What if the Ice Age skeptics are ruining the planet?

I've expressed skepticism about global warming, but it's not often that I see politicians doing the same -- especially in New Jersey:

Responding to various new scientific reports questioning the concept of global warming, Assemblyman Michael Doherty today called on Governor Corzine to hold off on proposing any new regulations associated with the state's Global Warming Response Act and urged the Legislature to repeal that act when it returns to legislative business after Labor Day.

"There are many credible members of the scientific community who have questioned the theory of global warming, and now we have some scientists actually suggesting the earth's temperatures may be entering a period of dramatic cooling," said Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon. "With this growing level of scientific uncertainty, it makes no sense to enact a new set of economically damaging regulations prompted by the global warming hysteria of recent years."

The Global Warming Response Act was signed last year by Corzine, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. The law required the state Department of Environmental Protection to release a report detailing how the state would meet the goals, with recommendations now expected to be issued this fall.

According to recent news reports, a top observatory that has been measuring sun spot activity predicts that global temperatures will drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity slows and the planet drastically cools down. They suggest this could potentially herald the onset of a new ice age. Following the end of the sun's most active period in over 11,000 years, the last 10 years have displayed a clear cooling trend as temperatures post-1998 leveled out and are now decreasing.

Ice Age? That sounds scary.

Maybe we should be taking ameliorative action to warm the planet. What if it turns out that what we've been doing is the best overall course for mankind and the planet?

And how do we know that the drive to stop carbon emissions might end up making the Ice Age worse than it would have been?

What about the Precautionary Principle?

Not to be an alarmist, but our real future may look like this:

NewYorkIce.jpg

A very grim scenario.

And the only way to prevent it is Nuremberg-style tribunals for Ice Age Deniers!

posted by Eric on 08.17.08 at 04:14 PM





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I'm sure you have read this by Larry Niven (please pardon my lack of HTML formatting): http://www.amazon.com/Descent-Anansi-Larry-Barnes-Steven/dp/B000GRCF64/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219296098&sr=8-2

The story (written in '82) is set in a world where the greens have in fact cut greenhouse emissions so much that they have allowed the pending ice-age to take place, because the greenhouse effect was the only thing keeping us ice-age-free. If you haven't read it, it's an amusing few hours for a fan (in the sci-fi sense).

JSinAZ   ·  August 21, 2008 01:34 AM

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