2/12/2019--My class in Philosophy of Law finishes Ishmael by Daniel Quinn this week. I've mentioned the book from time to time on this blog. I always try to assign it in some class or other.
The premise of the book is that the civilization that has its roots in the neolithic agricultural revolution--meaning the civilization of the whole world bar none--believes that the world belongs to man and man has to make it a suitable home. By following this bad belief, this worldwide civilization is destroying the world. Quinn calls this people the Takers.
The Takers think of ourselves as humans, but we broke off from a much longer human tradition, which Quinn calls the Leavers. These are all the indigenous cultures and peoples who ever lived. These cultures are now mostly destroyed by the Takers. In fact, the descendants of these indigenous peoples now are mostly embedded in Taker culture, often against their will or even knowledge.
The Leaver premise was that man belongs to the world and that the world was a garden for all. Following this belief, Leavers lived in harmony with the rest of the life community. Not because Leavers were any less violent, cruel and mean than Takers, but because they were living out a healthy story. Leavers were also happier and healthier.
Quinn believes Leavers were experimenting with civilization in the Americas when Takers arrived and killed and enslaved them. But these experiments are available for Takers to consider and change our way to be in this civilization.
But Quinn makes another point, you might say one about Taker politics. All of Taker civilization is a prison. The only liberation is liberation from that prison. Nevertheless, within the Taker prison, some people have more privileges than other inmates--like in any prison. The ones who have more privileges are wealthy white males. The teacher, Ishmael, a gorilla, warns the student not to become fixated on power within the prison. The point is liberation for the whole world from Taker destruction.
The symbol the author chooses for wealthy, white male privilege is Donald Trump. On page 252. In 1992. You could look it up.
Showing posts with label Hallowed Secularism and the Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hallowed Secularism and the Environment. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Friday, September 28, 2018
Abortion and Climate Change
9/27/2018—Richard John Neuhaus wrote The Naked Public Square in 1984. He presciently foresaw the secular future and he worried about the effect of a valueless secularism on American society. Later, in 1990, Neuhaus would found the journal First Things.
Neuhaus came to speak at Duquesne University some years ago and he talked about his break with liberalism. He had been a liberal Protestant, but ended up a conservative Roman Catholic.
He said he felt betrayed by liberalism over abortion. He expected liberalism to champion the unborn as the latest population vulnerable to oppression. He praised liberalism’s defense of equal rights, especially in the area of race, and could not understand why this traditional understanding would not be extended to the unborn.
If it would not be, there must be something wrong with liberalism.
It was a compelling story. And it made me wonder where the equivalent conservative turned liberal story is? Conservative thought has failed humanity in the realm of climate change. Climate change is a catastrophic turning point in human history. It is not a specific evil, but it is a specific threat. Conservatism has blocked all efforts to deal with the problem. Indeed, in the name of denial of the threat, conservatism has undermined the notion of truth itself, pursuing ungrounded skepticism that now undermines all rationality in politics. This last movement is known as the death of truth, or the post-truth age.
In terms of skepticism, conservatism has plenty of company in the postmodernism of the left. But climate change is uniquely the responsibility of the right, because the phenomenon is a predictable consequence of a market failure that conservatism, as the market driven force in American public life, had a responsibility to publicize and fix.
The market failure was simply that of the tragedy of the commons. Because no one owns the climate, people abused it even though doing so was in no one’s long term interest. If industry had had to pay for changing the climate, there would not have been enough money to do so. A stable climate is much more profitable for everyone. But, since no one did own the climate, the market acted as if changing the climate was cost free. Actually, the costs of a warming Earth are enormous.
Why did this happen? Simple greed overwhelmed principle. There never was any actual explanation or defense. Global warming that robs South Sea people of their territory and others of their livelihoods and property, is a kind of theft. Heavy carbon users in places like America and China are stealing from those who are the most exposed to the effects of climate change.
Free market theorists should have been the first to insist that a carbon price was needed to mimic the effect of a private property regime in the climate. But the conservatives I know just put their heads in the sand and allowed the carbon extraction industries to take over the Republican Party and the right generally.
In this way, conservatism failed its most significant test, just as liberalism did in the issue of abortion. Neuhaus, who died in 2009, should have seen this. He should have talked about it. I don’t believe he ever did.
Neuhaus came to speak at Duquesne University some years ago and he talked about his break with liberalism. He had been a liberal Protestant, but ended up a conservative Roman Catholic.
He said he felt betrayed by liberalism over abortion. He expected liberalism to champion the unborn as the latest population vulnerable to oppression. He praised liberalism’s defense of equal rights, especially in the area of race, and could not understand why this traditional understanding would not be extended to the unborn.
If it would not be, there must be something wrong with liberalism.
