Climate
The Left Says
Human-caused climate change is real and catastrophic. Every effort should be made to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and reverse the warming of the planet.
The Right Says
The amount of greenhouse gasses that humans have added to the atmosphere since the industrial revolution pales in comparison to what volcanoes have done many times in the past. The earth will deal with it like it always does. There is no reason to stifle economic development by imposing artificial and unnecessarily expensive restrictions.
The Solution
There is a massive role for technology and industry to mitigate the negative effects of our rearranging of chemicals and putting them where they don’t belong; from nano-machines to go in and break down or sequester toxic waste, to CO2 scrubbers for the atmosphere, or even basic re-forestation. But the issue comes down to the fact that we burn petro-chemicals because they are cheap and energy-dense. The problem (whether or not you care about the climate) is that we are going to run out of oil & gas. Electricity is the answer, but there are basically two ways to make electricity: spin a generator, or shine the sun on a solar panel. It is amazing that there is no fundamental difference between the dirtiest coal-fired power-plant, and the new, experimental stellerator fusion reactor – they just use heat to make steam which spins a generator. We are still running mostly on steam-power. Historically, our energy production moves from dirty to clean, and our fuels shift from less to more energy dense. (dung /wood -> coal -> natural gas) Sure we could put solar panels on every roof; windmills too, because distributed generation is good for individuals and eases pressure on the whole system. Grid-level solar is good, but still has some environmental impact problems, and windfarms are cheap-ish, but not everyone loves them (we’re looking at you, large bird species) – both suffer from inconsistency due to weather vagaries, and energy storage is nearly impossible at this scale. Don’t freak out, but the Solution is actually nuclear.
During the 2nd world war, as nuclear physics was moving into practical applications, there was a choice that needed to be made between using uranium or thorium as the fuel for nuclear power generation. Uranium was cheaper and easier, and we had more experience with it from weapons production. It turns out that using uranium gives us plutonium (which we can make bombs out of), and thorium doesn’t. Even though commercial power plants never made plutonium for weapons (we have special reactors for that), uranium was still the obvious path for intense research. Thorium is the direction we need to go now¹. But what about all the nuclear waste, you ask? First of all, every bit of the pollution from a coal plant is spewed into the environment. All of the waste from a nuclear plant, including current ones, is contained. Even in the case of major accidents, exposure levels are less than for an MRI. And get this: Thorium reactors produce something like 1/40th the waste, and some can convert existing nuclear waste into material that is much less radioactive. Whether or not we use thorium, reactors need to get smaller and simpler; which is all in the works right now.
So that takes care of a little over a quarter of the problem². We’re not going to all go vegan, so we also have to do something about all the cows. First, they need to be grass-fed. Second, collect and “digest” all manure when cattle are not free-range. Third, foster soil & atmospheric methane “sinks.” Next, require every landfill to practice gas recapture/energy generation. Furthermore, it is the intent that our fix for the Tax structure also reduces the global transportation footprint. Manufacturing is the other big source of emissions, but much of that will shift with better energy production. Moving away from ubiquitous and worthless consumerism shouldn’t be all that hard. We can stop buying all the plastic and junk. Think about this before you buy the next thing stamped, “Made in China,” – – the amount on the price-tag is not the actual price we are paying for that fleeting and illusory moment of satisfaction. Can you imagine if everything came with a 5-year, or even a 10-year warranty? I’d pay $150 for a desk lamp, if I knew it was the only desk lamp I’d ever have to buy…if I could give that amazing desk lamp to my grandkids one day.