by kuidaskassikaeb » Thu 08 Sep 2016, 19:13:40
It might be time to wonder why climate change opponents are not doing well.
It's pretty clear that he Greer really underestimates how hard it is to beat large corporations. If you look at the last 2 big environmental wins, getting lead out of gas and lead paint you get some sense of just how hard it is. Tetraethyl lead had one big maker (Ethyl corp), plenty of easy substitutes, and was poisoning an entire generation. It was controversial from the first day it was made, and it took 30 years to get it out of gas. Lead paint was banned from children's toys in the 1930s and it took till the late 70 to get it banned from interior paint, which was 20 years after titanium dioxide had made lead obsolete any way. In both cases nobody went out of business, nobodies lifestyle was disrupted, and these were still battles.
The fossil fuel industry is probably the largest in the world, and it is ready to fight. Oil coal and gas companies will all have to go out of business. Nobody should underestimate how hard this is.
Basically I think the fossil fuel companies have won by keeping the discussion on if there is global warming. Keeping how bad it's going to be or what can be done about it out of the discussion. This level of argument seems to keep everybody happy. Conservatives can do their " I am the logical brave individual who questions the status quo" shtick and Liberals can do their "Did you see how stupid and wrongheaded those conservatives are?" Shtick. It's an endless circle. But the stalling game is good enough for the bad guys.