Category: Politics

All posts on what Bismarck called “the art of the possible”

McKibben on managing our descent

The trouble with obsessing over collapse, though, is that it keeps you from considering other possibilities.

…

The rest of this book will be devoted to another possibility – that we might choose instead to try to manage our descent. That we might aim for a relatively graceful decline. That instead of trying to fly the plane higher when the engines start to fail, or just letting it crash into the nearest block of apartments, we might start looking for a smooth stretch of river to put it down in. Forget John Glenn; Sully Sullenberger, ditching his US Airways flight in the Hudson in January 2009, is the kind of hero we need (and so much the better that he turned out to be quiet and self-effacing). Yes, we’ve foreclosed lots of options; as the founder of the Club of Rome put it, “The future is no longer what it was thought to be, or what it might have been if humans had known how to use their brains and their opportunities more effectively.” But we’re not entirely out of possibilities. Like someone lost in the woods, we need to stop running, sit down, see what’s in our pockets that might be of use, and start figuring out what steps to take.

McKibben, Bill. Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. 2010. p. 99 (softcover, italics in original)

Joseph Carens on illegal immigrants

“Some people would say that “illegal immigrants” should have no legal rights at all, precisely because their very presence is “illegal.” But no one really would defend that view if they thought about it for a moment. The fact that immigrants have settled without authorization does not mean that it’s O.K. to kill them or beat them up or rob them. Even “illegals” are entitled to protection of their basic human rights, and most people acknowledge this in principle.

The problem is that some (in Arizona, for example) want to link immigration enforcement to everything else, so that those whose job it is to protect basic human rights, like local police or workers in emergency rooms, are expected to report anyone with an irregular immigration status. The result is that irregular migrants will steer clear of the authorities, and so will be vulnerable to extreme abuse. If we take human rights seriously, we should take the opposite approach. We should create a firewall between immigration enforcement and those responsible for protecting basic human rights. Irregular migrants would then know that they could go to the police or to the emergency room without worrying about getting reported. That’s what cities like New York are trying to do.”

From: “When Immigrants Lose Their Human Rights“, New York Times, 25 November 2014

CUPE 3902: Unit I strike vote

The union that represents me as a teaching assistant at the University of Toronto is holding a strike vote.

They are calling for more generous funding packages for TAs, increased health and childcare benefits, and a few other things. U of T is especially stingy when it comes to graduate funding packages. The standard package of $23,000 minus about $8,000 tuition (and assuming 210 hours of work as a TA) doesn’t cover the cost of living in Toronto, requiring most TAs to either borrow or do additional outside work.

I don’t know how I feel about the strike vote. I am pretty wary about unions in general (especially when it comes to public sector unions). That is because of how they often seem to defend particular interests as opposed to the general welfare, and often establish and perpetuate inequalities between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. I also don’t know what the prospects are for a strike actually improving TA pay at U of T.

Voting goes on until November 18th, so I will need to do some more thinking and decide before then.

Fossil fuel divestment update

The University of Toronto has now officially created a committee to consider fossil fuel divestment.

One of my big tasks in the weeks ahead will be to update the brief with everything important that has happened since it was opened for attestations last September.

From the date when they first meet, the committee will have a year to produce a recommendation. President Gertler will then make his own recommendation to the Governing Council, which in turn will make the final decision.

One auction for all the ‘safe’ greenhouse gas pollution?

If a way could be found to make firms and governments take it seriously, it seems like a single auction of all the planet’s ‘safe’ remaining carbon emissions could be an alternative form of carbon pricing with some virtues.

Starting with the goal of keeping warming to under 2˚C, we could estimate the total quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that humanity can still produce. In order to make the auction at all fair, it would need to take into account national populations and levels of wealth. Probably, it should be set up so that everyone is positioned to acquire equal per-capita shares in the world’s remaining emissions.

If confidence is created that no more credits will ever be auctioned, we can expect the price of those from the initial auction to rise across time as people use them up and trade them. People in countries with excessively high per-capita emissions (like Canada, Australia, and the United States) will find themselves burning through their reserves at a frightening pace, and face a strong incentive to cut emissions quickly.

Of course, there would be many challenges with such an approach. Governments would need to agree to participate. Global monitoring of GHG emissions would be necessary. Rogue governments, individuals, and firms could simply disregard the system. Splitting up the emission allowance between present and future generations is also a major problem (especially since the smartest course of action is probably to save a big chunk of the remaining total for the activities that are hardest to decarbonize, like air travel and space launches). All that being said, an auction of the whole resource would strongly reinforce the idea that humanity has a finite amount of atmospheric space for GHG pollution and that we need to move aggressively to stay within the limit.

The latest nuclear fusion enthusiasm

I have written about nuclear fusion as an energy source before:

Periodically, however, there are news stories about supposed breakthroughs in fusion technology with the potential to be rapidly and affordably deployed, potentially curbing climate change.

I have seen enough of these stories in my life to be pretty skeptical, but this can be a thread for keeping track of and discussing them.

Here’s the latest: Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project