Having Fun Arguing

I read something in The Gazette saying that recycling is pointless.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=de1a1f1d-4533-49fe-9079-ec9d87a8ef3e

I was so amused by some of the claims in it that I had to respond:

In “Is Recycling Really Worth It?”, Barry Cooper claims that all economists agree that “markets, price adjustments and product substitution mean that physical limits to all substances on Earth are economically irrelevant…future generations can never exhaust natural resources.” We are supposed to believe, then, that the collapse in fish stocks in the north Atlantic was “economically irrelevant” or just plain impossible.

Mr. Cooper does not appear to recognize that there are limits to the occult powers of “market forces”. They cannot turn water into wine, nor can they reproduce the miracle of the loaves and fishes. If bio-fuels do turn out to be a viable replacement for gasoline, for example, it will be because of government policies, not market forces.

Mr. Cooper also claims that there are “more trees in North America today then there have been in a century and a half”. All fine and good, but where do these trees live? A tree is a tree is a tree, but a suburb or city park is not a forest.

I will also make note never to entrust Mr. Cooper with the care of my goldfish or of the Earth.