March 13, 2013 – It has always seemed strange to me that some people’s attention is riveted by the cost of preventing/mitigating climate change. Whatever the cost, it’s too high! I would have thought that death was too high a price to pay, and that compared to death, we would do anything to survive. Ultimately I think this has to do with an underperforming imagination. Climate change deniers do not believe they or their progeny will die because of global warming. A trifle clammy on an August afternoon? A few inches of water in the basement? A brief tornado touchdown in a town suitably far removed from one’s own? What’s all the excitement about? Let’s see: forest fires, landslides, valley fever, tsunamis, malaria, drought, bird flu, crops destroyed, earthquakes, houses torn off their foundations, famine, dengue fever, avalanches, influenza, floods, ebola. There sure are a lot of ways to die, and some o...
Understanding the global-warming world: causes and ramifications.