It was a compelling story. And it made me wonder where the equivalent conservative turned liberal story is? Conservative thought has failed humanity in the realm of climate change. Climate change is a catastrophic turning point in human history. It is not a specific evil, but it is a specific threat. Conservatism has blocked all efforts to deal with the problem. Indeed, in the name of denial of the threat, conservatism has undermined the notion of truth itself, pursuing ungrounded skepticism that now undermines all rationality in politics. This last movement is known as the death of truth, or the post-truth age.
In terms of skepticism, conservatism has plenty of company in the postmodernism of the left. But climate change is uniquely the responsibility of the right, because the phenomenon is a predictable consequence of a market failure that conservatism, as the market driven force in American public life, had a responsibility to publicize and fix.
The market failure was simply that of the tragedy of the commons. Because no one owns the climate, people abused it even though doing so was in no one’s long term interest. If industry had had to pay for changing the climate, there would not have been enough money to do so. A stable climate is much more profitable for everyone. But, since no one did own the climate, the market acted as if changing the climate was cost free. Actually, the costs of a warming Earth are enormous.
Why did this happen? Simple greed overwhelmed principle. There never was any actual explanation or defense. Global warming that robs South Sea people of their territory and others of their livelihoods and property, is a kind of theft. Heavy carbon users in places like America and China are stealing from those who are the most exposed to the effects of climate change.
Free market theorists should have been the first to insist that a carbon price was needed to mimic the effect of a private property regime in the climate. But the conservatives I know just put their heads in the sand and allowed the carbon extraction industries to take over the Republican Party and the right generally.
In this way, conservatism failed its most significant test, just as liberalism did in the issue of abortion. Neuhaus, who died in 2009, should have seen this. He should have talked about it. I don’t believe he ever did.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Distrust on Climate News
1/23/2018—Well, this is a first. NASA reported, and AccuWeather ran a story about the report, that 2017 was the warmest year worldwide without the kind of El Nino event that made 2016 so hot. This is all part of the recent trend that has sent surface temperatures up and has led to 17 of the warmest years ever recorded occurring since 2001. All this is much warmer than the 1951-1980 mean temperature.
It’s global warming. Since ice is melting everywhere, it’s not like we’re being asked to believe something we cannot also see.
The shocking thing is that by this morning, there were 19 comments, all of which denied the report in one way or another.
I’m not naming names, nor criticizing (at the moment). It’s just astounding. But it does show that skepticism about information we don’t agree with is now so deep that it is hard to see how the situation changes.
In order: I don’t believe any information about climate because it is all just politicized. Surface temperatures are manipulated and comparisons with the past are not technically possible. Unadjusted temperatures tell a different story [there must be some statistical technique that NASA uses that is being referenced by several comments]. Plant hardiness zones show that we are only returning to the 1940-1960 period in temperatures and any upward movement is caused by new thermometers installed in the 1970’s. [someone responded critically to that last comment]. 2017 is just a continuing fallout from 2016—temperatures don’t fall precipitously. Anything out of a government agency is a lie to keep tax money coming in. Con artists are always looking for ways to get our money—I did not even have to turn on air conditioning in Minneapolis last year. [that one got another critical comment]. You can’t change weather. Looks like people are waking up and I am going to remain unbiased. Still waiting for palm trees along Lake Michigan. Bullshit. Earlier comparisons are impossible. Just a way to raise taxes. It has been proven that the “data” have been “monkeyed with.” People change stats to suit their agenda. Research shows that all the planets in the solar system are warming—solar cycles. It’s just to establish socialism. Just warming back to Pliocene, when humans were not around. Decades don’t matter compared to 30,000 years. Just a weather anomaly. Politically motivated pseudo science.
Shockingly, this is it. All the comments. And AccuWeather is not a conservative news site. How can policy be made if we can’t agree on the basic facts? This is skepticism as a basic attitude, not as a method to derive truth. I’m not surprised that some people feel this way, but it seems a lot of people feel this way. That means society itself becomes irrational. I don’t mean the comments are all wrong—I mean that whatever is being asserted means to end discussion and is not open.
That quality is not a monopoly of the Right. Where is there openness?
Faith has to operate here for most of us. If the government just lies, there is nothing that can be done, since most of us are in no position to judge any of the data. I certainly am not. Scientists tell me it is getting warmer. They tell me there is liquid water under a moon of Jupiter. I expect scientists to do their best to get it right and other scientists to check. Many Americans have decided that this is not how science works anymore. Now what?
It’s global warming. Since ice is melting everywhere, it’s not like we’re being asked to believe something we cannot also see.
The shocking thing is that by this morning, there were 19 comments, all of which denied the report in one way or another.
I’m not naming names, nor criticizing (at the moment). It’s just astounding. But it does show that skepticism about information we don’t agree with is now so deep that it is hard to see how the situation changes.
