----- Original Message ----- From: "P. J. Alling" Subject: Re: Global warming was: The Nine-spotted
> Sadly most people don't seem to understand supply and demand. It's all > a matter of cost. When prices rise high enough for a commodity suitable > replacements are found, or if a less costly alternative exists the > substitution will begin if prices simply stay the same. Oil was > substituted for Coal because total costs of using it for energy were > lower. Something will be substituted for Oil when either of those two > conditions is met. It's quite likely that the US will go back to Coal > for a while, (the US is the Saudi Arabia of Coal), abet with new plants > being much cleaner than the old, but the price of Oil in real terms will > have to be much higher than it is now. Supply and demand economic models aren't based on sustainability, and as a consequence aren't based on intelligence. > > No matter what is causing global warming, (and if it's man made, all the > CO2 models, flawed though they may be, show that cutting back on > emissions is way to late to make a difference in the short to mid > term). Rich societies have a much better chance of mitigating any > untoward effects of global temperature rises than poor ones, so given > that the changes are coming and we can't stop them, it's best to not do > anything that will make any societies poorer. Unfortunately most if not > all of the prescriptions to "fix" global warming will do just that. > I wouldn't have believed that the best advice a supposedly educated person can give as a solution is to race hell bent for the precipice if I han't read your post. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
