An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Saturday, July 28, 2012
Joe Romm — Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds ‘Global Warming Is Real’, ‘On The High End’ And ‘Essentially All’ Due To Carbon Pollution
Probably not a lot in the media, Trixie, since it is bought and paid for. But public opinion is shifting quickly in recent polls.
It is going to take a rally earthshaking event to catalyze actual change, and there is really not much the developed world can do to correct the situation quickly by itself, since it's the emerging world that is now the main producer of negative externalities. Most people think that the US is the biggest polluter, but that is no longer the case.
The other problem area is transportable fuel. Navies, shipping, air forces,trucking, and air transport (passenger and cargo) use a huge amount of distillate fuel. There is no cost-effective clean energy transportable substitute in the wings yet.
The economy and social cost of doing anything meaningful quickly is high and painful. So things are going to have to be tangibly bad before anything drastic is done and chipping around the edges is not going to do it.
Tom, how much of an impact do you think this will have on the current rhetoric?
ReplyDeleteProbably not a lot in the media, Trixie, since it is bought and paid for. But public opinion is shifting quickly in recent polls.
ReplyDeleteIt is going to take a rally earthshaking event to catalyze actual change, and there is really not much the developed world can do to correct the situation quickly by itself, since it's the emerging world that is now the main producer of negative externalities. Most people think that the US is the biggest polluter, but that is no longer the case.
The other problem area is transportable fuel. Navies, shipping, air forces,trucking, and air transport (passenger and cargo) use a huge amount of distillate fuel. There is no cost-effective clean energy transportable substitute in the wings yet.
The economy and social cost of doing anything meaningful quickly is high and painful. So things are going to have to be tangibly bad before anything drastic is done and chipping around the edges is not going to do it.