The Precautionary Principle For the Rest Of Us
Climate change, Economics, Politics & Policy
11 days ago, an engaging American called wonderingmind42 posted a video ‘lecture’ on the internet. In just 9 minutes 33 seconds of lucid exposition, he puts the whole “Is climate change real, and why should we do anything about it?” debate in perspective.
Over 722 thousand people have viewed this film. Click the big picture if you’re not one of them.
Sphere: Related ContentPete Smith @ June 24, 2007
Yes, I’ve seen this and think its simplicity of argument is a good thing for the general public to soak up.
It’s a good video. His arguments are pretty good. I take one exception, that is that he assumes that the actions that need to be taken to stop global warming would cause economic depression. These actions, done well would cause an economic BOON! An historical perspective will shed some light on my argument:
At the beginning of WW2 the world was in economic straights. In the US unemployment was high and things were bad the world round. Hoover did NOTHING and things just got worse.
FDR came in and IMMEDIATELY moved US industrial capacity to war production. This, along with stop gap social spending brought the US economy back up.
If the US industrial capacity that has been idle for a couple of decades were to be brought back on line to produce alternative energy sources, we would again create a BOON in jobs and also take action to ameliorate the effects of global warming.
Who be you? A supporter of do nothing HOOVER or a supporter of proactive FDR?
I say we take action. When you add the peak oil argument, these actions become a no brainer!
The scientifically impossible I do right away
The spiritually miraculous takes a bit longer
The film was intended to set out the arguments in VERY simple terms. In order to keep the audience’s attention, I suspect that he felt he had to have something bad happening in more than one box, so that he could use the ‘least worst’ comparison.
You’re right, inaction is not an option. And I agree that redirecting our ingenuity and industry towards sustainablility may well have economic benefits. And yes, Peak Oil is looming; quick, lets use it before it runs out!
He’s brought out a set of 3 “Patching Holes” videos that try to address some of the questions arising from the first film.
http://break.com/wonderingmind42
What I like about this guy is his reasonableness. If only everyone was like that.