[sershe]

"you obviously have to assess the impact of burning the oil."

It's not at all obvious.

1) If we assess all the indirect negative impacts that happen in remote places, nothing will ever be done. Should a factory making phones assess the DALY lost by drivers who get into accidents because of distracted driving?

2) Also, if we are going to assess hypothetical impacts of burning oil, why not assess the positive impacts? This oil could be used to build wind turbines, or to deliver food to a famine-impacted areas, or to raise living standards in the developing world. Generally oil is energy and energy is a precursor to GDP and high living standards.

The end result on not developing European (or US) energy reserves is that Europe is going to buy energy from dictators all over the world. Frankly it's one of these cases where I switch to my cynical mode "I hope there's enough civilization left for my lifetime, cause if you are THAT dumb, you deserve to be defeated."

[M95D]

1) If we assess all the indirect negative impacts that happen in remote places, nothing will ever be done. Should a factory making phones assess the DALY lost by drivers who get into accidents because of distracted driving?

IMO they really should!

2) Also, if we are going to assess hypothetical impacts of burning oil, why not assess the positive impacts? This oil could be used to build wind turbines, or to deliver food to a famine-impacted areas, or to raise living standards in the developing world. Generally oil is energy and energy is a precursor to GDP and high living standards.

And that's what a comprehensive assessment will include. Both positive and negative arguments. But you can't cherry-pick the ones you like. That would invalidate the results.

[sershe]

"And that's what a comprehensive assessment will include"

Do you have evidence of this? A typical assessment of impacts, especially any environmental assessment I have ever heard of, only focuses on the negatives.

[M95D]

> only focuses on the negatives

You are probably right.

[burkaman]

Why do you think nothing will be done? You aren't required to stop a project just because you've identified a single negative impact. If you can't trust your government to make good decisions even when presented with all the information, then you need a new government.

To answer your questions, yes anybody involved with making phones should be fully aware of their negative effects, and yes an environmental impact assessment should assess all environmental impacts, including positive ones.