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Game Plan [What conservatives should do about global warming]
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman Aug 27, 2007 12:48am |
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| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | Monday, June 25, 2007 06:15:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | National Review article 6/25/07 issue. PDF link provided by author here: [Link]
It is no longer possible, scientifically or politically, to deny that human activities have very likely increased global temperatures; what remains in dispute is the precise magnitude of the human impact. Conservatives should accept this reality — and move on to the question of what we should do about it. This would put us in a much better position to prevent a massive, counterproductive intervention in the U.S. economy.
Let’s start with the facts. Why should we believe that rising concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are driving increases in global temperatures? Not because of liberal scaremongering, or the media’s fixation on every unusual weather event that comes along, but simply because of the underlying physics.
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Global warming, of course, has been a partisan issue rather than a purely scientific discussion for a long time, and conservatives have painted themselves into a corner. Based on the reasonable expectation that admitting a problem would lead to a huge government power grab, those conservatives with access to the biggest megaphones have used scientific uncertainty to avoid the issue. That game is just about up, and they suddenly find themselves walking unprepared into the middle of a sophisticated scientific and economic conversation about how to deal with the problem. While some conservative think tanks have considered these issues seriously for some time, the public discussion has been conducted up until now largely among various liberal factions and has turned into a technical debate about the most efficient tax scheme for reducing carbon emissions.
[snip]
In fact, a much more sensible strategy to deal with climate risk would emphasize technology rather than taxes. A science-based approach would hedge by providing support for prediction, mitigation, and adapt |
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