Pim en het Miljeu

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Lenny wrote:
>
> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
> Lenny schrijft:
> Check it out..
>
> http://www.economist.com/library/focus/displayStory.cfm?story_id=718860
>
> Om de link te laten werken moet hij op één alinea staan. Mocht het niet
> werken ga naar www.economist.com. Zoek in de linker kolom voor Library
> zoek voor: The truth about the environment (van Bjorn Lomborg 4 augustus
> 2001)

http://www.worldwatch.org/pda/010831.html

"
WORLDWATCH MAGAZINE: September / October 2001 Edition

 REJECTION OF KYOTO PROTOCOL BASED ON FALLACIOUS REASONING

 George W. Bush's cites his concern about the "uncertain science" of
global warming to justify the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto treaty
process. But according to a report in the September/October edition of
World Watch magazine, Bush's decision is actually based on the far-more
uncertain science of long-term economic forecasting.

 "In rejecting the Kyoto treaty, the Bush administration is using
outdated economic assumptions that will stifle technological innovation
and actually reduce our economic well-being in the long run," says
Robert U.Ayres, the author of "How Economists Have Misjudged Global
Warming."

 According to Ayres, the real history of technological development-which
neoclassical economists rarely examine closely-shows both of these
assumptions to be false. In his article, he demonstrates that, contrary
to neoclassical belief, government interventions have been major factors
in many of the most important technological developments since the
beginning of the industrial revolution. Moreover, technological
innovation has typically come as a response to scarcity, war, or the
emergence of new needs created by other technologies.

 Therefore the threat of global warming presents a prime opportunity for
research and development investments that will likely trigger a whole
new wave of technological progress and economic growth. But by
presenting the issue in deceptively simple cost-benefit terms, the
administration has not only based its policy on an economic approach
that quantifies the non-quantifiable, but that ignores spin-off benefits
the transition to a carbon-free economy may have in store. Examples such
as the Internet, argues Ayres, have shown that government initiative can
stimulate economic growth by fostering technological innovation.
Therefore, according to Ayres, "the intellectual argument underlying the
Bush Administration's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol is completely
fallacious." (Full story: page 12)

 NATURALLY FIGHTING AN AFRICAN VAMPIRE WEED

 Throughout East Africa, the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica destroys
billions of dollars of valuable crops each year. The biotechnology
industry has proposed engineering corn and other crops for herbicide
resistance, so that herbicide could be sprayed on the crop plants to
kill the destructive weed.

 In "Biotech, African Corn, and the Vampire Weed," Worldwatch research
associate Brian Halweil argues instead that poor farmers would be much
better served by the development of inexpensive local methods, rather
than the quick fixes sold by multinational corporations.

 "The bio-engineered corn approach would encourage monoculture," said
Halweil. "It would undercut the process of correcting ecological
imbalances that are at the root of pest problems." Halweil reports on
the findings of a recent trip to East Africa, where he saw farmers who
were already developing affordable home-grown alternatives. For example,
they are using nitrogen-fixing fallow crops to promote overall soil
health and have identified plants that secrete a chemical that
interferes with the parasite's ability to tap into the roots of crop
plants.

 According to Halweil, these methods could, in combination with
infrastructure improvements, be part of an effort to put research and
development back into the hands of farmers and bolster the role of
agriculture in protecting ecosystems. (Full story: page 26)

...

 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
 Worldwatch Institute
 1776 Massachusetts Ave NW
 Washington, DC 20036
 telephone: 202 452-1999
 fax: 202 296-7365
 e-mail worldwatch at worldwatch.org
 or visit our website www.worldwatch.org
"


Als ik dit uit het
http://www.economist.com/library/focus/displayStory.cfm?story_id=718860
haal;

"
For economists, the world seems to be getting better.
For many environmentalists, it seems to be getting worse.

These environmentalists, led by such veterans as Paul Ehrlich of
Stanford University, and Lester Brown of the
Worldwatch Institute, have developed a sort of “litany” of four big
environmental fears:
• Natural resources are running out.
• The population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat.
• Species are becoming extinct in vast numbers: forests are disappearing
and fish stocks are collapsing.
• The planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted.

Human activity is thus defiling the earth, and humanity may end up
killing itself in the process.

The trouble is, the evidence does not back up this litany.
.......
"
en de reactie daarop dan lijkt mij in elk geval dat de conclusie
gerechtvaardigd dat het is "BASED ON FALLACIOUS REASONING", temeer daar
niets wordt weerlegd.

Henk Elegeert

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