[pp.int.general] Global heating: 2 degrees of heating is 16 years away

[Jan Lettow]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 5:13 PM, Amelia Andersdotter <teirdes at gmail.com> wrote:
> it seems unnecessary for us to go into this debate, which is already
> advanced much by the green parties in europe.

Guess that would also depend on whether green policies are actually
sufficient to address the issue at hand.

I'm under the impression that a lot of germans voted for the pirates
not because of their novelty, though this is usual explanation, but
their familiarity. When critics use words like socialist, populist or
anachronistic, what they are actually saying is that we practice
solidarity the way it used to be done, before it became more of a
rhetorical style. I think it's quite a compliment to attest us
resistance to the devaluation of solidarity.

To rejuvenate the idea of sustainability in a similar fashion seems to
me like a compelling plan, but is it neccesary? I'm not really sure,
though I'm no fan of the greens and think they did more harm than good
when they were part of the Schröder government.

I suspect a fair share of pirates everywhere will find the BGE, the
PPDE's promise to make work optional by making social security
unconditional, crazy. But I think everyone will agree that it would be
a huge difference and change the game in a very deep way. I wish we
could come up with something similarily meaningful when it comes to
the environment, if only to find out if people would support stronger
environmental policies than those currently on offer.

Another, a bit cyncical, lesson from the BGE is that it probably
doesn't hurt to wrap it all up in a nice, free-for-all present, that
copiously rewards the electorate without demanding anything in return.
Who wouldn't want a hospitable environment for ours and later
generations, if it was completly free and not at all uncomfortable to
get there? I suspect we would be more popular than candy, though this
could change in case the pundits are right and the economy would
utterly collapse if it were to pay for the clean-up of it's own waste.