Warming Warning: Hell and High Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 4.07
Tyler Hamilton reviewed and interviewed Joseph Romm, assistant energy secretary in the Clinton admin, about his new book Hell and High Water. "those who Romm calls the "Denyers and Delayers" are winning the political battle in the United States, the world's highest emitter of greenhouse gases and a saboteur of Kyoto talks. Whereas the first third of Romm's book presents overwhelming and disturbing evidence that human-caused greenhouse gases are the primary ingredients behind global warming, the pages that follow offer alarming detail on how the U.S. public is being misled by a federal government (backed by conservative political forces) that is intent on inaction, and that's also on a mission to derail international efforts to curb emissions." ...."The Bush administration, he argues, has engaged in a well-funded strategy of rhetoric over reason, through which the selective seeding of doubt – with help from propaganda experts like pollster Frank Luntz – has been successful in watering down the seriousness of climate change in the public's mind." So everybody read Tyler Hamilton in ::The Star; rush out and watch :;Thank you for Smoking to learn about how PR really works; and read ::Hell and High Water. Our own review coming soon.
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Anyone you talk to across the political spectrum, including conservatives and people in government, will privately acknowledge that this is coming and that they are concerned.
I think the reason for the public-sphere inaction is that private interests are trying to pre-position in order to avoid long-term harm.
(Which, by the rules of the market, they are utterly entitled to do...)
Homeowners insurance in littoral areas is rising steadily in cost, and other cheap, long-term bets are probably being placed by real estate interests, etc.
It's more costly for these bets to be made, however, if there is a general public attitude that we should be hurrying up.
A homeowner might ask themselves, for example, do I buy a smaller house with more equity, or opt for a longer mortgage, covered by insurance, in the event that in 15 years I may have to rebuild or move away from the shore? Maybe I check the severe weather vulnerabilities of an area before I buy, or maybe I choose to rent.