Perspective on climate

The discussion in the "don't panic" portion of spiked today entitled "'global warning' added some much needed perspective into the debate on climate change. It concludes:

• Instead of a level-headed discussion about the future, we are given increasingly frantic headlines about the damage that humans are doing to the planet. This is an on-going morality tale that urges us to rein-in development and production rather than a serious attempt to improve the lot of humanity in the face of the numerous problems we will encounter, of which climate change is just one.

As with most ecomyths, it is not really a question of science as much as it is a question of moral choice and who it is within our society who gets to make those choices: all of us, or just those who claim that it is "in the public interest' that they get to decide these things for us. Personally, I've never much appreciated anyone trying to make my decisions for me. I have even less appreciation for those who seek to dictate what I should think, why and with what moral import.

The Saturday posting above was superceded by this discussion on spiked of the Al Gore "documentary" An inconvenient Truth, which highlights some of the basic problems with environmental advocacy of global warming: not only are proponents such as Gore inclined to be strident in making their claims, they also tend to be very closed-minded and reject the validity of any claims counter to their own. In this manner they pass from legitimate advocacy and stray into bias and prejudice -- which to me is always the hallmark of those with something to hide: fearful that their position may be revealed for the dogma that it is.

In Act 3, scene 2 of Hamlet, it is suggested that "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". Queen Gertrude never recognized herself in those remarks either.

Tags: climate change, development, science, ecomyths, freedom