Misunderstandings delay action on climate change

| 13/05/2011

(Bloomberg): Public misconceptions of climate change have thwarted urgently needed U.S. efforts to reduce emissions blamed for global warming, according to a report from the National Research Council of the National Academies. The media sometimes present aspects of climate change that are well-established as if they were “matters of serious debate,” according to the report released in Washington, Thursday. Groups opposed to policies limiting carbon-dioxide emissions are influencing some reporting, according to the study, which was requested by Congress in 2008 when Democrats were in the majority. It was prepared by a committee of scientists, engineers and economists.

Climate change is happening and is "very likely’’ caused by the burning of fossil fuels, said committee chairman Albert Carnesale, chancellor emeritus and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The U.S. should respond with “aggressive emissions reductions” of greenhouse gases from power plants, factories and transportation, and plan for adapting to effects of global warming, such as rising seas, with a national strategy, the council said.

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  1. Just Commentin' says:

    The sad truth is that if global warming continues at the present rate, the lead picture to this story is what the polar ice cap will look like in the foreseeable future.

    Irresponsible nations like the USA (who did not sign into the Kyoto agreement to limit emissions of greenhouse gasses) will make it nearly impossible to place reasonable limits on the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. America is a greedy and arrogant country that refuses to take the responsibility that one would expect from a global leader. Then again, lately about the only thing American leads the world in is war, greed and greenhouse gas emissions.

    The industrial lobby and Big Oil have American politicians in their pockets and will not permit insignificant stuff like the global environment cutting into their profit margins. There is not much that can be done about the situation until the apathetic American populace wakes up out of their stupor and demands action. Pigs will fly before that happens.

    One large measure of comfort I take out of the thoughtless destruction man brings to the global environment is that at the rate things are going there is little doubt that humans will eventually render their species extinct. In time, the Earth will cleanse itself of the blights resulting from the short but terrible reign of Homo Sapiens as Earth's dominant but woefully destructive species. The Earth will be a far better place without us. A new dominant species will evolve; hopefully, they will do a better job.