In order: I don’t believe any information about climate because it is all just politicized. Surface temperatures are manipulated and comparisons with the past are not technically possible. Unadjusted temperatures tell a different story [there must be some statistical technique that NASA uses that is being referenced by several comments]. Plant hardiness zones show that we are only returning to the 1940-1960 period in temperatures and any upward movement is caused by new thermometers installed in the 1970’s. [someone responded critically to that last comment]. 2017 is just a continuing fallout from 2016—temperatures don’t fall precipitously. Anything out of a government agency is a lie to keep tax money coming in. Con artists are always looking for ways to get our money—I did not even have to turn on air conditioning in Minneapolis last year. [that one got another critical comment]. You can’t change weather. Looks like people are waking up and I am going to remain unbiased. Still waiting for palm trees along Lake Michigan. Bullshit. Earlier comparisons are impossible. Just a way to raise taxes. It has been proven that the “data” have been “monkeyed with.” People change stats to suit their agenda. Research shows that all the planets in the solar system are warming—solar cycles. It’s just to establish socialism. Just warming back to Pliocene, when humans were not around. Decades don’t matter compared to 30,000 years. Just a weather anomaly. Politically motivated pseudo science.
Shockingly, this is it. All the comments. And AccuWeather is not a conservative news site. How can policy be made if we can’t agree on the basic facts? This is skepticism as a basic attitude, not as a method to derive truth. I’m not surprised that some people feel this way, but it seems a lot of people feel this way. That means society itself becomes irrational. I don’t mean the comments are all wrong—I mean that whatever is being asserted means to end discussion and is not open.
That quality is not a monopoly of the Right. Where is there openness?
Faith has to operate here for most of us. If the government just lies, there is nothing that can be done, since most of us are in no position to judge any of the data. I certainly am not. Scientists tell me it is getting warmer. They tell me there is liquid water under a moon of Jupiter. I expect scientists to do their best to get it right and other scientists to check. Many Americans have decided that this is not how science works anymore. Now what?
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Exiting the Paris Accord
6/1/2017—Of course exiting the Paris Accord is a disaster for America and for the planet and it is another example of why we should never have elected Donald Trump President.
Having said that, however, there is another way of looking at the exit. Why was Donald Trump able on his own to accomplish such a momentous act? The answer is that there was nothing behind American participation in the Paris Accord except the signature of President Obama. The Paris Accord was an important event. In our system, such actions must be ratified by Congress. It was the failure of the Obama administration to go to Congress that allowed the Paris Accord withdrawal.
But, of course, it will be pointed out that Congress would not have endorsed the Paris Accord. What does that mean? Many people are saying right now that most Americans support the Paris Accord in particular an action to alleviate global warming in general. What then allows the Congress of a more or less democratic country to refuse to endorse a popular measure?
What I am pointing to is the anti-political attitude of the left in America. There was no stomach in the Democratic Party for going to the mat on global warming. There was no strategy to fight for ratification of the Paris Accord. But, he who lives by executive action, dies by executive action.
It is true that it is hard to gain political traction when benefits of the action are diffuse and the pain is particular. Coal miners will vote against politicians who favor action on global warming, but most Americans who favor such action will not vote in favor of politicians who support action on global warming because there will always be other issues of more significance to them.
But, really, isn’t all of this just another way of saying that the American people have never been convinced that global warming is really a threat and a crisis? And, since people are not really stupid and since people really do love their grandchildren, whose fault is it that the political battle was not won? I never heard one word about global warming in the presidential debates. I never heard Secretary of State Clinton argued that Trump was lying about global warming and that all of our grandchildren’s lives were at stake. That is the truth but I don’t think people realize it still.
What is needed is politics, old-fashioned politics. We don’t need direct action. We don’t need resistance. We just need to elect a new Congress. On the issue of global warming, there is really not that much that is complicated.
Having said that, however, there is another way of looking at the exit. Why was Donald Trump able on his own to accomplish such a momentous act? The answer is that there was nothing behind American participation in the Paris Accord except the signature of President Obama. The Paris Accord was an important event. In our system, such actions must be ratified by Congress. It was the failure of the Obama administration to go to Congress that allowed the Paris Accord withdrawal.
But, of course, it will be pointed out that Congress would not have endorsed the Paris Accord. What does that mean? Many people are saying right now that most Americans support the Paris Accord in particular an action to alleviate global warming in general. What then allows the Congress of a more or less democratic country to refuse to endorse a popular measure?
What I am pointing to is the anti-political attitude of the left in America. There was no stomach in the Democratic Party for going to the mat on global warming. There was no strategy to fight for ratification of the Paris Accord. But, he who lives by executive action, dies by executive action.
It is true that it is hard to gain political traction when benefits of the action are diffuse and the pain is particular. Coal miners will vote against politicians who favor action on global warming, but most Americans who favor such action will not vote in favor of politicians who support action on global warming because there will always be other issues of more significance to them.
