Byran Appleyard on Global Warming in the Sunday Times

Recent embarrassing disclosures about the work of climate change study at the University of East Anglia have touched off a fement of debate in the blogosphere, some of which is hitting the mainstream media, about whether man-made global warming is happening.

Rather too much of the debate on this subject is dominated by extremists on both sides: for example, I greatly dislike the practice of calling those who don't agree that man's activities are causing global warming "climate change deniers" as if they were on the same level as holocaust deniers - e.g. apologists for nazis and genocide.

I thought David Davis got it about right when he said that the evidence for man-made global warming represents a probability of about 80% - e.g. not conclusively proved but certainly strong enough evidence that we cannot afford not to do anything about it.

There is a very good, and in my opinion well balanced piece by Bryan Appleyard on the subject in today's Sunday Times which you can read here.

Comments

Jane said…
The earth has always been subject to climate change. Species have come and gone. Some exceedingly successful species have disappeared, like the dinosaurs. Yet there is something about the success of our own species which could lead to our own destruction. Ultimately we may not be able to save our species, but we are going to have to stop depending on carbon in order to prolong our life span. This is going to have to include nuclear somewhere along the line in the short term.

What I do find disturbing is the gap between science and politics. Globally we need better analysis, interpretations made available to lay people and politicians alike. Collections and collations of data that lay people can understand and engage with and a political framework within which this can be discussed.

On one extreme there have been endless predictions of the end of the world to the extent that in the modern age we laugh it off. There was the millennium. In jest I said to my brother in law, as the fireworks erupted. Are you still here because I think I am? He replied yes. The next is 2012 when the Mayan calendar ends. Yet as a species we are still responsible for the impact we have on our environment and we could become victims of our own success. Have we not plenty of biblical references to the apocalypse? Potential disasters have always faced us as communities, expressed in different way down the ages.

Bryan Appleyard's article was certainly food for thought. Collectively we do have to think about how we can continue the high standard of living we have come to expect and minimise our impact on the environment.

I do hope we can have open and honest debate in the future that can be incorporated into political debate.
11:34 pm
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