10-12-2008, 11:35 PM
Eppie, I wouldn't bother taking this up with Pete. Despite his superior intelligence and knowledge, he obviously misunderstood. Trying to explain will propably only lead to more unpleasantries.
I will comment on the following, though.
"Most industrial countries have stringent environmental laws. Most developing countries do not.
Most industrial countries have stringent worker safety laws. Most developing countries do not."
Let's see how we deal with this 'unfair' situation, for example regarding Mercury. It's a poisonous and volatile liquid in pure form, and has to be dealt with under strict and costly regulations, here. So, we dump our Mercury containing waste in countries like Bangla-Desh, telling them they can make a profit by recollecting that precious metal, and create 'recycling industry jobs'. That way, we can keep our own country clean and help in their development, at the same time, isn't it? However, we don't tell them in advance how expensive the proper equipment will be. They end up doing it by manual (child) labour in open air, and the result is a lot of sick people over there, and a ruined soil. Sure, you can blame them for taking the deal, but did anyone really expect them to prefer starvation?
I will comment on the following, though.
"Most industrial countries have stringent environmental laws. Most developing countries do not.
Most industrial countries have stringent worker safety laws. Most developing countries do not."
Let's see how we deal with this 'unfair' situation, for example regarding Mercury. It's a poisonous and volatile liquid in pure form, and has to be dealt with under strict and costly regulations, here. So, we dump our Mercury containing waste in countries like Bangla-Desh, telling them they can make a profit by recollecting that precious metal, and create 'recycling industry jobs'. That way, we can keep our own country clean and help in their development, at the same time, isn't it? However, we don't tell them in advance how expensive the proper equipment will be. They end up doing it by manual (child) labour in open air, and the result is a lot of sick people over there, and a ruined soil. Sure, you can blame them for taking the deal, but did anyone really expect them to prefer starvation?