The style of communication doesn't make anything any more or any less true. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
But more importantly, and you also hinted at this in your post: the global warming debate within the United States is still in a different stadium than present within Europe - or so it seems to me, and please correct where I'd be mistaken. As has been lamented too often: the level of acceptance of the global warming theory, down to the fundamental physics, nor its possible consequences; they are simply not taken for granted as largely as in Europe. Yet this year even scientists working for the White House have (grudgingly?) agreed on a warming earth - Science article something something. Surprise, surprise: There is just no implementation by the administration on that. So now the meme is: global warming good? Interesting.
The trouble at this side of the ocean is that anything written in the States gets carried to Europe - vice versa, less so. And when the USA didn't ratify Kyoto and now the EU is failing its goals, it has gotten louder. And louder. And noise adds nonsense. So I disagree on your last sentence. Climate chaos myth making, misleading scenarios and big blow ups of "what if" scenarios without any hard evidence to go with them have been too frequently my concern. Worrisome, perhaps; reality based, not so.
We don't want to travel with others on trains--we want to drive great big cars on superhighways.
We've never had the deprivations that Europeans have suffered from frequent wars on their soil, so we waste food and energy without even noticing. This became clear to me when I lived in Europe for awhile. I soon learned to be as careful as my neighbors.
The only thing that gets Americans to have that feeling of "we're all in this together" is war.
Most of our ancestors left Europe because it was too constricting and they did not fit in, or they saw a way to make their fortune in the new world.
So to get a diverse bunch of people who have in their genes the tendency to be enterprising loners who prefer lounging in front of their plasma screen TVs to thinking about a common goal that does not involve warfare is quite a conundrum.
What could be the motivator? I think it has to be profit. Something that perks up Americans right away. Clean energy that is cheaper than dirty energy. Conservation that does not require a lot of work but reduces expenses.
And, above all, if it could be shown that reducing carbon emissions improves sexual prowess, then we would not have to resort to jeremiads about catastrophic global warming.
Arf!
You want some renewable deep wave energy, darlin'? Say hello to my love-turbine!
I'm not sure how "zero emissions" fits in here...
No! I didn't type that! It was afew! I don't know how he does it. He uses gnomisch powers and Shostakovich! Don't let his innocent expression fool you!
Hold on, that's not afew. That's me! Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Now I will cycle home, using my flowers as protection...CO2 my beauties! Food! Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.
Two excellent insightful posts, also below. Really not much to add.
