Can Problems From Climate Change Be Addressed With Science? (scientificamerican.com)

Slashdot reader bricko shares an article from Scientific American about two "ecomodernists" who argue that the problems of climate change can be addressed through science and technology. In his Breakthrough essay, Steven Pinker spells out a key assumption of ecomodernism. Industrialization "has been good for humanity. It has fed billions, doubled lifespans, slashed extreme poverty, and, by replacing muscle with machinery, made it easier to end slavery, emancipate women, and educate children. It has allowed people to read at night, live where they want, stay warm in winter, see the world, and multiply human contact. Any costs in pollution and habitat loss have to be weighed against these gifts...."

We can solve problems related to climate change, Pinker argues, "if we sustain the benevolent forces of modernity that have allowed us to solve problems so far, including societal prosperity, wisely regulated markets, international governance, and investments in science and technology... Since 1970, when the Environmental Protection Agency was established, the United States has slashed its emissions of five air pollutants by almost two-thirds. Over the same period, the population grew by more than 40 percent, and those people drove twice as many miles and became two and a half times richer. Energy use has leveled off, and even carbon dioxide emissions have turned a corner."
The essay also cites ecomodernist Will Boisvert, who believes climate change will be cataclysmic but not apocalyptic, bringing large upheaval but a small impact on human well-being. "Global warming won't wipe us out or even stall our progress, it will just marginally slow ordinary economic development that will still outpace the negative effects of warming and make life steadily better in the future, under every climate scenario.... Our logistic and technical capacities are burgeoning, and they give us ample means of addressing these problems."

Comments

Re:Mark Shepard on Restoration Agriculture

[deviated_prevert]

"Ecology... Nature is only model we have that has survived climate change with shear, total, utter, neglect..." @RestorationAgD http://bit.ly/1ohVqpE

Certainly, but the results can at times not be very conducive for the species causing the changes. For instance today we have the popular hypothesis put forward by the crowd that claims exponentially increasing CO2 will quickly do in geologic time to the permafrost of the Northern Hemisphere is a wonderful outcome of climate change. Whether or not this rapid change can very quickly be turned into habitable and arable land is highly dubious.

This crowd thinks nothing of buying a Dodge Ram Diesel and chipping it, in fact they claim that their actions will help create enough farm land in Canada, Alaska and Putin's gulag labour camp areas to feed much more than the current population of the Earth. Even though the lands around the equator will become uninhabitable and the Saudis will all need to move north into Russia where farm land will be cheap. Forget the other Arab populations they will either die in the new deserts or join with the Saudis in buying up cheap farm land in either Alaska, the Canadian territories or the really cheap stuff in Siberia.

So just think of it this way, every time you put the peddle to the metal and beat the sucker beside you to the next light you are in fact creating new farm land for your children. Just remember to vote correctly in November and you will help create a bright future by electing only the people who advocate abolishing public transportation funding and putting more money into using coal slag for new and improved cheap road pavement so that people can drive anywhere and everywhere.