Addressing Climate Change–Even Though We May Avoid the Full Brunt

A reader reports:

Finished “Renewable Energy—Following the Money” last night.  Good read, though I didn’t find it quite as compelling as the first two.  I only marked about six pages to come back to again later.  I found the interview with Jerry Taylor most interesting.  I share some of those ideas, though not all.

 Like you, I’m something of a “reformed (?) libertarian.”  I thought his anecdote about the hypothetical 1901 “climate crisis” was particularly illustrative, and really highlights my own doubts about the extent to which we know anything or can predict future events.  It reminds me of the concern over peak oil just a few years ago; who could or would have predicted the impact of unconventional drilling and $2.00 gasoline?  Just makes me cautious about humans’ intellectual arrogance when it comes to nature and predicting the future.

I respond:

It’s true that we can’t predict the future, and that it’s perfectly possible that we’ll all be spared the most horrific effects of climate change by any of a broad number of causes.  The best candidate is new technology; we can certainly see that right in front of our faces with the costs of solar and wind plummeting as they are. However, as I told Jerry Taylor, the fact that we might be lucky is hardly an excuse for inaction at this point.

I remember teaching a young lady to drive a few years ago.  When I reprimanded her for flying through a stop sign, she responded that we weren’t broadsided by an oncoming car, as if that justified her negligence.  Her logic was so spurious that I had to laugh.  Relying on luck isn’t responsible driving, nor is it responsible governance.