Paul Krugman - deniers of global warming are betraying the planet

On June 29th NYT columnist and 2008 Nobel Prize winner in economics "contends the denial displayed by climate-change opponents amounts to treason against the health of the Earth." (From the sub-head of the column in the June 30th Houston Chronicle.)

In his column entitled "Betraying the Planet," he makes his point clear:

"To appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by climate research.

"The planet is changing faster than even pessimists expected: Icae caps are shrinking, and arid zones spreading, at a terrifying rate. And according to a number of recent studies, catastrophe - a rise in temperature so large as to be considered almost unthinkable - can no longer be considered a mere possibility. It is, instead, the ost likely outcome if we continue along our present course."

MIT researchers were predicting a temperature rise of four degrees. That number has been amended to nine degrees. One of the reasons for this is that the oceans, once considered the best natural source of CO2 absorption, are not performing at formerly predicted levels.

Further the process is an oroborus, feeding off itself. As temperatures rise, Arctic tundra will defrost, releasing more, formerly frozen, CO2 into the atmosphere, adding to the Greenhouse Effect responsible for the heating up of the planet.

A recent government document puts it in a more human perspective:

"By the end of this century New Hampshire may well have the climate of North Carolina today, Illinois may have the climate of East Texas, and across the country, extreme, deadly heat waves - the kind that traditionally occur only once in a generation - may become annual or biannual events.

Krugman points his finger:

"People...show no sign of being interested in the truth. They don't like the political and policy implications of climate change, so they've decided not to believe in it - and they'll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable, that feeds their denial.

"Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia [said] climate change is nothing but a 'hoax' that has been 'perpertrated out of the scientific community.' I'd call this a crazy conspiracy theory, but doing so would actually be unfair to crazy conspiracy theorists."

Heh Heh.

Yeah, an international cabal of thousands of scientists have all set aside their research to come together and scare the pants off of everyone.

However silly this may seem (and absolutely is), the declaration was met by applause.

Also misrepresented by these naysayers is the economic impact. All studies show that the economic impact will be "relatively low."

This is coming from, as I said, the 2008 Nobel Prize winner in economics. Hello?!?

"The deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore [the] threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it's in their political interest to pretend that there's nothing to worry about," Krugman writes in the closing paragraphs.

"If that's not betrayal, I don't know what is."