Why don't I find this surprising?
Local Transport Today - Carbon rationing predicted to deliver collapse in travel demandNotice, if you will, how a governmental-appointed environmental policy maker is so certain that the only way to save the planet is to reduce travel - by force if necessary.Transport policy-makers should start preparing now for a dramatic reduction in motorised travel that will be brought about by carbon rationing, one of the country's leading environmental thinkers told LTT this week.
"Just start reading the runes because what's going to happen is the demand for road, rail and air travel is going to start falling away just as soon as we have rationing," says Mayer Hillman in an interview with the magazine.
Hillman, senior fellow emeritus at the Policy Studies Institute, says carbon rationing is the only way to ensure that the world avoids the worst effects of climate change. And he says that the problems caused by burning fossil fuels are so serious that governments might have to implement rationing against the will of the people.
"When the chips are down I think democracy is a less important goal than is the protection of the planet from the death of life, the end of life on it," he says. "This has got to be imposed on people whether they like it or not."
Have you ever noticed that those who want to impose restrictions on people ALWAYS want to do it for the 'greater good'? And for some odd reason, I'm thinking he'd find some reason why a certain class of people would be exempt from the rules the rest of the people might have to live by. After all, when you're superior, you should be allowed priveleges above those of ordinary people.
I get the feeling sometimes that the 'Climate Change' folk actually loathe the idea of all the peasants cluttering up THEIR Earth, and are looking to decrease the surplus population. Oh, there's a need for workers to support the infrastructure to provide the gentry lifestyle that they would want. But they need to know their place, and it doesn't include being able to travel.
They, of course, would be left with a mostly empty world and feel satisfaction that THEY were able to make a difference.
Of course, the 4-5 billion that would have to die to fulfill their fantasies are really irrelevant in the great scheme of things...
J.
Comments (9)
Between the environmentalists and the islamists, all of civilization is going to end up back in the 7th century - which is _not_ civilization, in my book!
Posted by suek | December 19, 2007 12:17 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 12:17
I've got my eye on a fairly new cart, need to procure donkey to pull it.
Posted by Tim | December 19, 2007 2:44 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 14:44
As to how things actually work out...
Dang! Another SF story, the title of which I can’t remember -- or the author. (Seems like Poul Anderson, though.)
Premise: Aliens decide to soften up human civilization (prior to invasion) by spotting the planet with field generators that dampen any sort of explosion. And not just what you usually think of as ‘an explosion.’ Lots of things. Like internal combustion engines.
There’s a scene in which a bright young man excitedly explains to his wife that this will actually be a great thing: The excesses of modern technology will be reined in. People will adjust to a slower, more localized way of life. The aliens have actually done mankind a great service.
The first winter after the Change passes. The story’s narration notes in passing that the bones of the young man and his young pretty wife can be found poking out of the melting snowpack in a roadside ditch...
Posted by F451 | December 19, 2007 3:00 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 15:00
"the 4-5 billion that would have to die to fulfill their fantasies "
That's not a bug, that's a feature. After all, they just need enough proles to do the work.
Meanwhile, I need to find out which pitchfork manufacturer to invest in. Where do you buy tar and feathers these days?
Posted by Delayna | December 19, 2007 8:57 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 20:57
Suek-
I think that if any group of that type gets even within sniffing distance of yanking the power cord from the world, the pushback is going to be VERY stiff.
Heck, take a look in Iraq where the insurgents have made themselves so VERY welcome that the Sunnis and Shi'ites have banded together - and they have much more of a tradition of religious authoritarianism than we do.
Doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but it'll be a hell of a lot harder to get people to go from the 21st Century to the 7th than it would to get them to go from the 18th to the 7th...
J.
Posted by JLawson | December 19, 2007 9:20 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 21:20
Tim:
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/grd/514380276.html
Heck, why stop at one - get a small herd, breed them up, corner the Donkey market...
You could be the Bill Gates of Donkeydom!
J.
Posted by JLawson | December 19, 2007 9:29 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 21:29
There are professors who do say the world would be better off without man, Ron.
I think they should lead by example.
J.
Posted by JLawson | December 19, 2007 9:33 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 21:33
Delayna -
Feathers? www.TheFeatherPlace.Com
Tar? Home Depot.
Pitchforks? www.ames.com.
Hope this helps!
J.
Posted by JLawson | December 19, 2007 9:45 PM
Posted on December 19, 2007 21:45
>>it'll be a hell of a lot harder to get people to go from the 21st Century to the 7th than it would to get them to go from the 18th to the 7th...>>
Heh. Have you read the first book in the Foxfire series? The one where the highschoolers do interviews with the older family members? It should be required reading!
Or "The Old Sturbridge Village Cookbook" - has recipes for the foods cooked in the colonies, with directions for cooking open hearth method, closed brick oven method, and modern oven method. Directions for cooking a pig include the note: "...the pig is half done when the eyes fall out."
Heck...I remember my little oven in Germany...no temperature guage, a knob that had "kurz" (short) "med" and "lang" marks. I had to get down on hands and knees to peek into the opening to see how "long" each flame length was...
My first Thanksgiving there, I cooked a duck. It was great...the skin was crispy, about 1/4 inch thick and stood about 3/8 of an inch away from the meat, which was tender and juicy. I think it was due to setting the heat too high to start with, then turning it too low. Maybe. I've never been able to duplicate it. Course, we hardly ever have had duck again, but that's a different issue.
Anyway - you're right...even the German oven had the gas piped in! Personally, Thomas Crapper is one of my heroes. Bless the man!
Posted by suek | December 20, 2007 11:57 AM
Posted on December 20, 2007 11:57