X-Message-Number: 18718
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 19:56:14 -0800
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: Re: COSTS OF SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS 

From a recent Cryonet:
COSTS OF SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
   One argument of Bjorn Lomborg's book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist," is 
that it is not cost efficient to spend money on certain environmental problems.
 He cites a Harvard University study comparing the cost efficiency of various 
life-saving initiatives....
                                                         Cost per
   Initiative                                        life-year saved
   Federal law requiring smoke detectors in homes            < $0
   Reduced lead content of gasoline from 1.1 gram
   to 0.1 gram per leaded gallon                             < $0
...
   Low-cholesterol diet for men age 30                    $19,000
   Improve basic driver training                          $20,000
...

Today I received this:
   A friend of mine had the following to say about this. 

     The figures ignore cumulative effects (eg: benzene control) the
     effects of benzene in the environment build up with each exposure. As
     a result the negative effects are not always noticeable until many
     years later. A good book to read that explores this issue is _Living
     Downstream_ by Sandra Steingraber. 
   and 
     That book and writer [the ones cited in Kennita's article, not the
     one my friend cited] are somewhat well known as apologists for the
     *anti* environmental movement. 

   --Michelle 

Comments, please.  Am I being shortsighted and poisoning a
planet that I'm going to have a use for for a long time?
-- 
May you live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Kennita Watson          | Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
     |   None but ourselves can free our minds.
http://www.kennita.com  |           -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

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