But, really, isn’t all of this just another way of saying that the American people have never been convinced that global warming is really a threat and a crisis? And, since people are not really stupid and since people really do love their grandchildren, whose fault is it that the political battle was not won? I never heard one word about global warming in the presidential debates. I never heard Secretary of State Clinton argued that Trump was lying about global warming and that all of our grandchildren’s lives were at stake. That is the truth but I don’t think people realize it still.
What is needed is politics, old-fashioned politics. We don’t need direct action. We don’t need resistance. We just need to elect a new Congress. On the issue of global warming, there is really not that much that is complicated.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Tom Berry vs Tomorrowland
3/26/2017—I watched two videos/movies this week—the Tom Berry documentary, The Great Story, and the recent movie, Tomorrowland.
Both of them are tremendous stories of hope amid a warning of danger. In both, humans threaten their own existence and in both we are capable of change. Both emphasize story. If humans are enacting a bad story, we will act badly. There needs to be a good story for us to enact.
Readers of this blog know how much I love Tomorrowland. (See below 12/9/2015). I especially love the exchange between Casey and her father:
***************************
The underlying theme of the 2015 movie Tomorrowland is that we are succumbing to a mood of despair versus an earlier mood of hopefulness and that this change is itself making things worse. People in despair do not improve their situations.
This theme plays out both expressly and implicitly in the movie. In one exchange, the hero, Casey Newton, repeats to her father a story he has often told her:
Casey Newton: There are two wolves who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. The question is... which wolf wins?
Eddie Newton: The one you feed.
***********************
But Berry makes one point that Tomorrowland actually exemplifies. Berry says that Western civilization has a deep rage against nature—against the terms of human life we have been given. This rage leads to an emphasis on millennium, on the idea that history will come to an end and that humans will then live in a kind of post-mortal existence.
For Berry, this is a pipe dream and dangerous. This existence, this natural state we are in, is the state humans will always live in. We can live well, but we will always live here, basically this way. I am drawn to Berry in this way. Hallowed Secularism is a rejection of the millennial air in religion.
Tomorrowland, for all its strengths, needs another place—-Tomorrowland-—in another dimension in which to ground its hope. I did not notice this in 2015, but I saw it better this week because we had just watched Berry in Philosophy of Law.
So, take your pick. You would think that a rapidly secularizing society would want to live in its natural state. But all the vampire movies and so forth suggest otherwise.
Both of them are tremendous stories of hope amid a warning of danger. In both, humans threaten their own existence and in both we are capable of change. Both emphasize story. If humans are enacting a bad story, we will act badly. There needs to be a good story for us to enact.
Readers of this blog know how much I love Tomorrowland. (See below 12/9/2015). I especially love the exchange between Casey and her father:
***************************
The underlying theme of the 2015 movie Tomorrowland is that we are succumbing to a mood of despair versus an earlier mood of hopefulness and that this change is itself making things worse. People in despair do not improve their situations.
This theme plays out both expressly and implicitly in the movie. In one exchange, the hero, Casey Newton, repeats to her father a story he has often told her:
Casey Newton: There are two wolves who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. The question is... which wolf wins?
Eddie Newton: The one you feed.
***********************
But Berry makes one point that Tomorrowland actually exemplifies. Berry says that Western civilization has a deep rage against nature—against the terms of human life we have been given. This rage leads to an emphasis on millennium, on the idea that history will come to an end and that humans will then live in a kind of post-mortal existence.
For Berry, this is a pipe dream and dangerous. This existence, this natural state we are in, is the state humans will always live in. We can live well, but we will always live here, basically this way. I am drawn to Berry in this way. Hallowed Secularism is a rejection of the millennial air in religion.
Tomorrowland, for all its strengths, needs another place—-Tomorrowland-—in another dimension in which to ground its hope. I did not notice this in 2015, but I saw it better this week because we had just watched Berry in Philosophy of Law.
So, take your pick. You would think that a rapidly secularizing society would want to live in its natural state. But all the vampire movies and so forth suggest otherwise.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
The Public Trust Litigation
1/10/2017—the last session I was able to attend in San Francisco at the AALS meeting was the Hot Topic Program Juliana v Atmospheric Trust Litigation. The session was organized by Professor Mary Wood of the University of Oregon School of Law. Professor Wood pioneered the principles of the public trust litigation movement that is now engendering lawsuits around the world.
The premise of this line of litigation is that the climate is constitutive of a portion of the public trust, which is a common law concept concerning the government’s responsibility to protect the citizenry by maintaining public natural resources. Global warming seriously threatens the public trust for future generations. The idea is that the courts can order the government to draft the plan, at least, to protect the climate.
Public trust litigation is felt to be necessary because Congress has so abdicated its responsibility to protect the people and generations yet unborn. There is no longer any time to wait because the danger to people in the future from global warming is now so great.
