Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong
The threat of climate change is an increasingly important environmental issue for the globe. I am equally concerned by those who allege that we will incur economic catastrophes if we take steps to slow climate change.
The claim that cap-and-trade legislation or carbon taxes would be ruinous or disastrous to our societies does not stand up to serious economic analysis. The finding that global temperatures are rising over the last century-plus is one of the most robust findings of climate science and statistics.
The most recent thorough survey by the leading scholar in this field, Richard Tol, finds a wide range of damages, particularly if warming is greater than 2 degrees Centigrade. Major areas of concern are sea-level rise, more intense hurricanes, losses of species and ecosystems, acidification of the oceans, as well as threats to the natural and cultural heritage of the planet.
