Former vice president Al Gore published an op-ed in the New York Times last weekend defending the work of climate science, which has been under attack in recent months.
He writes that "the scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes. What is important is that the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged."
He continues:
"The political paralysis that is now so painfully evident in Washington has thus far prevented action by the Senate — not only on climate and energy legislation, but also on health care reform, financial regulatory reform and a host of other pressing issues.
"This comes with painful costs. China, now the world’s largest and fastest-growing source of global-warming pollution, had privately signaled early last year that if the United States passed meaningful legislation, it would join in serious efforts to produce an effective treaty. When the Senate failed to follow the lead of the House of Representatives, forcing the president to go to Copenhagen without a new law in hand, the Chinese balked. With the two largest polluters refusing to act, the world community was paralyzed."
Gore goes on to explain how climate science has run up against market forces since the fall of communisim in the 1990s. He argues that a cap-and-trade system, which has been dropped from consideration by the US Congress is still the only viable approach for a worldwide response to greenhouse gases. He also make the point that any alternative approach is likely to be just as politically unpopular.
"From the standpoint of governance, what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption. After all has been said and so little done, the truth about the climate crisis — inconvenient as ever — must still be faced."
Read the full piece at the link below.
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