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| quote: | Originally posted by tu_face
true, but where's the harm in trying? there wasn't much proof 50 years ago that smoking gave you cancer, but people ignored it and look what happened. we can only make informed descisions based on what we know, and what we know at the moment is that using the scientific principles we have learnt so far, fossil fuel emissions have a harmful effect on our planets environment and ecology, not to mention human health. what we have learnt now, is that because we spent years using leaded fuel, there are now more cases of schizophrenia, this is just one of the health issues related to the worlds fossil fuel uses that gets drowned in the environment argument.
kyoto may or may not do the trick, but surely it is worth a try? or would it take the lining out of bush's pockets too much? |
We don't know what the harm in trying is just yet. But that's just it - we have no idea as to how attempting to drastically change our environment might turn out. It may sound like a really good thing, but as you pointed out, when we don't know all the outcomes, foreseeable or not, terrible things can occur. It may be worth the try - it may not be, time is the only one who can tell. Terrible things have been done for the greatest of intents, take preserving the environment in Klamath Falls, Oregon for example - when taken to extremes, environmental preservation has shown to be detrimental to the people living right now, and I believe those people have a reserved priority.
We will survive either way - humans must, otherwise we are just not worthy to be this planet's dominating species. Let the caps melt - we will live underwater. Let the atmosphere become poison - we will live in bubbles. We will survive.
It's truly a shame that all the truances mentioned in this thread will go universally ignored. All we can do though, is step-by-step clean up after ourselves. Don't dump things anywhere you like, pick up garbage when you see it, start a compost pile, dispose of chemicals appropriately - if people just did this, we wouldn't be as bad-off as we are. It's easy to just blame major corporations for our environmental woes, but that's just like blaming America for the world's problems - the US may be responsible for 35% of Global pollution, but where did the other 65% go to? That's surely the majority (even though things really aren't proportional). It comes down to personal responsibility - people so easily disregard this in exchange for a scapegoat.
[/Devil's Advocate]
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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