The spectacle of four dozen “thinkers” discussing climate engineering at an English country estate (TNT, 4-4) sounds like an episode from “Dr. Who.”
Seeding clouds? Reflecting sunlight with huge orbiting mirrors? Spewing sulfate particles into the stratosphere? Are they nuts?
The fact is, even if the entire globe is inevitably and permanently warming up, there’s nothing we can do about it. Climate change, as physicist Robert B. Laughlin says, is something the earth does on its own without asking our permission.
Such changes occur over eons of geologic time and have nothing to do with the daily weather report. Forecasts are subjective, including those made by computer. It’s too easy for over-zealous researchers to tweak or fake data to make it match their own catastrophic predictions. As computer programmers say, “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is hardly an objective organization. They’re just a bunch of politicians looking for money. The policies of the United States should not be governed by them, nor should we allow important decisions to “rest in the hands of the U.N.”
Instead, in this time of economic uncertainty, we should focus on maintaining sensible and proven methods of pollution control. And we should proudly share our technology and values with impoverished people so they can have sanitary plumbing, adequate food, improved public health, reliable transportation, universal education and basic human rights.
Eradicate ignorance and poverty, and cleaner environments will follow.