Originally posted by caseih
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These are two distinct issues.
1. Human's impact effecting the Earth in various ways.
2. Potential ways to mitigate said effects.
Many people seem to think vehemently denying we have any effect on the planet/climate is the appropriate method. But I really don't see how this can be denied. Especially in agriculture where we make our livings manipulating the environment to gain a profit. It's naive to think all the manipulations result in only positive and good things. Now it's hard to prove anything from prehistoric times but there's numerous mass extinctions on various continents that are closely linked with the arrival of Homo sapiens in those areas. Coincidence? If we can cause mass extinctions with spears and atlatls then why not climate issues with gasses? Is one easier to believe simply because you can more easily see it happening while the other tends to be invisible fumes?
If you deny the fact that climate change happens, I think you're a moron. If you deny humans have any impact on it, I think you're being obtuse. End of first issue.
But the second issue, that's all going to come down to perspective and individual opinion.
What should be done to lessen our impact and maybe even improve it? Right now the global consensus seems to be that a Carbon Tax is the best approach. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Like all things it has it's pros and cons and like all political legislation, there's room for improvement in it. Would it be nicer for us if the government gave out grants or rebates for people to sequester carbon and lower greenhouse gases? Absolutely! But we should all know that governments prefer to make money via taxation than give it away.
There's various ways we can help the environment: Recycling, planting trees, low energy bulbs and appliances, don't litter, etc. A carbon tax is just another potential tool. If people don't like it, that's fine, but maybe think of ulterior methods instead of straight up denying theres even an issue. Or playing the blame game. "Well China isn't doing anything so why should we." That just sounds like an elementary school student LOL
Say you don't like the idea of a carbon tax. Say you don't think it will work or be as effective as other methods. That's all fine. But backing it up with "Because climate change doesn't exist/because humans don't impact climate" is not an acceptable reason to me.
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