Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Nagging Doubts on Climate Change?

There is a well-organized, well-funded effort to confuse you about climate change. It features certain scientists who comfort us with assurances that we're actually doing really well and that the global warming crowd are merely alarmists.

This movement has done its job quite well. They've found a welcome audience in those who don't want to believe the threats are real.

Here's the catch. By the time GHG emissions reach the point where they've changed our climate enough to persuade even the disbelievers - it'll be much too late to do anything very helpful to stop it.

Here's another way to look at it. Imagine you've chartered a jet. Inside the cockpit are a pilot, a co-pilot and a flight engineer. Halfway to your destination the pilot calls you up to the cockpit to tell you the aircraft has a leaky fuel tank and there's just enough left to set down safely at the nearest airport. The co-pilot agrees that you're running out of fuel and the aircraft has to be set down quickly. The flight engineer, however, disagrees. He says not to worry, the fuel gauge is probably just not working. He says just keep going.

It's up to you. You can either tell the pilot to land the aircraft or you can take your chances and keep going. Let me guess what you would choose. Assuming you're sane you would want the plane on the ground ASAP. Maybe the gauge is wonky but the place to sort that out is once you're on the ground.

There's a chance, a slight chance the global warming scientific community is wrong. That doesn't mean you bet your kids' lives on it - or would you?

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