Climate change sceptic pooh poohs green energy

I see Bjorn Lomborg is at it again. The Australian climate change denier is documenting the ways that green organizations are promoting their agenda, while continually claiming that it's the wrong direction, and won't make a difference anyway to the climate change that he says isn't happening.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/bootleggers-hijack-climate-change-debate/story-e6frgd0x-1226099304031

Let's face it, we need to replace an awful lot of energy with renewable sources. I actually believe, the sad news is that a lifestyle adjustment would be necessary. But the reality is that we won't see it in a democratic society. What politician will ever be elected on promises of less prosperity?

There seem to be several basic methods of climate change denial. One method is to find details of the science and pick at them. The strength of science is that scientists do their work and then publish it for all to see. The disagreement among scientists over details is the means for science to move forward. Deniers use disagreement over details to persuade the public that there is no agreement among scientists.

Another method of denial is to cite false statistics. In a future post I will try to detail more of these. But if you read certain publications, you would be convinced that the earth is not warming.

Lomborg's method in this article is to ridicule the alternatives. According to him, green energy will simply not suffice to support the demands of industrial civilization. I find this a particularly saddening argument. People, faced with an issue that they can't really understand deeply, will make decisions with their guts. So given the choice of moving toward a world of more austerity in ecological balance, or pretending there is no problem and continuing to consume blindly, many people will choose to believe there is no problem. Even if there is a problem, we can't do anything about it, so let's stay the course. It's also a faith that if there is a problem, someone will come up with a solution before I have to give up my comfortable lifestyle.

Well, tell it to the people in East Africa who are already suffering from climate change.