When Professor Wood was at Duquesne University last year, she and I had an email exchange in which I voice my serious hesitation in allowing courts such a central role simply because the legislature has not adopted certain programs felt to be necessary. The premise of the public litigation movement seems to be that a democratic response is simply impossible. But if that is the case, because of big money or for whatever reason, democracy is at an end. That seems a result only a little less dire than global warming itself. So serious was my reservation years ago that I actually abandoned the position I had taken about a fundamental right to a healthy environment in an earlier Law Review article.
I have not changed my mind about the antidemocratic nature of this litigation. However, after listening to Professor Wood, I have tempered my views. There are two reasons that this. First of all, Professor Wood finds herself in essentially the same place that FDR did in trying to get America ready for war despite the isolationist mood of the electorate. FDR simply did whatever he needed to do in order to get the country ready, knowing that later, when the country finally was ready for war, might have been too late. History has just FDR’s actions rather kindly, I believe.
The second reason that I no longer oppose this kind of litigation, despite its antidemocratic character, is that, after all, whatever the courts find, the courts will be unable to force Congress literally to do anything at all. So there is no chance of an actually antidemocratic result. On the other hand, the finding by a federal judge that global warming is real, that it is caused by humans, that it will be immensely harmful and that the Congress is doing nothing about it, would in and of itself change public opinion on the matter of global warming. So the courts could be part of a genuinely democratic turn in fighting global warming. But that could not happen unless litigation were going on. So I guess I have to offer Professor Wood an apology.
The premise of this line of litigation is that the climate is constitutive of a portion of the public trust, which is a common law concept concerning the government’s responsibility to protect the citizenry by maintaining public natural resources. Global warming seriously threatens the public trust for future generations. The idea is that the courts can order the government to draft the plan, at least, to protect the climate.
Public trust litigation is felt to be necessary because Congress has so abdicated its responsibility to protect the people and generations yet unborn. There is no longer any time to wait because the danger to people in the future from global warming is now so great.
When Professor Wood was at Duquesne University last year, she and I had an email exchange in which I voice my serious hesitation in allowing courts such a central role simply because the legislature has not adopted certain programs felt to be necessary. The premise of the public litigation movement seems to be that a democratic response is simply impossible. But if that is the case, because of big money or for whatever reason, democracy is at an end. That seems a result only a little less dire than global warming itself. So serious was my reservation years ago that I actually abandoned the position I had taken about a fundamental right to a healthy environment in an earlier Law Review article.
I have not changed my mind about the antidemocratic nature of this litigation. However, after listening to Professor Wood, I have tempered my views. There are two reasons that this. First of all, Professor Wood finds herself in essentially the same place that FDR did in trying to get America ready for war despite the isolationist mood of the electorate. FDR simply did whatever he needed to do in order to get the country ready, knowing that later, when the country finally was ready for war, might have been too late. History has just FDR’s actions rather kindly, I believe.
The second reason that I no longer oppose this kind of litigation, despite its antidemocratic character, is that, after all, whatever the courts find, the courts will be unable to force Congress literally to do anything at all. So there is no chance of an actually antidemocratic result. On the other hand, the finding by a federal judge that global warming is real, that it is caused by humans, that it will be immensely harmful and that the Congress is doing nothing about it, would in and of itself change public opinion on the matter of global warming. So the courts could be part of a genuinely democratic turn in fighting global warming. But that could not happen unless litigation were going on. So I guess I have to offer Professor Wood an apology.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
I Don’t Understand Charles Krauthammer
12/17/2016—I greatly admire Charles Krauthammer and I always have. He rose to greatness in my view in regard to Donald Trump. You can’t blame Trump on him.
But I don’t understand his jokey condescension about global warming. Today’s column in the PG referred to “belief” in global warming as the left’s “religious test”—as if the truth or falseness of global warming was something to be debated. It’s true or false and it does not matter one bit what any politician or voter thinks about it. As Thomas More says in the play, if the Earth is round, will the King’s command flatten it?
What I don’t get is this—what episode in history defines Charles Krauthammer? Given his love of Churchill, whom I believe he once called the man of the century, Krauthammer has to resonate to the rejection of Churchill’s warnings about Hitler in the run up to the War.
Can’t Krauthammer see that his breezy joking about global warming is the same attitude the elite took to Churchill—“Oh that’s Churchill going on and on about Hitler again.” Even Krauthammer must admit that if it true that man is warming Earth’s climate, the threat is much greater than anything a Hitler could do. Of course it may not be true. But the threat is nothing to make light of. If the scientific consensus is wrong, great. Churchill could have been wrong about Hitler, too. But you don’t make fun of people worrying about something very much worth worrying about.
It’s going to be the tragedy of Krauthammer’s life when he realizes that he is playing the role of Chamberlain—trying to appease global warming, hoping against hope that we don’t have to change and get ready for the threat, even when the evidence began to mount.
And while we are at it, it is a stupid misunderstanding of everything we know about the framers to invoke them against national action on global warming. They created a federal government in order to deal with genuine national threats. Don’t invoke them against EPA action. They never expected the States to deal with threats to the Union.
