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From Wikipedia on Piekle [1]: "Any conceivable emissions reductions policies, even if successful, cannot have a perceptible impact on the climate for many decad
by themgt 10y ago
From Wikipedia on Piekle [1]:
"Any conceivable emissions reductions policies, even if successful, cannot have a perceptible impact on the climate for many decades", and from this he concludes that, "In coming decades the only policies that can effectively be used to manage the immediate effects of climate variability and change will be adaptive."
This sort of do-nothing fatalism is enormously disingenuous and dangerous, and his WSJ op-ed badly understates his criticism as mainly about current weather effects.
The fact that Pielke's dad was also a high-profile climate change denier can't help, given the fact these sort of "decades to take effect!" arguments have themselves now been made for decades as part of a typical corporate/politically-motivated FUD campaign.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_A._Pielke,_Jr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_A._Pielke,_Jr.
- surfmike 10y agoFrom his op-ed: "I believe climate change is real and that human emissions of greenhouse gases risk justifying action, including a carbon tax."
- woogiewonka 10y agoBig oil WANTS carbon tax as this would create predictability and stability albeit at a cost. What big oil doesn't want is unpredictable policy - policy that Washington think tanks want to put in place. Right wingers are terrified of progressive policies and this Pielkle fella is not doing the world any favors by advocating for useless policies such as a carbon tax. He may have good intentions and may be factually correct in his observations about lack of clear evidence but this doesn't change the fact that his work is being used to hinder climate progress.
- surfmike 10y agoWhat's wrong with wanting predictability and stability? Right now oil companies have little incentive to invest in alternate energy given the costs, and a carbon tax would change the cost structure for the future and give them a direct financial incentive to transition to non-carbon energy sources. Re: carbon tax being useless, how so? Of course the level of the carbon tax matters too, but it doesn't make sense that directly taxing something wouldn't reduce the amount of it.
- Hondor 10y agoIs there anything untrue in that quote? Don't we accept that stopping carbon emissions now won't do anything to the climate for at least a few decades? He clearly says "manage the immediate effects". Are you disagreeing and saying that reducing carbon emissions now can effectively manage the effects in the next few decades? Saying that accepted truth is "dangerous" is what religions do. We don't have to fool ourselves into believing things are worse than they really are. It's OK if climate change won't really end civilization within our lifetimes - or ever.