[Blue Olives] Convenient Truth: An Atlantic Monthly Essay on Attacking Global Warming

[David Biddle]

First of all, there's hope for the world. The photo to the left is me with my oldest son Sam at his high school graduation earlier this summer. I believe in the future. I believe in Sam and his generation.

Now, to the business at hand: Gregg Easterbrook has a well argued commentary piece in the September Atlantic Monthly, entitled, "Some Convenient Truths" (you may need to register with The Atlantic to read his piece) which asks why global warming has such a negative aura surrounding it. At one point in the piece he writes:

"Yet a paralyzing negativism dominates global-warming politics. Environmentalists depict climate change as nearly unstoppable; skeptics speak of the problem as either imaginary (the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated,” in the words of Senator James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate’s environment committee) or ruinously expensive to address."

Easterbrook points out that there is ample evidence that numerous environmental measures in our past were very successful and not nearly as costly as "experts" from the business community claimed they would be. In fact, if you're paying attention there's a lot of really amazing stuff going on out there right now--from the Tesla Roadster to advanced photovoltaics to carbon fund initiatives and regional sustainable development projects chock full of profits, beauty, and a cleaner environment.

Indeed, if you read through the postings here at Blue Olives, we give all sorts of evidence that what you are hearing from politicians and the general media is not the way it really is. "Life can be good again, Mavis! It really can!"

If you're interested, please go check out my "Green Emperor Gets Naked" series at GetUnderground.com. It was written awhile back and it has more importance today than it did a year ago.


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Posted by David Biddle to Blue Olives at 8/02/2006 12:37:00 PM