If you say Congress has to do this rather than unelected bureaucrats, I could not agree more. So, stop enabling the traitorous inaction of the Republican Party on global warming. Or, are you going to wait until the bombs actually start falling—the ice is already melting all over the world.
But I don’t understand his jokey condescension about global warming. Today’s column in the PG referred to “belief” in global warming as the left’s “religious test”—as if the truth or falseness of global warming was something to be debated. It’s true or false and it does not matter one bit what any politician or voter thinks about it. As Thomas More says in the play, if the Earth is round, will the King’s command flatten it?
What I don’t get is this—what episode in history defines Charles Krauthammer? Given his love of Churchill, whom I believe he once called the man of the century, Krauthammer has to resonate to the rejection of Churchill’s warnings about Hitler in the run up to the War.
Can’t Krauthammer see that his breezy joking about global warming is the same attitude the elite took to Churchill—“Oh that’s Churchill going on and on about Hitler again.” Even Krauthammer must admit that if it true that man is warming Earth’s climate, the threat is much greater than anything a Hitler could do. Of course it may not be true. But the threat is nothing to make light of. If the scientific consensus is wrong, great. Churchill could have been wrong about Hitler, too. But you don’t make fun of people worrying about something very much worth worrying about.
It’s going to be the tragedy of Krauthammer’s life when he realizes that he is playing the role of Chamberlain—trying to appease global warming, hoping against hope that we don’t have to change and get ready for the threat, even when the evidence began to mount.
And while we are at it, it is a stupid misunderstanding of everything we know about the framers to invoke them against national action on global warming. They created a federal government in order to deal with genuine national threats. Don’t invoke them against EPA action. They never expected the States to deal with threats to the Union.
If you say Congress has to do this rather than unelected bureaucrats, I could not agree more. So, stop enabling the traitorous inaction of the Republican Party on global warming. Or, are you going to wait until the bombs actually start falling—the ice is already melting all over the world.
Monday, August 15, 2016
The Hottest July in Recorded History
8/15/2016—This is like a nightmare—actually, it is a nightmare. NPR just reported on NASA’s conclusion today that July 2016 was the hottest July on record. It was 1.5 degrees F higher than the long term average (I believe they use 1950 to 2000 as the benchmark, but I have to check.)
Well, no one said defeating global warming would be easy. No one even assured us it would be possible. The difficulty is not the nightmare. Not even the harm is the nightmare.
More valuable than any policy, even a crucial policy like fighting global warming, is truth. The denial of global warming in its human causation is the nightmare.
I don’t get it. There are still people—I am talking about leaders in our government (in fact Donald Trump among many others) who still say the whole notion is made up. They say the warming stopped or even say that the numbers are cooked.
But even worse, because seemingly intentionally misleading, there is Paul Ryan, who acknowledges warming but says climates change all the time. It will warm now and will presumably cool later. (This might turn out to be true in the long run—there could always be another ice age). Ryan denies that humans are causing this warming. In other words, scientists in the 1980’s noticed the build up of gasses and warned it would warm the planet. Now the planet is warming and what? It is just a coincidence?
But why wouldn’t Ryan want to do something to stop this? He has kids. Surely he can’t really care more about his career than their safety.
George Will says people like me want to stifle debate. But you don’t debate facts. There is no judgment to bring to bear. Warming is happening or it is not. Humans are causing it or they are not. It is not debating if suddenly in one realm standards of proof are absurdly elevated. We accept many scientific findings with far less warrant than we have about the warming climate.
Anyway, go ahead and debate. The scientists do that every day. But I have been hearing since the 1990’s that this isn’t true—my son’s swimming coach used to tell me it is all made up. Yet it continues to get warmer—as if it were true.
We can’t even start to protect ourselves unless we can reach a consensus that the threat is happening. At that point, there will be tremendous disagreement about what and how much to do. That won’t bother me. But the denial. It is a scandal by evil people.
Well, no one said defeating global warming would be easy. No one even assured us it would be possible. The difficulty is not the nightmare. Not even the harm is the nightmare.
More valuable than any policy, even a crucial policy like fighting global warming, is truth. The denial of global warming in its human causation is the nightmare.
I don’t get it. There are still people—I am talking about leaders in our government (in fact Donald Trump among many others) who still say the whole notion is made up. They say the warming stopped or even say that the numbers are cooked.
But even worse, because seemingly intentionally misleading, there is Paul Ryan, who acknowledges warming but says climates change all the time. It will warm now and will presumably cool later. (This might turn out to be true in the long run—there could always be another ice age). Ryan denies that humans are causing this warming. In other words, scientists in the 1980’s noticed the build up of gasses and warned it would warm the planet. Now the planet is warming and what? It is just a coincidence?
But why wouldn’t Ryan want to do something to stop this? He has kids. Surely he can’t really care more about his career than their safety.
