Not sure why this thread went off the deep end. Started out with someone talking about the latest study showing diesel exhaust emissions to be a carcinogen. It's only the latest. Even the diesel engine manufacturers agree with the data and say the work being done to clean up the engines is the right thing to do. Will you die from diesel engine exhaust? Highly unlikely but the risk is there. Why the big objection to a cleaner environment? Technology is there to do it. Why not reduce the causes of our health problems instead of relying on new developments to treat the illnesses?
Well put, MHarryE.
So many want to cling to the past technologies because "it worked for us in the past", then disregard all of the bad stuff that came out of it, such as greenhouse gases, polluted air and water, cancer rates, birth defects, deforestation, species extinctions and genetic mutations. When the technology of old was created people had little to no idea the harms it would cause. Now we do, so it's time to begin converting to technologies which produce less harms and provide a sustainable future for both us and the children so many people claim to care about. We've already mortgaged our children's future, now there are those who are looking to choke, radiate, poison and freeze them out as well.
Change is rarely easy, but progress is needed for health, both as a population and on a personal level. The EPA is pushing to point out the 'obvious' so those who are in denial over every ill effect of our old ways are displayed as the irrational people they are being. Doing so will help the population as a whole begin putting people in charge who are willing to move forward and remove those who are intent on anchoring us to past, polluting technologies. Are we, as a whole, always successful? Of course not. That is hardly a reason to stop pushing forward. We're all going to die, but that doesn't mean we should die sooner then necessary.
As for the climate change polls.. who cares? When has a vote ever changed reality?
Even if 100% of the people on Earth said the ice caps were reforming, it would not stop them from melting. Stick to the science, not the logical fallacy of 'because lots of people agree with me, it must be true'. Reality is, whether it is pleasant, popular, written down, tested, observed or not. The best anyone can do is act on the known facts.
Greenhouse gasses trap warmth,
long term ice caps are melting,
desalination can change the major ocean currents. Those are the facts, polls and rhetoric do not change them. Act accordingly.