Saturday, April 5, 2008

Despite Arguments From Deniers, Global Warming Action Gets Greater Urgency

The New York Times lays out the case for greater anti-warming technology investments to be made now.

Climate change deniers will say that there's no need to be alarmed, but scientists with credentials are telling us that time is of the essence.

Key paragraphs from The Times story:

"[...] with recent data showing an unexpected rise in global emissions and a decline in energy efficiency, a growing chorus of economists, scientists and students of energy policy are saying that whatever benefits the cap approach yields, it will be too little and come too late.

"The economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, head of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, stated the case bluntly in a recent article in Scientific American: “Even with a cutback in wasteful energy spending, our current technologies cannot support both a decline in carbon dioxide emissions and an expanding global economy. If we try to restrain emissions without a fundamentally new set of technologies, we will end up stifling economic growth, including the development prospects for billions of people.”

"What is needed, Mr. Sachs and others say, is the development of radically advanced low-carbon technologies, which they say will only come about with greatly increased spending by determined governments on what has so far been an anemic commitment to research and development. A Manhattan-like Project, so to speak."

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