Global warming skeptics generally fall into four camps. 1.) We are in a period of global warming just as we could enter a period of global cooling in the future. 2.) The earth is warming but it’s not attributed to man-made activities. 3.) There is some truth to man-made warming but it falls far short of being a crisis. 4.) Global warming is real, man is considerably causing the problem, but there’s nothing we can do about it.
Climatologists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released report that associates most with the last camp:
Greenhouse gas levels currently expected by mid-century will produce devastating long-term droughts and a sea-level rise that will persist for 1,000 years regardless of how well the world curbs future emissions of carbon dioxide.”
Lead author Susan Solomon commented,
People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide the climate would go back to normal in 100 years, 200 year – that’s not true.”
In fairness, Solomon called for stricter and quicker action on carbon dioxide regulations, but these regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States will be very costly (Cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) losses are nearly $7 trillion by 2029 and 800,000 jobs lost annually).
Doing anything unilaterally would have negligible environmental benefits, as would any multilateral attempts. Will politicians find it acceptable to do nothing? Should we throw money at a problem knowing we can’t fix it?
It wouldn’t be the first time.