George Will says people like me want to stifle debate. But you don’t debate facts. There is no judgment to bring to bear. Warming is happening or it is not. Humans are causing it or they are not. It is not debating if suddenly in one realm standards of proof are absurdly elevated. We accept many scientific findings with far less warrant than we have about the warming climate.
Anyway, go ahead and debate. The scientists do that every day. But I have been hearing since the 1990’s that this isn’t true—my son’s swimming coach used to tell me it is all made up. Yet it continues to get warmer—as if it were true.
We can’t even start to protect ourselves unless we can reach a consensus that the threat is happening. At that point, there will be tremendous disagreement about what and how much to do. That won’t bother me. But the denial. It is a scandal by evil people.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
What They’re Doing to Bill McKibben
8/10/2016—On Sunday, Bill McKibben published an op-ed on how he is being followed and how maybe his daughter is also being followed. Apparently a GOP opposition research group has decided to follow him and one other environmental leader to get embarrassing pictures. The pictures are meant to show that McKibben is a hypocrite—he uses plastic bags for shopping when he forgets to bring cloth etc.
McKibben wanted to make the point that we are living in the world of choices corporate power has given us—he mentions Exxon. That is, we have to fly because corporations have blocked fast trains, for example. And to change that world, we have to live in it. So, McKibben wants to show the context.
But I am more interested in a minor comment he makes. McKibben is not sure that his daughter is being followed. “When my daughter reports someone taking pictures of her at the airport, it drives me nuts. I have no idea if it’s actually this outfit; common decency would suggest otherwise, but that seems an increasingly rare commodity.”
Common decency is an increasingly rare commodity. But I wish McKibben had admitted that in this regard at least, the environmental movement is no different. The left demonizes the corporate leadership at Exxon. They are just liars and criminals—knowing the truth about global warming, they have deliberately misled the nation for their own profit. They will be responsible for many, many deaths.
As I write those words, I am certain that this is the attitude on the left because this is my attitude. But if I believe my opponents are evil, I cannot be surprised if my opponents feel the same way. Even if I am right about them, I should not pretend that they are overly zealous but I am not.
In other words, if I could change Exxon’s policies by following the CEO and his family around with a camera, wouldn’t I do it? Of course I would.
Since common decency is in short supply in our political life, we are going to have to pay very careful attention to our own characters. Since we are not going to change our behaviors, changing our candor might be a good starting point.
McKibben wanted to make the point that we are living in the world of choices corporate power has given us—he mentions Exxon. That is, we have to fly because corporations have blocked fast trains, for example. And to change that world, we have to live in it. So, McKibben wants to show the context.
But I am more interested in a minor comment he makes. McKibben is not sure that his daughter is being followed. “When my daughter reports someone taking pictures of her at the airport, it drives me nuts. I have no idea if it’s actually this outfit; common decency would suggest otherwise, but that seems an increasingly rare commodity.”
Common decency is an increasingly rare commodity. But I wish McKibben had admitted that in this regard at least, the environmental movement is no different. The left demonizes the corporate leadership at Exxon. They are just liars and criminals—knowing the truth about global warming, they have deliberately misled the nation for their own profit. They will be responsible for many, many deaths.
As I write those words, I am certain that this is the attitude on the left because this is my attitude. But if I believe my opponents are evil, I cannot be surprised if my opponents feel the same way. Even if I am right about them, I should not pretend that they are overly zealous but I am not.
In other words, if I could change Exxon’s policies by following the CEO and his family around with a camera, wouldn’t I do it? Of course I would.
Since common decency is in short supply in our political life, we are going to have to pay very careful attention to our own characters. Since we are not going to change our behaviors, changing our candor might be a good starting point.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
The Conservative Nature of the New Atheism
10/20/2015—I’ve long had the feeling that the New Atheists—the late Chris Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, etc.—are essentially politically conservative. But this has been just a feeling and given the power of the Christian right in the Republican Party, hardly a convincing one. My assumption just had to do with how selfish and individualistic the New Atheists seemed. There was little sense among them of human solidarity.
Anyway, I now have at least an example. Look up the interview in the Sunday New York Times Book Review of Matt Ridley. Ridley praises the New Atheist wing and likens it to Voltaire. But he also says the last book to make him furious was Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth because of its misstatements of science and claims that business people are made villains by novelists who live off the wealth they create. Ridley claims this is a bit facetious, but it undoubtedly represents his true feelings.
Then he describes the Bible in these words: “the grim tedium of this messy compilation of second-rate tribal legends and outrageous bigotry.”
Well, now. How can Gore’s misstated science make him furious and not the underlying danger itself? And how wrong can the science be in Gore’s book. Greenhouse gases make it warmer and that change floods a lot of people. That’s all the book really says and it is happening already, or so I hear.
