At 11:32 AM 11/9/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Yes Corey it is that simple. It is that simple because ALL firms
>pollute to some degree. Thus, ALL firms are engaged in criminal
>activity and since zero pollution is the goal then you shut down ALL
>firms. Why is this so difficult?
>
>This is why I think the costs of reducing pollution to zero can for
>all intents and purposes be considered infinite. Given this, shutting
>down all firms is not an option and neither is achieving zero pollution.
>
>Steve
>
Now you sound patronising...but email has a tendency to confuse things, so
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and try to respond as best I'm able:
I do think this is a simplistic conclusion derived from rather simplistic
thinking.
>From previous posts, it appears you take great delight taking a contrary
position to almost any suggestion of reducing consumption, pollution,
environmental destruction or what have you. This is not to suggest that
your comments and thoughts are without merit, far from it; your Devil's
Advocacy provokes critical thinking to some extent, which is certainly a
good thing. (For instance, I'm admit grave doubts concerning the
possibility of coverting to a zero-growth economy and sending the
unemployment rate soaring...but I am still learning and open to suggestions.)
Paraphrasing the jargon of Australian politics, you are: "Keeping the
Bastards honest!"
In this case, however, you appear to have lost some sense of the complexity
of the situation. I'm not sure whether or not you're assuming that
we/I/environmentalists believe that ALL pollution is "criminal" or that
anybody has suggested "shutting down all firms."
Corey
---------------------------------------------------------
Corey Watts (PGDipSc Student)
Centre for Conservation Biology
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, Qld, AUSTRALIA 4068.
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: +61 7 3365 2475
Facsimile: +61 7 3365 1655
CCB Website: http://www.ccb.uq.edu.au/website
"Wings and feathers on the crying, mysterious Ages...
...all that is right, all that is good."
D.H. Lawrence, "The Wild Common."
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