(04-29-2019 08:42 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: A strong economy does no one any good if we are destroying our planet.
A bit dramatic but fine... the problem is the drama creates a target
The issue to the other side is, while certainly we can do more... It's the rest of the world whom has the most room to improve. If the rest of the world were at 'our' levels, we would be contributing (collectively) far less to the issue (whether one agrees in the magnitude or not) than we would if the US reached zero.
I don't know if I'm being clear, but 'destroying our planet' is about far more than CO2 emissions. It's about water and forests as well.
Let me use an analogy to try and be more clear.
We're a fleet of 100 cars going at 100 miles an hour... one of the fastest in the world. There are nations like China and Sub Saharan Africa who have fewer cars, but they are building them quickly and most of them are going 25 mph.
Proposals from people like Beto are designed to get us to 110mph, but that 10mph (because it involves all sorts of breakthroughs that don't currently exist) costs more than it would to get those other countries from 25mph to 75mph, which of course would do more to help 'the world' than us going to 110... and the technology clearly exists.
Seeing us as a leader? We already are. The sorts of changes we could do now are designed to improve our standing with places like Norway and Germany, not China.
I agree that a booming economy does us no good if we ruin the planet, but ruining our economy does no good if it doesn't stop us from ruining the planet either.... and it certainly doesn't help us be seen as a leader if our economy is struggling.
I'm not against investing in technology that gets us to 110mph by any means... I'm merely against making THAT the plan, when much of the rest of the GROWING world staying at 25mph actually lowers the 'average' speed.
Sorry for the weak analogy... I hope it's clear enough
I DO think the 'improve our standing with Norway and Germany' comment, plus the 'government funded research' are key political issues, especially to the left on the issue. Some of them have actually admitted that they believe 'the cost doesn't matter'... but it does. These are POLITICAL solutions and money grabs more than they are 'plans to save the planet'. If they were plans to save the planet, we would be talking a whole lot more about exporting our existing technology and enforcing 'higher' standards globally as opposed to simply writing checks