--- "Chiaviello, Anthony" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Let me weigh in here for a moment, as Bissell raises a good, if not
> always
> obvious to all, point.
>
> Generally, business opposes spending money on preparing for global
> warming,
> because it's not a profit center. Like internalizing the costs of a

Well apparently this doesn't apply to corporations like Enron.


> gallon
> of gasoline to include cleaning up the pollution that unit causes, such
> expenses are not reflected on the bottom line, within a time frame that
> would offer profits to stockholders. So, in order to prevent having to
> spend
> such funds, the business community seeks a rhetorical tool to show that
> there is no global warming, or that it's not anthropogenic (so there's

Or they could do something like point to the satellite data.


> nothing we can do about it), or that it will be fun.
>
> On the other side, environmentalists have no short-term profit worries,

Really?  You mean they don't worry about paychecks, rent and stuff like
that?  Got news for you Tony, I have seen some of the offices these guys
have in D.C. and they are very nice.  For some reason I just don't believe
you here.

> so
> they see the longer run in terms of effects of warming on human and
> other
> populations, and seek reductions in co2 to reduce the rate of warming.

Again I don't believe you.  Corporations do have long term plans.


> To
> some extent they are willing to pay for it, in the form of higher
> prices,
> but they are usually not the ones who have to shell out the money to
> make
> the changes needed. They are mostly altruistic, as there is little to be
> gained here, even by being "right." So to strengthen their position,
> environmentalists seize on the effects of warming, trying to show how
> much
> of a threat it is, and how little we know, so that it is necessary to be
> cautious (precautionary principle) when it comes to adding heat to the
> atmosphere.

Or they can be like Dr. Stephen Schnieder and say things like,

"To capture the public imagination, we have to offer up some scary
scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements and little mention of any
doubts one might have.  Each of us has to decide the right balance between
being effective, and being honest."

Let me see...in other words we have to decide on how much we should lie
and how honest we are.  Nice.


> The issue is money, or profits, seemingly the most important motive of
> all
> in our society, which is based on western European values. Of course, to

Or perhaps it just could be things like having a refirgerator.


Steve


=====
"In a nutshell, he [Steve] is 100% unadulterated evil. I do not believe in a 'Satan', but this man is as close to 'the real McCoy' as they come."
--Jamey Lee West

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