Slate Magazine [summary of Al Gore NYT editorial -- “Al Gore: Wouldn't It Be Nice if I Were Wrong?”]

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The former vice president writes in the New York Times that it would "be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it." While it may be true that mistakes have been found in the thousands of pages published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the important fact is that "the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged." Plus, it's just as easy to argue that, in several instances, the panel's scientists have underestimated some of the damage. While it may be tempting to look at the cold winter in the United States and say that the concept of global warming is preposterous, across the globe it was the second-hottest January on record. And, in fact, scientists have long said that rising temperatures will lead to more rain and snow in several regions. "Just as it's important not to miss the forest for the trees, neither should we miss the climate for the snowstorm." Meanwhile, the world remains paralyzed. Some have attributed this to the cap-and-trade system, and are trying to come up with a different approach. The problem is that not only is there no "readily apparent alternative"; it would also be exceedingly difficult and time-consuming to convince the rest of the world that they should follow an entirely new approach.

Read original story in The New York Times | Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010

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