Why Are Conservatives So Stubborn About Pollution ?

Question

My question discounts whether human pollution causes global warming .....or not.

My question was wouldn't any sensible person conclude that pollution is NOT DOING THE EARTH ANY GOOD and therefore needs sensible consideration and remedy?

I illustrated this concept. so any simpleton can understand it, by comparing pollution to cigarette smoking, which many people contend does not cause cancer or lung disease, .But sure as hell doesn't do you any good. Wouldn't it be safer and smarter to not smoke, no matter what?

Any of you care to argue that cigarettes are good for you?

Jeeeezus..can't you people read?.

Answer 1

Say it with me....SPECIAL INTERESTS!

Answer 2

Because many of the suggested environmental solutions are very bad for the economy. Conservatives want a balance between economy and environment. Your point about smoking is too simplistic.

Most of the suggested alternative energy sources aren't robust enough to run the economy of any major industrial nation. And, without the world's economic strength, we can't feed the current world's population.

Frankly, there aren't many effective solutions. To keep the world's population where it it, we need significant energy sources. The only 2 sources of energy that are practical today for the amount of energy we need are oil and nuclear, and both have drawbacks. The only other solution (today) would be to drastically reduce the world's population and return to life as it was about 500 years ago.

Answer 3

We are stubborn in the struggle against radicalism in all quarters. Nobody likes smog, poison water or crap on the side of the roads, but the more we clean up, the more frantic and obnoxious the environmental lobby gets. Almost like they see their importance waning, so they have to hurry and find some other major problem they can get paid to solve, or to use as a wedge to control society. I mean, 20 years ago there was hardly ever a day when you could see the mountains 10 miles from my house because of all the smog. NOW, there's hardly ever a day when you CAN'T see the mountains. We've made ENORMOUS strides cleaning up the air, but for some inexplicable reason, the problem is more urgent than ever. The dreaded Co2 is here!! Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ, every time I open a can of soda I'm afraid some hippie chick with hairy armpits is gonna swoop down on me with a Co2 scrubber to make sure my Diet 7up doesn't cause the Earth to hit the tipping point and burst into flames. I mean, geez, Hey!!! Environmentalists!!! GET OVER YOURSELVES!! You're not the smartest people in the world. You're just not. ok? You've done some good things. But you've also done some really STUPID things. The whole new ice-age thing that was all the rage a few years ago. Now it's flipped over to global warming. WTF?? Then we absolutely HAD to have MTBE in our gasoline 'cuz we were all in imminent danger of choking to death if we didn't. Never mind that other reputable scientists said there wasn't enough research to know if the stuff was poison. OH NO, we had to have it NOW. .....OOPS, turns out the stuff is poison and our lakes and water tables are now toxic for the next 1000 years. Then the enviro's have the nerve to come out and say we have to stop using motor vehicles on lakes because of the MTBE they forced on us. Ya know... talk about blind ignorance to the fact that your credibility has been strained to the breaking point. The fact that environmentalists don't want us to drill for oil in ANWR because of the Caribou, when the facts are that Caribou are thriving in other places where we drill for oil just defies explanation. We need oil for just a few more years while real alternatives that don't just shift pollution around are developed. The caribou won't be harmed, but for some reason, we have to send young men to die getting it from people who want to kill us all. The only explanation for this I can think of is the green lobby's other major platform - over-population. There's just too darned many people competing for too few resources!! So if we can kill off a bunch of them by poisoning the world with crap like MTBE, over-protecting mountain lions so they encroach on us and eat joggers, forcing blood-for-oil so hundreds of people in the middle east die every day, on and on.... Get that population down!! Then environmentalists can enjoy the planet without all those pesky people encroaching on them.... Like the Sierra Club that has vast swaths of forest uninhabited, EXCEPT for the nice vacation compound where they all get to go to keep an eye on things to make sure the environment is "safeguarded". No more obvious movement to control the masses for the pleasure of one group has been seen since Hitlers "Action T4"

Answer 4

Too much of anything is bad for you...even water! The question is..how much of it can kill you? No doubt pollution does lead to various diseases, conditions, etc to humans. Just try breathing in some smog and see how you'll react...now whether it causes global warming..that's a whole other story. I think we should have pollution laws not because of global warming, but for our health. BTW, my father has smoked for years (he stopped a couple years back) and he hasn't gotten lung disease or anything of that sort.

Answer 5

As my uncle often said, you have an amazing intelligence for the obvious.

Unfortunately, you don't seem to have much tact. People don't like ideas forced on them, even if said ideas are logical and correct.

To answer your question, conservatives are generally against any kind of change. The general idea is that if it's good enough to last through their lifetime, then it's fine the way it is, and let the next generation deal with it.

The tobacco companies have powerful lobbies in Washington, and these lobbyists undoubtedly contribute much money to the various politicians. People don't stop doing unhealthy things when the doctor says "If you don't stop that, you'll die," because the doctor doesn't say "If you don't stop that, you'll die tomorrow."

It costs more money to fix pollution than to just pollute. The companies which spew pollution also contribute much money to politicians.

If we really wanted to help stop global warming, we could all stop driving our cars and take busses. That's not going to happen.

The short of it is that people and companies, as a rule, are very egotistical and self-centered, and instant-gratification often takes precendence over common-sense.

Answer 6

Conservatives are stubborn about pollution?

Hmmm....check out this demographic map of the 2004 election:
http://gis2.esri.com/esriclips/clip.cfm?ClipID=321

Notice those blue columns towering over the US? You do KNOW what BLUE represents? And those columns happened to be centered WHERE? OK, we all know that liberals are not too bright with geography, due to Conservatives who don't support education enough, but I'll lend you a hand: those are major urban centers. Let's move to environmental science: how does urban air quality compare to suburban and rural air quality in terms of man-made pollution?

So...why are LIBERALS so stubborn about pollution?

Answer 7

Your last question stated pollution AND Global Warming.

If you want it to be a question about pollution, then I would say most conservatives are not stubborn.

They are stubborn when you define CO2 as a pollutant. I do not believe CO2 should be classified as such as it causes me no ill effects.

We have the Clean Air Act and each year we strive to make improvements on this country's air quality. In fact, we are granting WAIVERS to this Act so that we can use more ethanol in our gasoline which may in fact INCREASE smog and pollution.

Every additional governmental control comes with a cost. That is why there is resistance. There is resistance to change in anything.

Thanks for the insults, it implies you are angry which means you have lost the arguement.

Answer 8

I'm conservative...

I don't like pollution.

i don't believe Al Gore and his global warming hype ... nor do I think he believes it himself when he wastes thousands of pounds of jet fuel to go make a short speech and collect $100,000 to $250,000.... I think Al Gore just sees a way to line his own pockets.

There are environmental issues which are DEFINITIVELY real and could actually be worked on... that are being ignored due to the global warming hype.

Strangely... some of the stuff that is getting ignored would affect CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and should be primary targets of the Global Warming alarmists... if they really think CO2 is important.

So... quit listening to the idiot hypocrite Al Gore and try looking at reality.

Answer 9

They don't think pollution is not a problem. They think it is not all the USA's fault.
Big bad USA is blamed for everything. How about China, India, Mexico.....hmmm.
We have some of the most stringent requirements in the world. So, if a few countrys control emissions and the rest of the world don't care then why is it our fault.....smoke em if it makes you happy.

Answer 10

There is serious money to be made in pollution bussiness.

Answer 11

It is destroying our planet