Saturday, January 8, 2011
What is truth and how do we recognize it?
Externalities abound, no doubt, but how do we know when they are costly enough that we must address them as a society? Consider the plight of the young human male (see here). Are we really poisoning our environment with chemicals? If so, is it really having a huge impact? How do we determine costs and benefits in a way that most members of society would agree with and then act upon?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have read quite a few articles that have repeated the facts and studies expressed here. Why aren't more people talking about this? How much scientific proof can back this up? It is mind bending to think that many industrial advancements that have resulted in higher standards of living are actually endangering the continuation of the human species. This is a huge externality, which, if fixed, could drastically alter the entire chemical industry. In Law and Economics, we studied the Coase theorem, and many other models to determine the correct allocation of payments to correct negative externalities. Such models do not hold up with externalities of this magnitude. Perhaps nothing has been done because people are myopic, and prefer the convenience of our current plastics and industrial chemicals.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that it would be poisoning our environment. There are so many ways that humans are poisoning our surrounding environment, whether it's from carbon emissions to pesticides to illegal dumping. Regardless of how we are doing it, I thought that nature was taking the biggest brunt of it. However, after that article, I cannot believe that these poisons are actually affecting the way male embryos are being formed and developed. That is definitely a scary issue that needs to be addressed for obvious reasons. Yet, some of these industries are loaded with profit and business adventure, which again, makes it difficult for people to act here and now. Another tough dilemma that demands cost and benefit analysis.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI find it really unsettling to hear how much today's chemicals are negatively effecting the human species. I constantly hear about how we need to take action to protect the environment by doing things such as recycling, but I never really hear about issues like the one stated in the article. Why is this issue not as important as (if not more than) saving the environment? Maybe people, like me, simply do not even know about the issue. I think that even if we do not take action into solving this problem (e.g., finding new, safer and more natural ways of producing everyday items), it would at least be beneficial to allow society to be more familiar with these chemical risks. Perhaps social knowledge of the harmful effects of chemicals is the first step in taking action. This will allow members of society to be aware that they have the opportunity to avoid dangerous products in an effort to protect their health.
ReplyDeleteI found this article really interesting because I had no clue how bad today's chemicals effect humans, specifically males. This article was a huge eye opener, and actually kind of scary to think about. The entire time I was reading I was thinking about what data would show when I have kids. It seems like research has show that there has been significant change since the 1970s and it's overwhelming. However, this article made it seem like every single product out there is dangerous, so how can we go about change if every product needs some sort of improvement? Are there products that we should look at improving first? I agree with Kaitlin, knowledge and overall awareness should be the first steps but where do we start? Where do we focus this attention, is there a targeted group of people/companies interested or willing to make this change?
ReplyDeleteAs of now, I agree with the sentiment that knowledge on this topic is far beneath the level it should be. It is scary to see such a drastic change in statistics within only one generation! What affect will these chemicals have on our children? Or our grand children??
ReplyDeleteI believe that society is slowly catching on the negative externalities being introduced by such chemicals, but are taking a more eco-friendly approach and referring to nature as the victim. Hopefully it will not be long until we wake up and take care of priority number 1... People!
but at what cost?