Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Gap Widens

By Matthew

From Prometheus,


Every year it gets harder, the rhetoric gets stronger, but the gap widens. When will there be action?

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3 comments:

Chris Crawford said...

I am coming to the sad conclusion that the world's efforts to slow global warming will be ineffectual. The USA has blown to hell any opportunity for political leadership here, and without US leadership on the issue, no progress will be made. By the time Mr. Obama takes office in January, the political concrete will have hardened. China will cite our own past intransigence to justify its own intransigence. Even with US action, Chinese refusal to act will doom any efforts.

It appears that the political window of opportunity has already closed, and that now we must resign ourselves to dealing with the future costs arising from global warming. If we're lucky, we might get the low end scenario, and face only minor damages amounting to a few trillion dollars. If we're unlucky, we could end up facing economy-destroying costs.

I would advise young people not to bother having children.

September 4, 2008 at 4:15 PM
David said...

Chris C,
Thanks for that ray of sunshine. "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Chris C..."
I think you're right that government isn't going to fix this on its own, if at all. Instead, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to be the example, be the change, making improvements to our life styles, learning, educating, and serving our communities. I can't change the way things are done in a foreign country, but I can change the way things are done in my home and (admittedly, with a lot of often-frustrating work) in my community.

September 4, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Chris Crawford said...

Yes, I think that the moral obligation to reduce one's own contribution to the problem remains. Decades from now, I want to be able to say to young people, "I did my best to reduce the problem; blame those fools for the world you have inherited."

There actually is one ray of hope: the high cost of oil is encouraging the search for alternatives. Unfortunately, I fear that one of the most-used alternatives will be coal, which only makes matters worse.

Have a nice day!

September 4, 2008 at 6:26 PM

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