[ExI] "Up against the warming zealots"...hmmm

[Eugen Leitl]

On Mon, Jul 23, 2007 at 11:00:07PM +0200, Elaa Mohamad wrote:

> When was the last time everybody had a reason to be interested in the
> environment?

http://www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/
 
> > We certainly do have the money to burn on frivolous war-making.
> > So if we want to make it happen, we can.
> 
> Do you really believe that? 

I certainly believe that if you can destroy value to the tune
of more than a terabuck (and counting) that that value was
expendable, by definition. (Whether there's considerably more
where that came from is an open question).

> If so, _how_ do we make it happen?

A first good step would be stop spending terabucks on breaking
things and start spending terabucks on making things.
 
> >Do we want to make it happen?
> 
> I believe the right question to ask is: How do we ensure the
> discontinuation of current practices will bring about more benefits
> for the decision makers (resources, power, etc.) than simply
> continuing the dead dino burning extravaganza.

Too rational. People first have to want things, and that then things
start to move, and only then do benefits materialize (or fail to).

> Mind, the motivation doesn't have to be only positive reinforcement -
> if the decision makers see they are losing on the polls or their

A lot more accountability is in order. Unfortunately, currently people 
are politically apathetic, and that's one of the reasons some of them
can get away with breaking things to the tune of more than a terabuck.

> accountant frowning... Well, they'll move one way or another. And as a
> poet said: "Change is good for any of us."

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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