The Daily Yomiuri,
1-7-1 Otemachi,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8055
The title of the January 15th, 2008 editorial “Present new strategy to stop global warming” epitomizes the wrong thinking and bad journalism on this issue with its use of the words “stop global warming.” The scientific fact is that the planet is in a warming phase. It has been since before the end of the last ice age millennia ago, and the human contribution to it is only that - a contribution that exacerbates the pace of warming. There is nothing we can do to“stop” global warming, although environmental measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions make us feel better about our complicity - and“feeling” goes a long way in today’s world as an argument, or rationale for action. I do not mean that environmentalism is a bad, empty or useless gesture, only that human beings are on this planet for a temporary ride through space and time and the planet will long outlive us as a species. So let’s not have any of that talk about us“harming” the planet and environmentalism “saving” it. I doubt that either is even remotely possible, truthfully speaking. Hard as it might be, let us try to keep the discussion accurate and honest. The human contribution to global warming is the cumulative product of gas emissions over the last ten thousand years, not from the last two hundred, and the Kyoto Accord’s target of reducing emissions to 1992 levels is a red herring at best. But it makes us feel better, which counts for something in the modern world.
But I could be wrong.