> From: Moose <bylzbbfr@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Lots of stuff ain't simple, no matter how much we would like it to be.
Which is why there's something called the "precautionary principle."
If there's even a chance of a catastrophic outcome, don't do it. If
you get a strong warning signal from something already started, just
stop it. If it's a false signal, generally the worst that could happen
is that "progress" comes a bit slower. I'd be happy with a standard of
living of the '70's. (We'd all be shooting OM-1s. :-)
This is the principle that led to the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act,
Endangered Species Act, and a number of other law enacted under the
leadership of a disgraced Republican president.
Why did Nixon do such things? Easy -- the warning signals were
proliferating, and his administration was willing to apply the
Precautionary Principle. But then the US woke up from this "long
national nightmare," it was "morning in America," and all precaution
was thrown to the wind for 30 years.
Sure, pushing certain natural limits without much precaution has
produced what many consider to be "progress." And yet, there are as
many (or more) hungry, homeless people who lack health care as there
was when similar crises pushed Nixon to do some very un-Republican
things.
:::: We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty
than ever before in the history of any land. -- Herbert Hoover, 1928
:::: Jan Steinman <http://www.EcoReality.org>
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