Okay, what would you assign this person, if you say these credentials?
undergraduate degree in physics from CalTech and a PhD in economics from MIT
So this person has a BA in Physics, and
a PhD in Economics.
Honestly, not that you cannot be an expert in a lot if issues, but I would think this person would be working at the Wall Street Journal, or perhaps teaching Economics at some college somewhere. Maybe he got the BA in Physics to expand a bit. But then Physics can cover a lot of ground, Electricity, Hydrolics, etc., and so on. Its a basic set of rules that govern the mathematics behind a lot of different disciplines.
So I know, lets put this guy in charge of Climatological Reports at the EPA!
Really?
Carlin has an undergraduate degree in physics from CalTech and a PhD in economics from MIT. His Web site lists papers about the environment and public policy dating back to 1964, spanning topics from pollution control to environmentally-responsible energy pricing.
So this guy is a Public Policy Geek. mmmmmm, and yet he wants to determine our Climatological Policy based on his BA in Physics and his PhD in Economics. Pardon me Carlin, but I prefer Climatologists and Meteorologists, and Geologists and Oceanographers ---you know, those people who actually have their expertise in authentic Earth Sciences to determine our Climate Policy. I dunno call me silly.
Most of his papers appear to be Cost Efficiency related. Fine. So why is his report being used by Republicons to challenge current attempts to reduce our impact on the planet that if left unabated could lead to our own extinction and generations of misery before we get there?
This is what really bothers me about this story. It is released when the House passes a sweeping new Climate Policy Bill in the U.S. AND,
there is this other issue. The interconnectedness of Pollution and Global Warming. Lets just play devil's advocate shall we? Lets pretend that Global Warming is a myth. That its not going to come to pass. Fair Enough. The main cause of it is Pollution. If Global warming isnt happening, then big polluters can use that as the perfect excuse to stop controlling their pollution--their run off, their smoke stacks, their outgasing and lagoons.
Global Warming is a myth, so if our clouds of toxic gas cause deadly Smog in your community, who the fuck cares, it's not Global Warming! So we can pollute til our heart's content.
The real issue here, the heart of it, isn't global warming, it's pollution and the expense of cutting back pollution, and the expense of cleaning up industrial messes. But Pollution isn't that big of a deal right? I mean its just some industrial site that just sits there and looks ugly. We can reroute traffic around it, so that people don't have to see it, and they only smell it when the wind is right, right? No biggee.
Yea, no biggee. Lets ask these people:
Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution.
Sounds like a fucked up kind of lottery right? Your chances, 100 in 1 Million. Sounds pretty good? Til its you or your kid that has cancer. Then those odds disappear and are replaced with feelings of helplessness and doom. And of course a HUGE hospital Bill just before your insurance company dumps you on your ass--assuming you could afford it in the first place.
or
These People:
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- A United States senator has asked two federal agencies to investigate a cancer cluster in Palm Beach County.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sent letters Thursday to both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency asking for an immediate investigation. Paulette DeCarlo is part of a group of concerned parents in The Acreage wondering why their children, who all live within a few miles of each other, developed brain tumors.
Ultimately what we are dealing with are the plethora of effects caused by Pollution. Whether its bleaching dying coral reefs, brain cancer clusters, or other environmental diseases, poisoned water, unbreathable air, dying water sheds, etc., and so on. Ultimately it comes down to big Corporations that need to do more to control their polluting activities for the health and safety of us all.
They want to reduce their overhead, and so they do, they sacrifice our lives and health for a bigger profit. And the moment the people get together to challenge that toxic sense of entitlement, these companies fight back with lobbyests, with their own "Independent reports" and "Findings" that support their goal of making more money.
I am very skeptical of this story, but I have no doubt that ever reich winger out there will latch onto this like a drowning man on a life preserver.
The fact is Corporate America has been telling American Citizens {as if it were anything other than an authority on profit} to not prepare for the future and spend spend spend. Keep up that disposable lifestyle, nothing bad will happen. What's one more piece of trash in the landfill that takes 200 years to break down?
Because the more we live that disposable lifestyle, the more we support their investors and we keep their profit margins in the black. Whether that is big oil, plastics, or what have you.
The end result is Pollution affects you directly.
It affects you, your pregnant wife, your unborn child, your college age student, and everyone else who is still drinking the water on this planet, and still breathing the air. You can set a price on those things. In fact we already have. A lot of us though are fighting to take that price off.
My Lungs , my heart and my Liver are no longer for sale.
My children's are no longer for sale.
My unborn grandchildren's epigenetics are no longer for sale.
We found that during the Bush Administration the EPA was declawed and defanged. That Big Oil called the shots---all of Bush's old Cronies, and Rice's and Cheney's and Rumsfeld's buddies called the shots. Money Money Money. They could buy enough property with a well, mineral and water rights and all, that they would probably not have to worry about the things I worry about-.