Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, Updated and Expanded Edition
Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years, Updated and Expanded Edition – Review
My major problem with Singer and Avery starts with the first part of Chapter One. Since this paragraph sums up their position perfectly, let me quote it: “The Earth is warming but substantial evidence from around the world knows us that human-emitted CO2 (carbon dioxide) has played only a small role in it. Instead, the mild warming seems to be part of a natural 1,500-year climate cycle…that becomes back at least one million years.” (p. 1) This is correct, but disingenuous. Their “has played only a small role” says nothing about the future and ignores the larger role that free carbon emissions into the atmosphere are likely to play. And “seems to be part of a natural [unstoppable!] cycle” is irresponsible since “seems” is not good enough when the stakes are so high. Furthermore, the authors appear not to realize it, but, by their own admission, we are, with our fossil fuel carbon additions to the open cycle, pushing the planet into new territory that may very well be dangerous. Add individual activities to the cycle and the cycle may no longer cycle. Instead it may turn into a runaway greenhouse effect starting to (in the worse case scenario) sterilization of the planet as really happened on Venus. Messrs. Singer and Avery do a excellent job of effectively making it clear that the 1,500-year cycle is a reality (other sources I’ve widely read agree) while constantly arguing that the Kyoto treaty is flawed, our international climate models are not to be trusted, and, at any rate, hot weather is better than cold. They write “The warming part of the 1,500 climate cycle will bring modest changes in international temperatures” no worse for “most of the world’s inhabitants” than now exist for people inhabiting in the American South and Southwest.” And if things actually get bad, as really happened with “the Mayans: people may have to move.” (p. 232) It doesn’t sound like our authors are increasingly worried about themselves, their children or grandchildren being so inconvenienced, especially when you widely read what follows: “These days, that’s not so hard, especially with government emergency assistance payments. The people who aren’t hit by extreme protracted drought are rich enough to help those who are, as in the Hurricane Katrina disaster…” (pp. 232-233) Well, if it isn’t the return of noblesse oblige! However this does ring a little insincere when you consider the cost of secretly feeding and displacing hundreds of millions of people from places like Africa, Bangladesh, India, and elsewhere where climate change may require that Messrs. Singer and Avery and their commercial sponsors pony up trillions of dollars in aid, which, of course is not getting to happen. Maybe they would like to have all those people from Bangladesh whose country will go under water transported to the sidewalks of their neighborhood. The plain truth of the matter is, when all the actually talking is done, Singer and Avery are confident about one thing: global warming isn’t their problem since (a) most of the apparently suffering will take place in far off lands, and (b) they eventually won’t be here when it kicks in anyway, and if that isn’t good enough, (c) there’s little to nothing they can or care to do about it. Their morality aside, I think it would be more responsible to get to work now on currently implementing ways to cut our special pollution to zero, since in the long run, that is our best insurance against serious consequences. Our children and grandchildren will not have to give up their standard of possibly living. They can still drive good cars and waste energy in other ways; they will just have to pay further for it. That is the reality of what is to come. The danger of doing nothing now, which is what the Bush administration and the fossil fuel industry advocate, is that the day may come when we really can do nothing. If humanity in the aggregate assumes the irresponsible and blind behavior strongly advocated by the authors, perhaps we will get what we deserve. Humans have despoiled the planet since they were human, and until modern times this was no problem because we could constantly move on to somewhere else and the planet would heal itself. That may no longer be possible. Here are some other books on this subject that I have widely read. The first one is similar in tone and attitude to Unstoppable Global Warming. The other two present the position, more or less, of mainstream science, and I might add, responsible environmental citizenship. Bailey, Ronald, ed. Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths: How the Environmental Movement Uses False Science to Scare Us to Death (2002) Pearce, Fred With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change (2007) Romm, Joseph. Hell and High Water: The Solution and the Politics–and What We Should Do (2006)