The difficulty with solving an environmental issue is when you try to solve one segment it may hurt another. For example, ethanol could provide cheaper, more friendly fuel, but also increase the price of beef as less acreage is used to grow cornfeed for cattle and so on. Now it seems that turning to biofuels could damage tropical rain forests according to the European Union. So pick your poison. Is it worth depleting rain forests? The EU has cHowever, EU leaders last month “made a firm commitment that biofuels should account for 20 percent of vehicle fuels by 2020.” Another major is question to ask is how much energy goes into biofuel production? Some sourcesof biofuel use more energy production than others. Some so much that there would be zero benefit. A major source of today’s enviromental problems is that demand and food and energy continues to increase. When it comes to to choosing an environmental strategy you need to find the solution with the greatest benefit and lowest oppurtunity cost. There is no single earth saving, global warming solving solution. New technologies will be developed to continue to open doors.
Some resource needs to be discovered that is naturally renewable at a pace that can keep up with the demand for consumption. Oil is ver slow, there is just a great quanitity of it. But the natural process to create it is too slow to replenish when it’s used up. Same for the rain forests, full of biodiversity, an important value.
More links on the subject of the environment http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18332282/
Although Cole makes a good, and admitably obvious point, I feel that the problem is one which is expected. It is not often where a problem of this magnitude has a miricle cure which will address the entierty of the issue. I feel that rather than picking a poisen, it should be looked, as he suggested, from a utilitarian point of view, where it is only picking the best solution which will cause the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. In addition to this, it is important to look not at one solution but, as the governemnts, NGOs and IGOs have looked at the problem, as a combination of solutions, incorperating each to the point where it causes an efficient amount of support with not enough negatives to serve as solutions which will create other problems. This is an issue which will require tackling from many different directions.
Comment by mmaszara — May 7, 2007 @ 5:22 am