Feed on
Posts
Comments

There is an advocacy group out there known as the Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration.

As I’ve said before, “E”nvironmentalists don’t have problems with fossil fuel use, that entire notion is a hoax. Their real problem is with energy qua energy and nothing else. It is energy that enables the “capitalist machine” to keep chugging alone. It is energy that connects people around the globe. It is energy that “destroys” local ways of life by, you know, freeing people up from the jails that local villages used to be. It is energy that allows experimentation, increased crop yields, more recreational activities to be discovered, and the like. Every single potential salve, solution, suggestion to deal with the global warming crisis, particularly those surrounding alternative energies, has been and will continue to meet opposition.

Now, maybe I should just chalk it up to the fact that there just seems to be someone opposed to everything, but I don’t think that’s the case. Is there a group out there opposed to kindness to strangers, for instance? No. So let’s review some of what we know:

  • Nuclear is evil despite it being relatively carbon-free, very safe, and the only legitimate energy source that can make gigawatts of electricity within a reasonable period of time. It’s evil for all kinds of reasons, most of all because we don’t like the idea of storing radioactive waste despite the fact that massive amounts of radioactive stuff is buried all around us.
  • Solar is evil because it uses up land that is home to endangered desert tortoises and other species. It’s also evil because it requires lots and lots of … water. It also forces us to rely on rare earth metals, and people erroneously think that China has us over the proverbial barrel on those things.
  • Wind is evil because it chops up bats and birds, even though those problems are being mitigated. It is also noisy, ugly and uses those evil rare-earths as well.
  • Tidal power causes massive amounts of marine life to be sucked into vents.
  • Natural gas – it’s still fossil fuel, and it makes people’s tap water ignite.

Whatever the merits of any of it, the point is that the “E”nvironmentalists do not recognize that tradeoffs exist and that whatever problems caused by one particular technology need to be weighed against what it would be substituting. But that is really not important. What is important is working hard to stifle the advancement of any energy source. I used to not think this way, but when Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration exists, I know I am not crazy for letting these thoughts creep into my head.

*Postscript: There are obvious costs and benefits to sequestration, I chose not to cover them here.

4 Responses to “This Week’s Sign of the Economic Apocalypse”

  1. Rod says:

    I’m driven daily toward paranoid delusions of a conspiracy to bring this country to utter ruin so that Islamist or communist authoritarian government can fill the vacuum and take over without so much as a gunshot being fired. It is a theme common to many political developments around the world.

    Which reminds me: I have to check if I have any cash lying around that I might invest in gold, unbroken packs of Marlboros and ammo.

  2. Rod says:

    I also have to re-read the Unabomber’s Manifesto again. I once thought he was just a lunatic, but maybe he was on the cutting edge all along.

    The basic problem is that the nations around the world that have pursued socialism enthusiastically are now running out of stuff, and they desire a transfer of stuff from the United States to themselves. E-nvironmentalism is a perfect means to that end: carbon credits become the new medium of exchange as well as a mechanism for transferring wealth from us to them.

    Side note: Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) made the news for saying that drilling for Marcellus Shale gas has increased the STD infection rate in northern PA. So they’re doing more than drilling for gas in Mansfield. The Morning Call newspaper was miffed that he called the loose women in the gas field area “womenfolk.” Sturla has to be one of the dumbest legislators ever, which is saying a lot. Here’s the link to the MC story:

    http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-gas-drilling-causes-stds-20110817,0,2690179.story

  3. Rod says:

    And here I thought I was opposed to CO2 sequestration, too. It’s one of those expensive yet insane measures to reduce greenhouse gases. BTW, CO2 is rinsed from the air by rainfall and contact with the world’s oceans and lakes, and that’s why it does not build up to toxic levels the way it would in one of those geodome habitats where skinny bald guys try to show how human beings could survive in a fish tank on the moon. Too much time spent cooped up in the college library, if you ask me.

  4. Speedmaster says:

    Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists | Science | The Guardian
    Rising greenhouse emissions could tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/aug/18/aliens-destroy-humanity-protect-civilisations

Leave a Reply to Rod