Quote Originally Posted by El Kabong View Post
Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan View Post
There has to be a push toward gearing up efforts for pollution prevention/remediation technology. Monetary incentives to tech companies working on these... strict and enforceable regulations on industry to ensure they're complying with environment-preserving goals... less lip service to the environment and more measurable actions. Industry can't be left on its own (IMO) to decide whether or not to implement proven technologies meant to preserve the environment. That's where we'll continue to disagree. The whole capitalism model which involves damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead in the name of maximizing profits would just have to be slightly tweaked in order to accommodate the greater good, which involves our self-preservation and avoiding plunging the world into a toxic-spewing dump, where we can't even keep the vast oceans safe.

We'll agree on what to do with the Chinese because, well...... it's a huge country and whatever they do affects the rest of the world disproportionately. It's wrong to have the rest of the world minding its P's and Q's regarding the environment, only to have the Chinese continue to fuck it all up because they have this need to "catch up."

We'll only halfway agree on how to deal with industry. Gentle guidance is a wonderful idea. How has that worked so far? We have real, tangible pollution problems. Of an embarrassing scale, really. It's like going to a beach and find it ankle-deep in litter. You feel a sense of embarrassment for humankind. As with any individual and/or group or organization, sometimes you have to drop the "pretty please" and give a couple of well-placed whacks.
The United States has strict environmental regulations. Our peak emissions were 2007, we've been down more than anywhere else since then.

Money drives things. If a company comes out with a new system which cuts emissions and doesn't harm production then guess what, that company will utilize that new system and maximize their profits. If on the other hand there's this fucking albatross of a technology or system of production that hampers production, then that ain't going to be something businesses jump with joy to do. It has to be mutually beneficial in order for it to work. That is why solar and wind power companies have to be subsidized by the government...THEY DON'T WORK.

China pollutes more than anywhere else. Emissions, plastic into the oceans, all that jazz, they're the tops and they don't give a shit because they don't value their own people other than as cogs in the communist machine. That is why there are suicide nets at Foxconn factories...not to prevent people from killing themselves, but to prevent the loss of WORKERS.


We've got things in place. Natural gas is helping lower our emissions already....doesn't that prove my point? Switching from coal power to natural gas power? Cost effective, efficient, doesn't impede production.

Solar and wind power "don't work"? Another point we'll just agree to disagree.

Easy to dismiss, because it's "too much work" to continue to tweak and perfect these perfectly good (and renewable) energy sources to the point where they can be effectively used. It's this monumental laziness that continues to push these untrue narratives. There are nations out there, with a lot less scientific manpower than the U.S., that have doubled down in their efforts to make renewable energy sources completely viable.

They DO work. It's just easier to push them aside and concentrate on getting those additional widgets out the door. I'm not claiming they'll 100% substitute other energy sources. But used wisely and efficiently as complementary energy sources is not only possible..... it's urgently needed and important.

I am not diametrically opposed to any energy source, as long as the appropriate safeguards and technology is coupled with it in order to get the maximum benefit. Nuclear is an example. A dirty word for some... but we've been sloppy in the past. We need to learn from our mistakes and not just dismiss a technology as taboo, but rather go back and make damn sure all contingency plans have been addressed many times over.

Like nuclear, there are other energy technologies out there just waiting to be developed and implemented.