It can’t be stopped, say those enivironmental extremists at The Economist :), but its effects can be made less bad. They recommend rich nations help poorer ones develop energy sources, better planting practices, a reduction in protectionism, and more.
None of this will make climate change all right. It remains the craziest experiment mankind has ever conducted. Maybe in the long run it will be brought under control. For the foreseeable future, though, the mercury will continue to rise, and the human race must live with the problem as best it can.
The libertarian Aquanomics comments
In my 20 years of reading the Economist, I’ve rarely seen such a brutal reality check (usually they offer a comment in a debate). I think they’ve seen the impending disaster of the Republican-controlled US Congress and decided that it’s time to start preparing graves for the bodies that will result from inaction.
Well, the Obama Adminstration helped torpedo an agreement in Copenhagen so there’s lots of blame to spread around. The biggest problem though seems to be the unfortunate tendency for people to put short-term gain ahead of long-term planning. But stopping climate change requires long-term commitment on a global basis.