Price Of Gas
- Thread starter Rosco
- Start date
Any of you that are interested in this debate might wish to get a copy of The Skeptical Environmentalist from the library.
While BE provides us with his own spin on the inaccuracies of the same statistical data that everyone else uses, this is the exact same technique that is used by every environmental organisation to substantiate whichever half-baked theory that will raise contributions for the day!
Bjorn Lomberg dared challenge some of the "facts" that are delivered by the environmental industry, through the media everyday, and rather than try to argue against him, they set about trying to discredit HIM rather than the issues at stake.
Check out The Litany, the first chapter of the book, which is reproduced on the web-site.
Unfortunately, there are a bunch of people that believe that fear and taxation (amongst other ideas) will save the World. What they fail to recognise, is that the manner in which they deliver the message, turns most people off, and the serious issues which certainly do deserve consideration, are lost in a mix of left-wing ideology and negativity, which the majority aren't prepared to consider due to the manner of presentation.
While BE provides us with his own spin on the inaccuracies of the same statistical data that everyone else uses, this is the exact same technique that is used by every environmental organisation to substantiate whichever half-baked theory that will raise contributions for the day!
Bjorn Lomberg dared challenge some of the "facts" that are delivered by the environmental industry, through the media everyday, and rather than try to argue against him, they set about trying to discredit HIM rather than the issues at stake.
Check out The Litany, the first chapter of the book, which is reproduced on the web-site.
Unfortunately, there are a bunch of people that believe that fear and taxation (amongst other ideas) will save the World. What they fail to recognise, is that the manner in which they deliver the message, turns most people off, and the serious issues which certainly do deserve consideration, are lost in a mix of left-wing ideology and negativity, which the majority aren't prepared to consider due to the manner of presentation.
sweetlilsky
Member
- Aug 2, 2004
- 17
- 0
The summary on that site for "The Skeptical Environmentalist" reminds me a lot of the time I tried to use a book by the Fraser Institute as an antithesis for a paper on acid rain... (from my perspective, none of their arguments went along with any of the facts they spewed out - facts which DID go along with the many academic sources I read on the subject). I can't believe the Washington Post would put down Carson's "Silent Spring", who is regarded by some as a pioneer in risk communication - now obviously for good reason.
I don't honestly believe that a bunch of groups got together one day and decided to "terrorize" people about this thing called the "environment", that we should now be worried about. Perhaps some of them are well-meaning. One of the most important questions to ask oneself when evaluating anything you hear is "In whose interest is it that I think this?". Just think about how much money oil companies make selling us gasoline, and just think about how much money they put into PR and advertising to downplay the risks of our upspiraling consumption.
As I haven't read that book you recommend N1, I can't judge on your comment about how the environmental "industry" merely tries to discredit him [Lomborg] than disprove his arguments (a tactic often employed against real "risk communicators" - which in most cases is the position of those very environmental groups), but I can say it's strange that they would be doing so in the first place. Can you post some sources for this?
The people that believe that taxation will "save the world" as you say, usually push for it [at least that's what they say] because they are under the impression that most other people really don't take these issues seriously and would more likely slow down their consumption if it significantly affected their coin purses. I do agree with you though on the fact that scaring people won't help them change their actions (there have been studies that go along with this theory) but maybe, just maybe some of it's true and they're not just trying to scare people?
Not to say that there aren't some organizations that put on a poor front such as "donate money to plant more trees to fend off global warming" when really in the long run it's just a band-aid solution (and we cut up more trees than they plant anyways).
Alright I better stop typing now.
I don't honestly believe that a bunch of groups got together one day and decided to "terrorize" people about this thing called the "environment", that we should now be worried about. Perhaps some of them are well-meaning. One of the most important questions to ask oneself when evaluating anything you hear is "In whose interest is it that I think this?". Just think about how much money oil companies make selling us gasoline, and just think about how much money they put into PR and advertising to downplay the risks of our upspiraling consumption.
As I haven't read that book you recommend N1, I can't judge on your comment about how the environmental "industry" merely tries to discredit him [Lomborg] than disprove his arguments (a tactic often employed against real "risk communicators" - which in most cases is the position of those very environmental groups), but I can say it's strange that they would be doing so in the first place. Can you post some sources for this?
The people that believe that taxation will "save the world" as you say, usually push for it [at least that's what they say] because they are under the impression that most other people really don't take these issues seriously and would more likely slow down their consumption if it significantly affected their coin purses. I do agree with you though on the fact that scaring people won't help them change their actions (there have been studies that go along with this theory) but maybe, just maybe some of it's true and they're not just trying to scare people?
Not to say that there aren't some organizations that put on a poor front such as "donate money to plant more trees to fend off global warming" when really in the long run it's just a band-aid solution (and we cut up more trees than they plant anyways).
Alright I better stop typing now.
US frees up emergency oil supply
BBC News - 2004 September 23 - US frees up emergency oil supply
Emergency oil loans 'too small'
BBC News - 2004 September 24 - Emergency oil loans 'too small'
-
BBC News - 2004 September 23 - US frees up emergency oil supply
Emergency oil loans 'too small'
BBC News - 2004 September 24 - Emergency oil loans 'too small'
-
I'm actually glad our gas price finally went up. Seems like it was weeks/months ago when we were hitting all time highs for oil prices. I was waiting with dread, only to find our gas prices hovering around the same low 70's, even dropping some times for days at a time.
When I heard that Hurricane Ivan forced the evacuation of the rigs in the gulf, I figured now was a good time to jack up the price (since they didn't before), and wow, my dream came true. It's too bad that the US has finally decided to drain some from their tanks and let the free market price fall, Rashish and his brother Islambadii (who own the local Esso) were running on empty so to speak, and weren't making enough money to afford the new Lexus' they just bought. I hope they can weather the fluctations and survive and avoid bankruptcy.
When I heard that Hurricane Ivan forced the evacuation of the rigs in the gulf, I figured now was a good time to jack up the price (since they didn't before), and wow, my dream came true. It's too bad that the US has finally decided to drain some from their tanks and let the free market price fall, Rashish and his brother Islambadii (who own the local Esso) were running on empty so to speak, and weren't making enough money to afford the new Lexus' they just bought. I hope they can weather the fluctations and survive and avoid bankruptcy.
cyclic monkey
Senior
- Jun 29, 2003
- 256
- 0
It's getting really expensive in my town !!!!!
:elvis:
