#$%^@#$%@#@ I’d nearly finished this post, then I managed to hit just the right key combo to close the window. Love that. With a chainsaw. Anyway.<\/p>\n
So, I had an assignment due today, and I was finishing it up an hour or so in advance of the due deadline. The final question on it was, essentially “Given that the US constitutes only 5% of the world’s population, but produces 25% of the greenhouse gases and 25% of the world GDP, does the US have a moral obligation to control its emissions?” After a homework assignment that was 80% unit conversion juggling, that was an odd question to be asked. After initially avoiding the word “moral” I decided “screw it” and I ranted: <\/p>\n
The United States has a moral obligation to reduce our emissions, as part of a program to reduce worldwide emissions. This obligation arises both in terms of distributive justice and in terms of reasonable problem solving. Distributively speaking, the costs imposed by emissions typically spread to a population including many parties other than the original beneficiaries of the actions that led to the emissions. Additionally, the United States makes sense as the primary target for emissions reductions based on having the highest emissions per capita, and thus the most potential for reduction, as well as the highest GDP per capita, and thus the most financial resources to apply to the problem. <\/p>\n
Additionally, taking the initiative to clean up the atmosphere would be in the best interest of the United States in particular and the world in general. In the long run, the potential damage due to climate change and other emissions effects could produce great harms, likely overwhelming any proximate benefit to directing resources to other tasks. Additionally, working on an issue that benefits the entire world would build better international relations while repairing damage wrought by prior U.S. Foreign policy. Finally, any scientific advances made in producing technology suitable for sustainable development could provide great opportunities for foreign trade.<\/p>\n
Pursuing emissions reductions poses major challenges. Our market is built from autonomous, profit maximizing corporations, which profit by selling products and minimizing production costs. Emissions reductions require changes in the way that governments regulate markets and businesses conduct their operations. Markets must be regulated to produce environmentally sensitive corporations. Otherwise, producers have no reason to take the effects of their operations into account. <\/p>\n
Additionally, many categories of emissions, most pointedly carbon dioxide, are a global problem. The United States can’t reduce other countries emissions for them, and even if the United States immediately stopped all emissions, 75% of the problem would remain. Successful emissions reductions require international cooperation. <\/p>\n
Finally, the diffusion of interest relating to global emissions concerns limit the political power of the movement. Atmospheric emissions and their damaging consequences spread out geographically from sources large and small, each contributing to a global problem. We are all contributors and we are all victims. Few people are sufficiently damaged by any single action to take action out of individual self interest. Those with the most resources will be those best able defend themselves from harm and delay the personal impact. And just as the United States holds the record on both GDP and emissions, those with the most resources will cause the biggest problems. Like the international problem above, this highlights the importance of cooperation. This requires a change in the basic structure of our society to work together for the common good and a realization that these benefits will not arise from individual self-interested action.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I then had another “Whatever, I’ll do what I want!” moment and picked my rant as my piece to review in my writing class that followed the class in which the assignment was due. My classmates liked it, and my professor came in right as we were beginning my review. She is not a woman easily derailed, and she has a formidable reputation in the policy field. She said it was powerful, and insightful, and loved my thesis. She and my three classmates (we’ve broken up into subgroups to discuss the writings) all described my writing as powerful, and all praised one sentence in particular, close to the end. <\/p>\n
They also pointed out the jarring transition between the first and second paragraphs, the excessive use of the word additionally, a couple minor grammar errors (left in because I’m lazy), points where I could strengthen the tone, use of unclear antecedents, etc, etc. <\/p>\n
One of my classmates described my tone as “white coat scientific” but very approachable. *pat self on back*<\/p>\n
“senioritis” may have some benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
#$%^@#$%@#@ I’d nearly finished this post, then I managed to hit just the right key combo to close the window. Love that. With a chainsaw. Anyway. So, I had an assignment due today, and I was finishing it up an hour or so in advance of the due deadline. The final question on it was, … Continue reading “Ranting for grades”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheerfulchaotic.crazycrew.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}