I am somewhat amazed at how well my 2009 predictions held true. One more on my list came to fruition Wednesday with the CARB announcement that California's diesel emissions standards would be canceled due to the economy. Exactly as I predicted.
See? Environmentalism is only applicable when times are good. When bad, all environmental bets are off the table, and in this case, the diesel standards set to begin in 2011 will be delayed because the trucking lobby argued, successfully, that due the the number of idled trucks our "air ain't quite so bad no more."
Well, if it's a recession that's to blame for creating cleaner air, well, count me in for cheering on a full on depression. A full on depression. Let every damn truck in the state go idle, then.
Unless you commute by bicycle every day up and down Franklin Blvd., you have no idea what it's like to cycle alongside Carson Ice trucks, Campbell Soup supply trucks, and the 300 Conway Freight trucks on 47th and breathe that particulate exhaust. This is a [not so] small reason why Elk Grovians will never bike to work -- there aren't options for avoiding these emissions, and subsequently they generate copious amounts themselves with their own driving. There aren't options for avoiding these emissions because CARB won't enforce their own rules.
So, you really think this nation, really, is gonna accept carbon legislation when the economy is bad? You are dreaming if you think it's going to happen. Even if there is consensus in Congress to push through legislation, which is debatable itself, won't the various trucking and energy lobbies delay it to such an extent that it won't be meaningful? That unless we are burning through 21 million barrels a day in a booming economy it's going to get canceled because we are only burning 19 million barrels a day in an economic downturn?
I don't care much about the global climate issue when we can't even get localized environmental policy enacted. Take care of your local environment and the global environment will follow. There is no way, no way, this nation of ours will possibly reduce CO2 emissions under any conceivable scenario in my opinion. We might cancel it due to economic harm. We will likely cheat relative to any international agreements if we don't cancel it. And you can be sure our fellow Elk Grovians, whose lifestyles are wholly dependent on the burning of copious quantities of fossil fuels, will never stand for a reduction, Tuvalu be damned.
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2 comments:
Of course it's cancelled. People gotta eat right! You eat y/n. It's not like we grow our food here. or make our clothes here, Everything comes by truck, in less than 100hrs without a truck youe WinCo would be out of toilet paper! Love'en Hate'em But Trucks are as nesesarry as AIR, When you live in the city.
Hopefully you understand my facetious argument regarding the idling of all trucks due to a depression.
Nonetheless, I think it's a false choice to delay implementation because of the economy. What else will/should get canceled? 1-hour ozone limits? Pending pesticide restrictions canceled to protect California's grape industry from economic harm? You could argue for any of them.
And indeed, this is why meaningful efforts to build better cities, to reduce extreme car (and truck) dependence, or to ha! reduce carbon emissions, will also run into cancellation because they impact our way of life -- a way of life wholly unsustainable in the long run.
It is wholly unsustainable in the long run. Tell me that the trucking of American wood pulp to container ships for an 8,000 mile journey to China to manufacture toilet paper with another 2,000 mile journey into Australia is a justifiable use of the subsidized American roadway. One among a few million other energy-intensive globalized decisions we've made because of cheap energy. Pineapples into Eastern Oregon. Mexican eggplants into Sacramento in January.
If trucks are indeed as necessary as air, perhaps then it's not too much to ask that they be subjected to particulate matter control measures. If a pineapple becomes a nickel more expensive, so be it. Environmentalism always incurs costs and bear in mind that these diesel regulations are still coming, only later than sooner.
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