Re: [asa] Global Warming, Ethics, and Social Sciences

I commend David for his careful, nuanced response to this complex issue. I
share his views that humanity has very likely contributed to the very real
warming in the past 2 centuries, mainly through our extensive use of
carbon-based energy forms ("fossil fuels"), which store up carbon from past
atmospheres and give it back up when combusted; and that the best policy to
respond to this situation is very unclear and any suggestions are likely to
be hotly contested.

Speaking for myself, I think there are persuasive reasons to do our very
best to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, the sooner the better. In
the USA, we tend to think that we have a "right" to live anywhere--in very
cold climates, in very large homes that are often very far from public
transportation and from our jobs, and in places where water resources will
just not sustain a large population, long-term (to throw in a prominent
example unrelated to global warming per se). We are extraordinarily
careless about this, IMO, and our lack of responsible planning *with
restrictions* now, will not serve us well in the future. We ought to be
building new infrastructure (e.g., high speed rail linking cities and towns)
and rebuilding old infrastructure (our older cities and towns, to make them
much more attractive options for young families than suburban and semi-rural
sprawl), rather than more and more roads to ease commuting in large vehicles
occupied by no one other than the driver. Leave the global warming issue
out of this, IMO, and an argument for something like this is still
compelling. At least to me, and I don't think I'm a lone voice in the
wilderness.

Presently we seem to lack the political courage to do this type of thing,
except in the Pacific Northwest--where even conservative organizations like
TDI promote public transportation, for which Bill Gates gives them lots of
money.

Ted

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Received on Wed Jan 17 20:31:09 2007