We have a responsibility...

Sullivan on Waxman-Markey:

In pure economic terms, I'm not sure this bill is worth it (if it accelerates new energy technology, it still could be). But in reflecting on this, I do believe that my generation of humans should not be responsible for altering in unknowable ways the eco-system that sustains us and so many other forms of life. We have a responsibility not simply to advance our own material welfare, and weigh costs and benefits, but also to conserve our natural inheritance as much as we can. I reach this from a religious perspective, but it is easy to reach it from other grounds. And if this bill is the beginning of a process we can improve on and tweak and finesse in the coming years, then I think it's worth the loss of economic growth. Some things count for more than money or our own species' well-being. And climate change could take on a momentum impossible to impede if we carry on the way we are.