CLIMATE CHALLENGE UNDERESTIMATED

From this post:

An email from Donn Dears of TsAugust

Quirin Schiermeier commented on the work done by Roger Pielke Jr. et al, and reported on the challenges associated with developing technologies needed to combat climate change. This has been our concern and is the thrust of our recently published book, "Climate Folly".

"Climate Folly" is short, but highlights the key issues in a non technical format targeting the everyday reader. It establishes that we currently do not have the proven technologies needed to achieve a substantial cut in CO2 emissions. The exception, of course, is Nuclear, but it's highly unlikely the United States will build enough nuclear power plants to cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2050.

It emphasizes we should wait to enact Cap & Trade regulations until we have demonstrated that the technologies will really work on the necessary scale. Wind, for example, does not have sufficient scale, even if it was economically justifiable. Indur Goklany's comments support this view.

Much of the debate in the media in the United States has focused on the purported science surrounding global warming. While the scientific arguments are difficult to follow and cause many people to accept the headlines, the idea that we do not have the technologies available to accomplish significant cuts in CO2 is something non-scientists can readily understand.

"Carbon Folly" is an effort to involve the average person in the issues affecting them directly, i.e., no electricity-no jobs, etc. Da Vinci believed man could fly and designed wings to be strapped to a person's body. But, only a fool would jump off a cliff before proving the technology would work.