Bravo for these scientists' and engineers' willingness to speak out about climate change and for the WSJ to publish their statement.
The climate is always changing, sometimes slowly and sometimes more rapidly. When advocates for rant about 'doing something' to control climate change, my first question is "What is the average temperature of the earth that you would like to reach?" With that answer in hand (or maybe not), my follow-on question is, "How much will it cost and how long will it take." "Finally, who will pay?"
"...A recent study of a wide variety of policy options by Yale economist William Nordhaus showed that nearly the highest benefit-to-cost ratio is achieved for a policy that allows 50 more years of economic growth unimpeded by greenhouse gas controls. This would be especially beneficial to the less-developed parts of the world that would like to share some of the same advantages of material well-being, health and life expectancy that the fully developed parts of the world enjoy now. Many other policy responses would have a negative return on investment. And it is likely that more CO2 and the modest warming that may come with it will be an overall benefit to the planet..."
4 comments:
I am surprised more scientists do not speak out even at risk of their jobs and reputations. Where is the bravery? (or is something else going on here?)
The interview of Dr. Harper, physicist from Princeton, in the video gives a clue as to why more are not speaking out. He said that many more wanted to sign on to the op-ed, but some were constrained by their employers.
This is a massive policy issue for the world and while non-fossil derived energy is the basis for massive spending by governments and the private sector, almost everyone agrees it's not yet economic compared to the alternatives. The emotional kicker for these expenditures is to hold back global warming. In many respects, this is a classic 'herd mentality' fed by zealots and compliant media.
I did not yet watch the video but I guess I am surprised that scientists who are trained to be skeptical, analytic, rigorous and independent are simply afraid to speak? One, maybe but many?
From NASA's web site: NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record
The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.
Post a Comment