Quote:
Originally posted by Silver Cheetah:
Mouse, you are being simplistic. Re the stinky fumes point, as you must know very well, there are alternative forms of fuel, and if big business wasn't doing so well out of the whole oil thing, they could have been viable a long time ago. Exxon mobile (the biggest company on the planet) made £17.9 billion dollars last year out of oil, and not one cent did they spent on research and development of sustainable forms of energy.
Re the petro chemical plant - I make the same point. Surely humans, with all our ingenuity, can use our awesome intelligence (well, potentially...) to develop technology that is not going to end up wrecking the planet. Cleaner options to make human lives better than the ones you cite could be available to us, and in some cases are. However, big business does not find it to its advantage to make the changes, in many cases.
I find your thinking short term and simplistic here!
Right, now I've got that off my chest......... 
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SC, with all due respect, whilst I offer ponderables which at least invite debate, you respond with assertions which you wish to be accepted at face value. In the spirit of logical analysis, here are the statements that I would wish substantiated...............
if big business wasn't doing so well out of the whole oil thing, they could have been viable a long time ago.
and not one cent did they spent on research and development of sustainable forms of energy.
big business does not find it to its advantage to make the changes, in many cases.
And here is an extract from the ExxonMobil Website...
Use of coal, oil and natural gas is the major source of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities. A large part of the oil we use is in the form of gasoline and diesel fuel to power cars and trucks. In an effort to find ways of reducing the amount of fuel needed to power these vehicles, while retaining all of the useful functions they provide, we have entered a joint venture with Ford Motor Company to look at a wide range of opportunities including: new fuel-engine combinations, the potential for fuel cell powered cars, and the use of alternative fuels.
Planting trees is an effective way to reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. More importantly, well-designed tree planting and forest preservation projects can help protect ecosystems and contribute to the goal of sustainable development. In 1998, in conjunction with American Forests, we planted 500,000 trees in the U.S. We are committed to planting an equal number of trees during 1999. We have also been working with The Nature Conservancy to develop a large forest preservation project in Peru, and with Conservation International to develop a similar project in Indonesia.
Conspiracy theories are very easy to construct and hard to debunk. They do however imho tend to lead to sterile debates.
Finally, the most crucial question is - what exactly have you got off your chest.
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Regards
Mouse
[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 09-28-2001).]