Amy, what do you think of this book, which argues (persuasively, in my view) that the incentives associated with suburban lifestyles actually diminish emissions and foster innovative market-based solutions to climate change?
[closed]
The mess this discipline has become
(106 posts) (4 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago #
-
I did not know about this book. Thanks!!!
Have you read it?
Posted 2 years ago # -
^^Those are nice reviewer comments on that book. If I ever publish a book, I hope mine are that good.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I haven't read it, but I heard the author interviewed on Glen Beck, who left FOX the same night, saying that everything conservatives had to say about climate change had been said in this book.
Posted 2 years ago # -
well, for starters, Amy [sic], you claim that there is absolutely no randomness in the relationships between political/social variables. I asked if you thought they was no stochastic element, and you answered 'yes.' That's quite extreme, no? Everything is deterministic? So you think the relationship between race and voting has no random component to it?
So right there, that's nonsense in your post.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I doubt that Amy knew what stochastic means, because surely no one these days can tryuly believe that there is no stochastic component to social phenomena. If someone truly believe that, I would be floored...because that is incredibly stupid.
Posted 2 years ago # -
^The SUNY Press synopsis of the book says different. In any event, you have piqued my interest. Thanks again!!!
Posted 2 years ago # -
"Automobile dependency -- spawned from urban sprawl --"
Wait a minute. But suburban sprawl was made possible by the invention and mass production of cars. Without cars, there would be no suburbs, and therefore no auto dependency.
So, according to this thesis, the prime cause would be cars. Cars cause global warming. Not a very sexy thesis, but at least it sounds plausible.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Are we discussing suburban sprawls and pollution now? We're going WAY off the subject at hand...How pathetic.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm confused Amy. How can you be "certain that suburban sprawl is the prime cause of global warming" without having assessed the effect of your IV on your DV relative to the possible effect of other potential IV's on your DV of global warming? Did you happen to use numbers to assess the relative impact or was it just a gut feeling?
Posted 2 years ago # -
^ No, that would be urban geography, silly.
Posted 2 years ago # -
yet another thread down the rabbit hole. Probably not a big loss since this one had pretty much run its course. But Otis should just close it down and insist all these GAG debates occur in one, clearly labeled thread.
Posted 2 years ago # -
How can you be "certain that suburban sprawl is the prime cause of global warming" without having assessed the effect of your IV on your DV relative to the possible effect of other potential IV's on your DV of global warming? Did you happen to use numbers to assess the relative impact or was it just a gut feeling?
This is the issue. The U.S. is the highest per capita emissions of CO2, at least three times higher than China's. This is because of automobile dependency in the U.S.; the SUV craze; and the massive number of energy intense single family homes (not to mention the huge number of McMansions). One result is that the U.S. has historically been the largest absolute emitter of CO2, and the largest single national driver of global warming. More devastating, however, is that the U.S. refuses to do anything about about its urban sprawl, and the result is that China (the other major absolute emitter of CO2) is not going to agree to an international climate change agreement as a result -- nor is any other developing country.
Posted 2 years ago # -
the prime cause would be cars. Cars cause global warming. Not a very sexy thesis, but at least it sounds plausible.
No, because low density urban development (characteristic of urban sprawl), results in an energy intense housing stock -- which results in excessive CO2
Posted 2 years ago # -
^^You didn't even come remotely close to answering my question. How do you know that suburban sprawl is the "prime" cause of global warming (or whatever your word choice was)? You're making a comparative statement with other causes. How do you know your proposed hypothesis has the most explanatory power? This should be a simple question to answer for someone who has thought about the issue as much as you obviously have.
Posted 2 years ago # -
and... SCENE!
Posted 2 years ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.