About Me

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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Monday, January 03, 2011

IEET countdown # 30 - Marcelo Rinesi on burning fossil fuels

Marcelo Rinesi, who is among other things Managing Editor at The Journal of Evolution and Technology, laments that we'll almost certainly end up burning all the available fossil fuels. We should have stopped long ago, and invested massively in alternative energy sources, but the economic and psychological imperative to burn them has been (and still is) overwhelming - even though it's disastrous in the longer term.

Quote: "We are in this fix because a few short decades ago we did nothing. If we do nothing, or even if we just don’t do enough, the fix we’re going to be a few short decades from now will be much, much worse."

This is a rather pessimistic analysis, but the bottom line is that we must take dramatic action now.

2 comments:

Jim Jong said...

Russell, do you have an interest in environmental issues? Environmental ethics/philosophy? You should blog more about these important issues (and of course how religion messes it all up).

Russell Blackford said...

Some interest, and even some teaching experience in a related area. But no great insight or expertise.