"The Environment is too important to be left in the hands of the Environmentalists"

robinsmith3

website team CRAGger Islington Leeds Wokingham WSP

Good point, I would say 99% have yet to be converted though. Did he add any meat to his quote?

john ackers

website team CRAGger Islington

er what did he say about carbon rationing?

david

website team CRAGger Sevenoaks

I think extreme stances taken by environmentalists are largely a reaction to the equally unsatisfactory relegation of environmental issues to the very bottom of political priorities. However, some reading (Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” comes to mind) does show that they are important driving forces of societies’ success or failure.

The rise in the political importance of climate change will promote rational debate over both the extreme environmentalists and the denialists. That process has begun, and the quality of the debate now far outstrips what was available only a year or two ago.

However, politicians still feel they cannot justify spending serious sums on the environment (in contrast to foreign adventures). Whilst private investment into carbon markets is starting to flow, it is misdirected by environmental illiteracy: look at the CDM, for example. Investments there are all about image, and rarely based on environmental outcomes. We’ll only make progress when we manage to marry some rationalism with some political and economic courage.

So yes, roll on the rational debate and let all the -ists fade away if their job is done! I only hope it’s not all coming too late.