Breaking Earth News: Global Warming/Climate ChangeNov 01, 2006
THE argument has changed. Irreversibly. Science has long provided a compelling reason to act against global warming. The study authored by Sir Nicholas Stern, the former World Bank economist, has now added the vital economic rationale.
Not so long ago the debate about climate change was framed, carelessly, as one in which upfront economic costs had to be weighed against a distant and uncertain risk. How much of our present prosperity should we sacrifice against the possibility the planet might one day get too hot? This was always a false choice, but also one well suited to the timidity of politicians and the suspicion of voters.
The Stern report debunks it.
The science of man-made climate change is beyond reasonable contradiction. Rising global temperatures can be directly correlated to the increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The relationship, if not precise, is readily predictable.
Relatively small temperature changes have disproportionately large effects. I have heard people wonder why we should be worried about an increase in the average temperature of, say, 4°C or 5°C during the present century. One answer is that the resulting rise in sea levels would put cities such as New York and London as well as most of Bangladesh and Vietnam under water. Sceptics would do well to remember that today’s global temperatures are only 5°C higher than those of the last ice age.
Once discharged, carbon dioxide sticks around, creating long lags between behaviour and consequences.
Even if the world were to switch to clean energy tomorrow, we could not avoid a further significant temperature rise.
Not so long ago the debate about climate change was framed, carelessly, as one in which upfront economic costs had to be weighed against a distant and uncertain risk. How much of our present prosperity should we sacrifice against the possibility the planet might one day get too hot? This was always a false choice, but also one well suited to the timidity of politicians and the suspicion of voters.
The Stern report debunks it.
The science of man-made climate change is beyond reasonable contradiction. Rising global temperatures can be directly correlated to the increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The relationship, if not precise, is readily predictable.
Relatively small temperature changes have disproportionately large effects. I have heard people wonder why we should be worried about an increase in the average temperature of, say, 4°C or 5°C during the present century. One answer is that the resulting rise in sea levels would put cities such as New York and London as well as most of Bangladesh and Vietnam under water. Sceptics would do well to remember that today’s global temperatures are only 5°C higher than those of the last ice age.
Once discharged, carbon dioxide sticks around, creating long lags between behaviour and consequences.
Even if the world were to switch to clean energy tomorrow, we could not avoid a further significant temperature rise.
