Speaking of denial, why does Global Warming always generate so much response on this list, while Peak Oil doesn't? To my mind, they are both profoundly important, both are "ecological" in some way (PO may be more so), and both are happening now.
Maybe ecologists just don't know about PO, or haven't considered what it really means (it's likely to be a paradigm shift in human history with not-yet-explored ramifications for the planet in general). Certainly there has been MUCH more buzz (and funding) about GW, while PO is under the radar. Is ecology really so trend-driven that we can't see a huge issue in front of our noses? Joe > (While this is no place to elaborate, I have to at > least note that, with= > a >90% fossil-fueled economy, and ceteris paribus, > economic growth simp= > ly =3D global warming. And also that, with economic > growth - increasing= > production and consumption of goods and services in > the aggregate - pri= > oritized in the domestic policy arena, dealing with > climate change means= > not conservation and frugality but rather wholesale > onlining of nuclear= > , tar sands, mountaintop removing, etc., because, as > Woolsey pointed out= > , renewables such as solar and wind won=92t come > anywhere near the level= > s our currently fossil-fueled economy needs.) > = > > So perhaps we could view "denial science" as lying > on a spectrum, where = > endpoints might be defined either in terms of > hardness/softness of scien= > ce (e.g., physics hard, climate change science > medium, ecological econom= > ics softish), or else in terms of political economy > (e.g., from little t= > o big money at stake). Denial would tend to be > motivated pursuant to pr= > incipals of political economy, and gotten away with > in proportion to the= > softness (or alternatively, complexity) of the > science. > = > > = > > Brian Czech, Visiting Assistant Professor = > > Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University > Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences > National Capital Region, Northern Virginia Center > 7054 Haycock Road, Room 411 > Falls Church, VA 22043 = > > = __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
