This is why it matters

If the crew of a wooden ship, out in the middle of the ocean, began burning the timbers to keep warm, would we consider that reasonable behaviour? Why, then, do we tolerate such behaviour on a national or global scale? Do we think that there is another planet, lurking nearby, to which we can escape if we destroy this one?

The scientific community, with its high nerd quotient, is terrible at communicating with the rest of humanity. We are hopeless at the game of sound bites and rhetorical spin. So when certain politicians insist that the jury is out on Global Warming, we let them get away with it. Well, for them to insist that there is no evidence we are destroying our world, is a blatant and cynical lie. Those who call Global Warming a false alarm are sacrificing their, and our, children for their own short-term greed. They are committing a crime of unparalleled dimensions.

What if we do everything we can to save our world, and it turns out the scientists were wrong? Simple: we will have needlessly sacrificed 1 or 2 % of our standard of living. But what if we continue in our reckless ways, and it turns out the scientists were right? Well, then we will lose everything. Our children will inherit a dying world.

Are those really equally bad outcomes?