They do research but also higher education with 60 PhDs at any given time. Compared to US standards they are very small. Our National Labs have probably a budget 1,000 times bigger.
It is not a think tank like the ones we have in Washington DC where you just "buy opinions" augmented with political endorsements (= lobbyists ready to "fund the political campaign" of any politician, Republican or Democrat).
That shows that good research teams with limited budgets can produce great output. Unfortunately everything is in French, so their audience is limited.
As for the culprits we know WHO they are and WHERE they are. But like the war on illegal drugs against Mexican and Colombian cartels we should not forget that they would not exist without consumers. Consumers who are mostly in the US.
We can target the polluters in Kazakhstan or anywhere else. The White House will issue a press release "condemning those irresponsible operators" and providing reassurance that "we will do everything we can to bring that activity to a complete stop".
But we are consumers, and the US more specifically is a voracious consumer. We have built cities out of nowhere in places where the temperature is so high that you can’t live without A/C. We have golf courses in the middle of the desert and ice hockey teams in places that have seen ice. Our gigantic houses, our culture around freedom (=individual cars and pathetic public transportation systems)
Sure we drive a Bolt, a Tesla or a Prius in San Francisco. But it is our second, third or fourth car. The others are pickups or large SUVs to go skiing on weekends. Uber instead of public transportation, private jets for work or extended weekends, vacations with the family on the other side of the world at least 2-4 times/year. Ask our beloved Senator in California, Nancy Pelosi, who commands a military jet when she heads back home from DC for the weekend.
I don’t know what the solutions are. Shame the largest consumers? Shame and uncover politicians who condemn the pratices? Heavy taxes on gas (very impopular)? Honestly I don’t think I will witness any significant change in my lifetime.
They do research but also higher education with 60 PhDs at any given time. Compared to US standards they are very small. Our National Labs have probably a budget 1,000 times bigger.
It is not a think tank like the ones we have in Washington DC where you just "buy opinions" augmented with political endorsements (= lobbyists ready to "fund the political campaign" of any politician, Republican or Democrat).
That shows that good research teams with limited budgets can produce great output. Unfortunately everything is in French, so their audience is limited.
As for the culprits we know WHO they are and WHERE they are. But like the war on illegal drugs against Mexican and Colombian cartels we should not forget that they would not exist without consumers. Consumers who are mostly in the US.
We can target the polluters in Kazakhstan or anywhere else. The White House will issue a press release "condemning those irresponsible operators" and providing reassurance that "we will do everything we can to bring that activity to a complete stop".
But we are consumers, and the US more specifically is a voracious consumer. We have built cities out of nowhere in places where the temperature is so high that you can’t live without A/C. We have golf courses in the middle of the desert and ice hockey teams in places that have seen ice. Our gigantic houses, our culture around freedom (=individual cars and pathetic public transportation systems)
Sure we drive a Bolt, a Tesla or a Prius in San Francisco. But it is our second, third or fourth car. The others are pickups or large SUVs to go skiing on weekends. Uber instead of public transportation, private jets for work or extended weekends, vacations with the family on the other side of the world at least 2-4 times/year. Ask our beloved Senator in California, Nancy Pelosi, who commands a military jet when she heads back home from DC for the weekend.
I don’t know what the solutions are. Shame the largest consumers? Shame and uncover politicians who condemn the pratices? Heavy taxes on gas (very impopular)? Honestly I don’t think I will witness any significant change in my lifetime.
Note: gas in the US is petrol, not natural gas.