<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for We need more than ACES]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by neosapiens http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/ Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:19:10 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/1 Given the degree of fearmongering and misguided opposition to efforts to make real and substantial GHG reductions, it makes sense to implement as much as Congress can agree on so that we can prove that the nay-sayers are wrong about the cost of action.  As public support grows, the flaws in the implementation can be redressed.  Even should the current ACES bill be signed into law, it's not the last word.  There are probably dozens of these fights in Congress ahead of us.  We will eventually have to phase out coal, clean up our agricultural practices, close the resource cycle (full recycling of all waste products), clean up transportation, ramp up biomass to industrial chemical research, etc.   It's going to take time and patient persistence to dispel the fears and misgivings of those who are opposing vitally needed changes.  At least the passage of this bill in the House is a step in the right direction, even if it's not terribly satisfying in its current form.

]]> Given the degree of fearmongering and misguided opposition to efforts to make real and substantial GHG reductions, it makes sense to implement as much as Congress can agree on so that we can prove that the nay-sayers are wrong about the cost of action.  As public support grows, the flaws in the implementation can be redressed.  Even should the current ACES bill be signed into law, it's not the last word.  There are probably dozens of these fights in Congress ahead of us.  We will eventually have to phase out coal, clean up our agricultural practices, close the resource cycle (full recycling of all waste products), clean up transportation, ramp up biomass to industrial chemical research, etc.   It's going to take time and patient persistence to dispel the fears and misgivings of those who are opposing vitally needed changes.  At least the passage of this bill in the House is a step in the right direction, even if it's not terribly satisfying in its current form.

]]> Comment #2 by randino http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/ Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:53:33 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/2 A very smart article.  I especially liked the part urging more "street heat", something I have thought has been woefully lacking in not only climate legislation, but the whole panoply of reforms that people had so much hope for when Obama got in.  The other part I liked was about too much coziness with the DP.  On one hand this is to be expected when the GOP is to the environment, what the KKK is to blacks and Jews.  On the other hand, we have been behaving like abused children who have finally found a home where we are not locked in the closet and fed scraps.  There is an overkill of gratitude, and this makes us all too eager to please.  Hopefully this will wear off when we realize that Obama is not Jesus Christ, and that we have not arrived at the millenium.

Enjoy Glick and Ward's pieces, even though you might wonder why with some of the positions I have taken on this board.  What can I say? I thrive on contrary opinions.

Randy Cunningham

 

]]> A very smart article.  I especially liked the part urging more "street heat", something I have thought has been woefully lacking in not only climate legislation, but the whole panoply of reforms that people had so much hope for when Obama got in.  The other part I liked was about too much coziness with the DP.  On one hand this is to be expected when the GOP is to the environment, what the KKK is to blacks and Jews.  On the other hand, we have been behaving like abused children who have finally found a home where we are not locked in the closet and fed scraps.  There is an overkill of gratitude, and this makes us all too eager to please.  Hopefully this will wear off when we realize that Obama is not Jesus Christ, and that we have not arrived at the millenium.

Enjoy Glick and Ward's pieces, even though you might wonder why with some of the positions I have taken on this board.  What can I say? I thrive on contrary opinions.

Randy Cunningham

 

]]> Comment #3 by veritone http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/ Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:57:16 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/we-need-more-than-aces/3 I liked this article too, but would argue that had "street heat" been turned all the way up many months ago the various compromises we now confront might not have occured. As Randy suggested, I think that many were resting on the laurels of Obama's victory thinking he'd take care of it all, or something along those lines.

Clearly we need all the heat we can muster now. I fear that while a certain amount of strong debate is healthy, it is now moving to the point where we are becoming fractured in the face of an increasingly unified opposition. I know I'll be pulling out all the stops to warm up the streets. And let me underscore this quote from Glick's article above:

We need to act as if the next six months, leading up to the big United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, is the most important half-year of our lives for those of us who get it on the urgency of the climate crisis.

Truer words were never spoken!

]]> I liked this article too, but would argue that had "street heat" been turned all the way up many months ago the various compromises we now confront might not have occured. As Randy suggested, I think that many were resting on the laurels of Obama's victory thinking he'd take care of it all, or something along those lines.

Clearly we need all the heat we can muster now. I fear that while a certain amount of strong debate is healthy, it is now moving to the point where we are becoming fractured in the face of an increasingly unified opposition. I know I'll be pulling out all the stops to warm up the streets. And let me underscore this quote from Glick's article above:

We need to act as if the next six months, leading up to the big United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, is the most important half-year of our lives for those of us who get it on the urgency of the climate crisis.

Truer words were never spoken!

]]>