Libertarianism, Climate Change and Justice

[marsglorious]

Libertarians oppose regulation on principle.

Resolving Global Warming requires regulation on industry to prevent them from damaging the environment.

Therefore Libertarians oppose action on Global Warming.

Given the consequences and scientifically proven nature of climate change this view isn't responsible or reasonable, hence all the hoax conspiracies and death threats on climate scientists.

[amido7]

China and India are the biggest producers of CO2 now. Good luck getting them to stop.

No point us being taxed and penalized when they are doing all the damage.

[marsglorious]

@amido7 Good point, but who are we to tell developing countries they can't pollute if the western world, wealthy and technologically advanced, are not able to do it. Someone at some point will have to take the lead, given we started and are in the best position to start, we might as well.

Beyond that is fatalism. "China and India will never change, so let's just kill ourselves now".

P.S. The USA emits only slightly less than China and India's emissions are 1/5th of the USA.

[NightSlacker1]

Respecting scientific facts is fair enough but often these days environmentalists use "The Science" (note capital letters, same as The Bible etc)) as a stick to beat governments, politicians and us the voters to 'change our behaviour', make do with less, don't fly, don't drive, don't turn up the heating in winter, adopt the green lifestyle etc. Also, for environmentalists, a recession is a good thing because 'poor people create less pollution'.

[JackofOneTrade567]

What's the point of preserving the planet if not to preserve our species and the ecosystem we thrive in called earth? Govt is the largest unnatural threat to our species(being responsible for the most deaths), ergo to focus on the environment by relying on govt is self-defeating since govt is already killing our species(and planet) and they use social issues like the environment to trick us into giving them more power.

That's approaching the argument from a human-focused perspective.

[JackofOneTrade567]

I agree though, that people should be held accountable for polluting another person's land, but that would require private ownership.

[JackofOneTrade567]

I have no opinion on climate change and whether it exists, but to ever even consider that govt is the solution is to be vastly ignorant of govt and how it functions. What you need to know about govt is this:

- The only solutions they offer are violence and force.

- They never pass up a chance to expand and control.

- They pollute nearly everything they touch.

- Govt is a for-profit organization with guns that profits on misery.

- Govt will exploit any social issue that helps them expand.

[JackofOneTrade567]

- Most pollution occurs o public property, not private.

- Monopolies rarely happen naturally, and even if they did they still behave predictably. This means that market forces are still at work.

- The best way to stop pollution is to get the govt out of the way of people who care about climate. As it stands, the govt will not allow a competing cleaner source of energy to gain any footing anywhere.

[RockingMrE]

climate-skeptic . org

Check out the one-and-a-half hour vid on this site. Yes, I know it's long, but if you really want to see the questionable data involving climate change then I can recommend nothing better.

[SiriusMined]

This is the most reasonable form of Libertarianism I've ever heard. This is something I could get behind.

Another thing that turns me off about the fundamentalist Libertarians are those that oppose anti-trust laws. They'll usually go on about "market forces', but fail to see that if there is an monopoly, there are NO LONGER any "market forces"; all of the usual models break down.

I think this is one of your best videos to date, Vox.

[northernvoxmedia]

@SiriusMined Glad you enjoyed it :)

[Gunderson002]

Guess it just goes to show that not just creationists try to push uncredited pseudo-science. It's alright that something's being damaged as long as it isn't the profits of big corporations.

[Dragonuver]

The Libertarian party abusing what it means to be a libertarian? Never. You should see what they pull off in the US