Positive Net Prosperity, Zero Net Carbon Emissions

Here is the global warming dilemma: the economic activities of modern societies that makes us all more prosperous, have negative externalities in the environment by emmiting carbon in the atmosphere.

There are 3 possible solutions to this problem:

• "Wait and see": Do nothing and face the increasing consequences by trying to adjust to a deteriorating environment. In best case that could mean having to live more and more in increasingly isolated and artificial environments with air-co etc. Not very attractive.

• "Go back to the caves": Greenpeace and other capitalist-haters would like to punish all economic activity and force us live like we did few thousand years ago. Two in one: environment may recover and no more annoying capitalism

• "Deploy our best weapon": Instead we can resolve this crisis by using the ultimate tool for human ingenuity, the market. Private companies have already provided a sophisticated solution that allows us to just spend part of our wealth to eliminate excessive carbon. It is called carbon offsetting (here). The idea here is that after you calculate your personal primary and secondary carbon emission, you can offset them by contributing to cheap projects (like planting trees in Kenya) that absorb the carbon from the atmosphere. The net carbon emissions will be zero -or negative. I wonder what Greenpeace has to say about this market friendly solution.

Γιατί στην Αίγυπτο δεν έχουν δάση;

Το μεγάλο ερώτημα του καλοκαιριού είναι ποιός φταίει για τις πυρκαγιές.

Μην είναι οι αδίστακτοι καταπατητές;

Μην είναι η άπειρη κυβέρνηση με τον νέο αναπτυξιακό νόμο που υποτίθεται ότι κάνει ευκολότερη την αδειόδοτηση για οικόπεδα;

Μην είναι η βρώμικη αντιπολίτευση που θέλει να δυσφημήσει την ηρωική κυβέρνηση που λέει και ο Γιακουμάτος;

Μην είναι η ανίκανη πυροσβεστική υπηρεσία με τις περιορισμένες (;) δυνατότητες;

Το πρόβλημα με όλες τις παραπάνω απαντήσεις είναι ότι δεν εξηγούν το γεγονός ότι αυξημένες πυρκαγιές είχαμε φέτος σε όλα τα Βαλκάνια και στην Νότια Ιταλία. Ποιός είναι ο κοινός παράγοντας που άλλαξε φέτος σε όλες τις παραπάνω χώρες;

Ο FT του Σαββάτου πρότεινει μια "ριζοσπαστική" απάντηση (εδώ): για τις αυξημένες πυρκαγιές, φταίει η αυξημένη, αφρικανικού τύπου ζέστη. Αυτή έχει προκληθεί από την μετατόπιση του χαμηλής πίεσης jet stream νοτιότερα με αποτέλεσμα περισσότερη ζέστη στην Νότια Ευρώπη και περισσότερο κρύο στην Βόρεια. Αλλά τι ξέρει και ο FT...

Veronica Berlusconi and the Respect for Women

In FT last week there was an article about the status of Italian women. Among others it is mentioned:

Earlier this year Veronica Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi’s wife of almost
three decades, tired of her husband’s reported boorish behaviour. After
hearing that he had flirted with other women at a gala media dinner,
Veronica wrote a letter to La Repubblica, one of Italy’s biggest newspapers
and a critic of Berlusconi’s rightwing politics. His conduct was an affront
to “my dignity as a woman”, she wrote, before demanding a public apology.
“Today for my female children, already adults,” she continued, “the example
of a woman capable of defending her dignity … takes on significant
importance.” She hoped her outcry would remind her son,
Luigi, “never to forget to keep among his fundamental values a respect for women”.

I found this letter really moving. It should remind to everybody that happens to have a priviliged access to the female market, how morally important is to restrain our promiscuous nature. We easily forget that in the hunting game, dignified women can be severely hurt.