Quote:
Originally Posted by sexobon
If the notion that trading off natural resources now to advance science so it can solve our natural resources problems later was valid, all our fresh water sources that were naturally potable before pollution would be naturally potable again today.
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They are, or is this one of those leading questions? Once we figured out we were doing this type of damage, we moved an awful lot of the water polluting to other countries. We made it illegal in the rich places, thus promoting manufacturing in poorer countries without such regulations.
It all worked, and now rivers and lakes that were heavily polluted are now clean. The Cuyahoga River is no longer on fire. Boston Harbor hosts wildlife now. You could swim in major metropolitan rivers now.
The Clean Water Act is considered one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever. And now, previously clean rivers and lakes in China are now choked with algae and pollution, worse than the west's ever were. We successfully moved the problem out of our backyard.
That's why I said we are going to need World Police to pressure AGW by force. As energy gets more expensive, the worst people on the world will get money and power by using it any way they see fit. Problem is global so moving it isn't going to work.
Unless we move it to outer space...