The San Bruno gas fire and the futility of harping on fossil-fuel disasters
So why aren't we sufficiently riled up to change the situation? One of the more persuasive theories is status quo bias. Psychologists find that when people are anxious (and nothing breeds anxiety like a recession), they cling to what they know, even if it's clearly problematic. Our fossil-fuel economy may be gasping, sputtering, and occasionally blowing up homes, but at least it's the devil we know, not some mysterious cleantech network of solar panels and smart meters and compact neighborhoods.
MSM failure:
Juan Cole: The media’s failure to cover “the great Pakistani deluge” is “itself a security threat” to America
Aid deficit
Suffering endured by flood victims cries out for a generous response
In this age of the global electronic village, it's hard to conceive that a natural disaster that has dislocated millions and caused billions of dollars of property damage could be out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case with flooding in Pakistan that has taken a terrible human toll in the past few weeks.Read the comments. Disgusting.
World economic forum urges leaders to act on climate change
The forum is the Asian version of the World Economic forum held each year in Davos - its theme this year is 'Driving Growth through Sustainability'.I guess they're seeing the effort to move toward sustainable energy as a growth opportunity, unlike the GOP here in the US.
A Vigorous Global Response To a Systemic Issue (Why is Climate Change so Different?)
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Also, although the banking industry is powerful and may experience some short-term pain as the result of a regulation, no one is talking about getting rid of money and replacing it with something altogether different. But we are talking about stopping the use of fossil fuels to a large extent and moving in an entirely different direction. So it’s not too surprising that an international response to the financial crisis is a bit easier than the energy transformation required by climate change.
Still, wouldn’t it be nice to see a similar story like “Economic Regulators Agree on Global Response to Climate Change”? Not going to happen, I’m afraid, or at least, not anytime soon.
Aussie Population Growth Debate (HT Matt at The Oil Drum)
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