I refer to the article 'Forget climate change, for now' (December 5). The writer claims that today's best climate models show immediate action to curtail global warming will do little good.
He claims that any change would be almost unnoticeable. Really? Can he supply some proof of that, or is it just heresay?
Even if it were true that any change would be insignificant now and the current generation would not benefit much, which I doubt, should we keep on polluting the planet like there is no tomorrow and let our future generations pay the price?
I think most selfless people with a conscience will answer 'no'. The writer also claims that the cost of immediate action would be substantial. I am pretty sure that if we stand by and do nothing today, the cost to rectify the problem (if it is possible) 50 years from now would be astronomical.
Today, we are asking industrialised nations to curtail their greenhouse-gas emissions. Fifty years from now, the world may have to find ways to resettle the millions of people displaced from their homelands because they are being submerged by rising sea levels. Can you imagine the cost of that gargantuan task?
People in tropical countries who have traditionally managed without air-conditioning will either have to be provided with adequate air-conditioning or mass-migrate to (relatively) cooler countries to escape the scorching heat. Again, the costs involved would be huge.
Additionally, the article says that some prominent economists suggest the top priorities for the world right now are HIV and Aids, hunger, free trade and malaria. (It suggests that, in the future, nations spend 0.1 per cent of their wealth on non-carbon energy development.)