As for the Bible, the followers of this book have done an awful lot of good in the world—bad, too—but what have atheists ever done for others? What has Ridley ever done for others?
Anyway, I now have at least an example. Look up the interview in the Sunday New York Times Book Review of Matt Ridley. Ridley praises the New Atheist wing and likens it to Voltaire. But he also says the last book to make him furious was Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth because of its misstatements of science and claims that business people are made villains by novelists who live off the wealth they create. Ridley claims this is a bit facetious, but it undoubtedly represents his true feelings.
Then he describes the Bible in these words: “the grim tedium of this messy compilation of second-rate tribal legends and outrageous bigotry.”
Well, now. How can Gore’s misstated science make him furious and not the underlying danger itself? And how wrong can the science be in Gore’s book. Greenhouse gases make it warmer and that change floods a lot of people. That’s all the book really says and it is happening already, or so I hear.
As for the Bible, the followers of this book have done an awful lot of good in the world—bad, too—but what have atheists ever done for others? What has Ridley ever done for others?
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Is Litigation the Way to Stop Global Warming?
10/3/2015—Mary Wood, Oregon Law Professor, gave a terrific presentation at the Duquesne University Climate and Creation Conference. Her message was an endorsement of pending atmospheric trust litigation that attempts to hold governments accountable for change in the climate. The litigation enforces what she calls nature’s trust—a kind of expansion of the public trust doctrine.
The necessity of such litigation is simply the emergency of climate change and the harm it is already doing. What she calls the statutory regime of environmental law is not adequate and a Congress bought by the fossil fuel industry is not up to the task. The citizenry has been intentionally confused by big money lies about the climate and cannot demand change.
Wood denies that such litigation turns judges into dictators, but she is being disingenuous about that. Such litigation, if successful, results in a court order to reduce carbon emissions. How is that to be done without legislation, except by direct executive action? The fact that the President takes the ultimate actions does not change the undemocratic nature of the undertaking.
Yes, courts enforce rights against the democratic branches. But this kind of action is certainly controversial and, compared to moving to a carbon free economy, is very limited in range an impact. In contrast, the President would have to impose a carbon tax or cap and trade etc.
What Wood was showing, although she would presumably deny it, is that democracy is just a luxury in the face of this emergency. The example she used—economic mobilization in WWII—just proves the point. Democracy in wartime generally takes a back seat. But only temporarily.
I may be overreacting. The litigation may be meant really to spur action—like the use of the necessity defense in civil disobedience cases is meant to allow the protestor to make her case before the public—not to win acquittal. If so, I wish she had said so.
The irony of this is that, back in 1998, I wrote an article laying out the same strategy that is now being used—Establishing a Federal Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment, 68 Miss. L.J. 605. But I later repudiated this approach as ceding much too much power to the courts and lawyers.
Once it is concluded that democracy has failed, it doesn’t matter that much what happens to the environment. If the only way to save the planet is to enslave its people then I have to ask, what is the point of saving the planet? Just get rid of the people.
Martin Heidegger warned us about this years ago. He was quoted as saying that he did not know what form of political life was appropriate for a technological age, but he doubted it was democracy. Maybe he was right.
The necessity of such litigation is simply the emergency of climate change and the harm it is already doing. What she calls the statutory regime of environmental law is not adequate and a Congress bought by the fossil fuel industry is not up to the task. The citizenry has been intentionally confused by big money lies about the climate and cannot demand change.
Wood denies that such litigation turns judges into dictators, but she is being disingenuous about that. Such litigation, if successful, results in a court order to reduce carbon emissions. How is that to be done without legislation, except by direct executive action? The fact that the President takes the ultimate actions does not change the undemocratic nature of the undertaking.
Yes, courts enforce rights against the democratic branches. But this kind of action is certainly controversial and, compared to moving to a carbon free economy, is very limited in range an impact. In contrast, the President would have to impose a carbon tax or cap and trade etc.
What Wood was showing, although she would presumably deny it, is that democracy is just a luxury in the face of this emergency. The example she used—economic mobilization in WWII—just proves the point. Democracy in wartime generally takes a back seat. But only temporarily.
I may be overreacting. The litigation may be meant really to spur action—like the use of the necessity defense in civil disobedience cases is meant to allow the protestor to make her case before the public—not to win acquittal. If so, I wish she had said so.
The irony of this is that, back in 1998, I wrote an article laying out the same strategy that is now being used—Establishing a Federal Constitutional Right to a Healthy Environment, 68 Miss. L.J. 605. But I later repudiated this approach as ceding much too much power to the courts and lawyers.
Once it is concluded that democracy has failed, it doesn’t matter that much what happens to the environment. If the only way to save the planet is to enslave its people then I have to ask, what is the point of saving the planet? Just get rid of the people.
Martin Heidegger warned us about this years ago. He was quoted as saying that he did not know what form of political life was appropriate for a technological age, but he doubted it was democracy. Maybe he was right.
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