Lovelock interview: We're doomed and carbon trading is a scam

Dave_Markell · January 29, 2009, 9:29pm

Truth, and something I’ve been saying for decades. The best example was arguing with some friends about the Y2K aftermath. Early January 2000, some of them were saying “Wow, I can’t believe all the time, money, and effort America wasted on those stupid code changes. Nothing happened!” Predictably, my counter that nothing happened precisely because we “wasted” all that time, money, and effort went nowhere.

Robert_Sharp · January 30, 2009, 3:24am

I think StGabe just called China and India 3rd World nations.

JeffL · January 30, 2009, 7:59am

StGabe:

Like I said, I’m just appalled by the logic. It’s the sort of rationalization used to justify a lot of anti-science thought. And with the case of population growth, that mindset didn’t really pan out like you seem to think it did: the problem worked out for the 1st world but not because it was “solved” and it’s still playing out, with significant negative impact, on the 3rd world. Nor was it the case that there was “scientific consensus” about population growth.

I think climate change will gradually work it’s way out too but not because of some rationalization that scientists “cried wolf” once about some other subject and therefore I get to be blissfully optimistic if I feel like it. I also think it’s important to note that the resolution will probably be somewhere between catastrophe and having the problem “solved” without incident or cost. And when/if we do solve the problem we should thank all the people who raised awareness now. Discussing potential catastrophe, even if it sounds a bit shrill, is an important part of the process of solving the problem. Also it’s important to recognize that it’s hard to award credit for the things that didn’t happen because of a person’s actions. I.e. discussing catastrophe, in order to prevent it, is a pretty thankless task.

Good grief St.Gabe.

“I get to be blissfully optimistic?” As opposed to what? I walk around with ashes on my head wearing sackcloth? I have faith in our ability to analyze the data and develop solutions to it. Far from “anti-science”, my attitude comes from living in the science world the majority of my life and confidence in the community to develop effective solutions, if we can strip away the politics and stick to the data.