RE: Energy Policy / Junk Science Environmentalism

Chuck,

THis is really huge problem that 'common sense' is causing.  The reality is that it is 'common sense' that I not let my children die from the cold. Thus, if it becomes a choice between freezing and getting energy or other necessities at the risk of some other species, human beings will chose the common sense approach--get the necessary items in spite of the cost.  Now before someone says it isn't a choice of freezing if one lives in a 50 degree household, the reality is that if the body temperature in children drops a wee bit, they are much more likely to literally catch their death in colds/flus and other nasty diseases. Thus warmth is a matter of life and death.

Now, one of the little known facts is that Canadians are the largest per capita energy users on earth.  I saw this in Beijing on CNBC one morning this last month.  I know, everyone points to the US, but that is what the quiz said.  So I looked up the populations and the BP Statistical world Energy Review energy consumption data to check this out.  Canadians use 9.6 tonnes of oil per citizen and the US uses 8.0, which means that each CAnadian uses 20% more energy each year than us slovenly bad-mouthed US folk.  The tough question for you, and other Canadians is, how much colder are you willing to keep your houses to save those species? If I were a Canadian, facing similar temperatures (or worse) than what I have experienced in Beijing the last 2 weeks, my personal answer would be to get the oil out of ANWR.  A point of interest, the Tar sands, which are said to be the future fuel of the world, today produces something near .001 of the total energy consumed in Canada.

I would add, that the reason what I am saying IS common sense, is that for each human, his personal death seems so much worse than all others.  The death of a family member is worse than the death of a friend. The death of a friend is worse than the death of a stranger. And the death of a human seems much worse than the death of my cat. And the death of my cat seems worse than the death of some animal in a far away place.  Thus, I would suggest that we are engaging in common sense and that is what is  creating these problems. 



On Thu Dec 15 20:49 , "Tjalle T Vandergraaf" sent:

As much as I have been tempted to respond to Janice’s snippets (after all, ~90% (or more!) of her e-mail is regurgitated from various web sites), I don’t think we should bother.  Remember that all this correspondence ends up in the ASA archives.

 

Canada feels very strongly about drilling in the ANWR because of its importance to the Porcupine Caribou and other wildlife.  (see:  http://www.canadianembassy.org/environment/development-en.asp).  The USA has already lost the passenger pigeon and, most likely, the ivory-billed woodpecker (although there continue to be rumours of sightings). I wonder how many species have to be sacrificed on the altar of consumerism and extravagance before common sense sets in.

 

Chuck Vandergraaf