Monday, February 05, 2007
Global Warming - Some sanity
Here's a Q & A session that goes a long way toward putting the global warming issue in perspective...
In Canada's Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente calmly answers some questions about an article she wrote:
"Everyone talks about the weather, Mark Twain famously said, but nobody does anything about it.
That may be changing, as the public gets more worried about global warming.
But how much of the concern about climate change is based on reality versus hype? And how much are people personally willing to sacrifice to save the planet?
'Politicians are terrific at promising a free lunch, but they're not so good at telling people there is no such thing. So take those opinion polls with a bag of salt. Only when people are asked to make tough choices and pay up will their good intentions be put to the test,' Globe columnist Margaret Wente wrote this week.
Last weekend, Ms. Wente sought out the broad middle ground in the global-warming debate, which she writes "has become so shrill, so political and so polarized that it's impossible for even a reasonably well-informed person to figure out who or what to believe. Only one thing is for sure: Science isn't all that is driving this debate. Politics, ideology and scaremongering are too."
'...The very great uncertainty of long-term climate impacts is a point that often gets lost in the debate. The scenarios range from mild to severe, but it's the extreme ones that get the ink.'"
