Ken Larsen's web site - Environment and politics
To some degree, environment and politics are polar opposites. Very few politicians get elected because they pledge to protect the environment. Many more get elected, because they pledge growth and jobs. When people get inside the voting booth, they're inclined to favor their wallet over trees and endangered species. Such an attitude can have a deleterious effect on the environment ... which in the long run could adversely affect people's wallets far more than a lack of jobs. People and politicians must be educated to understand this.
Our environment is heading in a dire direction:
World population is exploding. [details]
There have been some alarming instances of air pollution. [Beijing example]
Overdevelopment causes flooding. [details]
Animal and plant species are disappearing at an alarming rate. This is documented in the book "The Sixth Extinction" by Richard Leakey (1995)
Global warming [Urban heat island, Heat dome]
What are the prospects for reversing these trends? In my opinion, they're bleak. Donald Trump wouldn't have won the Presidency if he had campaigned to save the environment. He promised to save jobs. West Virginians weren't interested in hearing about the polluting effects of coal burning. They wanted their coal jobs.
At a local level, developers only care about developing. That's how they make their money. They don't make money protecting the environment. They work hard to grease the wheels of local government to get their projects approved. [Laguna Beach example] In Chapel Hill, a project currently up for approval is the Fordham Blvd Apartments near Eastgate shopping center. If approved, it will be built on a flood plain. [details]
One of the problems of political decisions is that there is considerable delay between the approval of a project and the environmental consequences. For example, approval to build on a flood plain doesn't cause immediate calamity. It may be many years and many approved projects before calamity strikes. Examples: the effects of Hurricane Harvey on Houston in 2017 and the effects of Hurricane Matthew on the North Carolina Coast in 2016.
Related links
Flooding caused by rain from Hurricane Florence (September 17, 2018 in Chapel Hill, NC)
Orange Politics [Local political group who favor density and tall buildings as a way to protect the rural buffer.]
Trash near Booker Creek [from 2014] In 2017 people have been using the same creek to dump campaign signs. [picture]
UNC and Chapel Hill politics [UNC doesn't provide ample parking. This plus UNC's growth and the decline of nearby affordable housing adversely affects the environment.]
Does Chapel Hill have enough water to support population growth? [The answer is no.]
Why Houston is a sitting duck for hurricanes [Long time overdevelopment is the cause.]
How Chapel Hill can avoid the planning mistakes of Houston - Julie McClintock
Environmental impact of the Durham-Orange County Light Rail project (DOLRT)
Shanghai is sinking [Tall buildings, density, and soft soil are the problems.]
Solutions will be very difficult
The
dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 160 million years and left it in pristine
environmental condition - until an asteroid came along.
On the
other hand, Man's Industrial Revolution began a scant 200 years ago, but
look at the environmental mess that the earth has become:
global warming, pollution, demise of animal species, over population
of humans. Politicians must take
immediate action to turn this tide around.
Will we last as long as the dinosaurs?
Heck, without turning around our damage, I doubt modern man will last
another thousand years.
Only
humans [with their opposal thumbs and "intelligence"] have been capable of
creating chemicals/substances which are not naturally recycable.
The only recourse is that we recycle everything, but that
substantially drives up costs, and companies are inclined to move to
countries which don't have such regulations.
To address that problem, we should consider reversing our "free
trade" policies and return to the imposition of tariffs ... with higher
tariffs imposed on countries which do not protect the environment.
This also will not go over well with voters, because voters love the
flow of cheap goods from foreign countries.
They will vote with their wallets.
Add in
the fact that humans can be slobs [Booker
Creek trash example], and we have a virtually unsolvable problem.
How do we
address the political inertia which obstructs sane environmental policies
from being implemented? In my
opinion, we may have to turn political decision making over to computers.
[details]