The recent Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference was “the most significant environmental conference in history,” according to the United Nations. In a 288 page draft version for "The Future We Want," we find this statement:
Whearas acceptable, ie sustainable, forms of energy in the draft are the following: solar, wind, biomass, and hydro. In fact, the UN considers it a "right" of all people to have energy from "sustainable" "renewable" sources!"We urge countries to strictly apply the precautionary approach to any technologies that might imply a serious risk for the environment or human society...including nuclear energy and nanotechnology....To avoid irreversible and long-term damage from untested technologies, create an independent technology assessment and monitoring body at the UN."
In order to understand how problematic this UN policy really is, we need simply to become familiar with the term, "precautionary approach."
The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.
This principle allows policy makers to make discretionary decisions in situations where there is the possibility of harm from taking a particular course or making a certain decision when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. The principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm....
In essence, this not only allows policy makers to halt any technological developments that might bring "risk" to the public, but it actually requires them to restrict technology. And it is "for the public good."In some legal systems, as in the law of the European Union, the application of the precautionary principle has been made a statutory requirement.
Is this the future envisioned for the role of science, and for future scientific discoveries, in the Electric Universe?
