13 July 2006
Maybe I should rename this blog the Desmog Blog Fan Club
So The Tyee has a good interview with Jim Hoggan from Desmog Blog. It's a great companion to their manifesto, and gives more info about the raison d'être of Desmog.
Hoggan also brings up a few points about the psychology behind why the general population is resistant to reduce their carbon footprint. Basically, people want to change, but they don't want to be the only ones making the sacrifice to do so. People don't trust their neighbours to do likewise.
This sort of mind set is the key weakness in any sort of libertarian solution to the problem of Global Warming and other environmental issues. Businesses and individuals need government regulation to level the playing field so that opportunists don't get the chance to benefit from the austerity of their competitors. The market tends to be incredibly short-sighted. If any business behaves unsustainably and rakes in profits as a result, companies that don't will likely suffer and fail from loss of market share or stock value. One rogue company can act as a gravity-well pulling other companies back into unsustainable territory. Businesses can't self-regulate because they don't trust their competitors.
Still, these days the markets are global, and any national regulation will not level the playing field beyond national boundaries. This is the driving force behind outsourcing. Even the inadequate regulation that exists now is driving business offshore to find cheap labour and cheap, unsustainable business practices. How can private citizens affect the will of the WTO to regulate on the global scale? How can governments curb international abuses without becoming isolationist? How can we shift the global will?
Hoggan also brings up a few points about the psychology behind why the general population is resistant to reduce their carbon footprint. Basically, people want to change, but they don't want to be the only ones making the sacrifice to do so. People don't trust their neighbours to do likewise.
This sort of mind set is the key weakness in any sort of libertarian solution to the problem of Global Warming and other environmental issues. Businesses and individuals need government regulation to level the playing field so that opportunists don't get the chance to benefit from the austerity of their competitors. The market tends to be incredibly short-sighted. If any business behaves unsustainably and rakes in profits as a result, companies that don't will likely suffer and fail from loss of market share or stock value. One rogue company can act as a gravity-well pulling other companies back into unsustainable territory. Businesses can't self-regulate because they don't trust their competitors.
Still, these days the markets are global, and any national regulation will not level the playing field beyond national boundaries. This is the driving force behind outsourcing. Even the inadequate regulation that exists now is driving business offshore to find cheap labour and cheap, unsustainable business practices. How can private citizens affect the will of the WTO to regulate on the global scale? How can governments curb international abuses without becoming isolationist? How can we shift the global will?
// posted by Parge @ 12:47 PM
