolytes are not hypocritical, but their arguments are extreme and (to me) unpersuasive. To be perfectly honest, I’m unpersuaded by the anthropogenic arguments. The earth has gone through global warming and little ice ages before, none of them causally related to humanity’s energy usage or industrial capability. And while environmentalists critique the West for its consumption, they conveniently forget to factor the benefits of modern economic and industrial arrangements.

One last question which I’ve never seen a straight answer to. What precisely is the optimum temperature for the globe? When its winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere. My wife is back in Indiana and one night the wind chill reached -45 degrees Farenheit. It reached over 100 degrees in some sub-Saharan African countries at the same time. If the earth can handle a 145-degree range of temperatures, why can’t it handle a two-degree increase over 100 years, which is basically what we’ve experienced in the 20th Century?

By: Shawn Wamsley

Shawn Wamsley — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:39:54 +0000

George,

What about the observation that the 10% of radicals that polarize issues are keeping 90% of the population in a workable middle ground? Do you ever completely agree with everything that someone on an extreme end of an argument is saying? I think their function in society is annoying but necessary. AGW proponents may not be the best or final word, but what if they get 90% of us to rethink our wasteful ways and move us toward reasonable, wise lifestyles? Would they be as successful at it if they weren’t so “extreme?” This is just a thought that creeps in every time I look at the far political left AND right in our government. They both drive me crazy, but seem to have me rethinking my lifestyle nonetheless.

By: George P. Wood

George P. Wood — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:23:47 +0000

Guys, it’s a bit disingenuous to say that recycling is the goal of proponents of anthropogenic global warming. They’re calling for a fundamental re-arrangement of the way modern societies do things: from energy usage to free markets to agriculture. Indeed, one of the most persuasive arguments against Al-Gore-type arguments is “Cool It” by Bjorn Lomborg. Lomborg stipulates that he believes in AGW. But he approaches it from a cost-benefit analysis and argues that the benefits from Gore-style programs do not begin to outweigh the costs. He goes further and argues that any number of humanitarian projects (malaria prevention, clean water treatment, HIV/Aids investment) will do more to help humanity at far lower costs than radical anti-AGW programs. Check out his Copenhagen Consensus project for a list.

By: Anthony David Jacques

Anthony David Jacques — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:05:57 +0000

I agree, Reed. Even if its all a farce, Pascall’s Wager does apply here, much better than to a religious setting. You’ve nothing to lose by being mindful of waste.

By: reed

reed — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 01:46:51 +0000

I’m always astonished by the resistance of the far right to notions of conserving energy. Even if Global Warming is a farce (which it’s not) what is the damage of conserving the goods we use? Isn’t this the same thing our grandparents and great-parents were asked to do during the depression and wartime?

Why should we conserve gasoline? Because its efficient. Why does it make sense to buy food that’s been grown locally? Because it’s reinvesting in the local economy and not wasteful. Why should we recycle? The same reason my grandpa always made me clean my plate before I left the table.

The problem is that conserving energy is always marketed as a “revolutionary, hippie, liberal socialist” type of thing and it makes people nervous.

By: Anthony David Jacques

Anthony David Jacques — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:53:42 +0000

I’m still on the fence on this.

On the one hand, I think it’s good to be conscientious of the decisions we make about recycling and conservation. If God truly gave us dominion over the earth, shouldn’t we be respectful of that?

On the other hand, Al Gore is super annoying. Plus, he’s looking pretty old, have you seen him lately. Holy crap.

Anyway, it’s good to see that we are fulfilling the Biblical ideal of being all things to all people here at theophiliacs. We have the ideas people, the encouragers, the debaters, and even the irritating I’m-always-right-no-matter-what-you-say types. Can’t imagine it any other way!