23 February 2012

Global Warming Means Tough Choices

Natural selection means adapting to a changing environment for survival. It works for other species, why not for humans?

A hotter planet, an economist visiting West Virginia said, is just something that will be a part of the lives of  young people today.

"The reality is, especially for young people in their 20s or 30s, a hotter planet is just going to be a defining feature of their world," said Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, who spoke Feb. 22 as part of the ongoing "Energy: Who's Got the Power" speaker series at the University of Charleston. "That means more floods, more droughts and there is going to be a lot of pressure on the coal industry as a consequence."

That could be bad news for a state accustomed to raking in profits from the very resource — coal — that is catching a lot of the blame for global warming.

"Despite the politics of the moment the science is clear — that's what's causing the problem. That and gasoline," Goodstein said just before speaking at the University of Charleston event. "So, I think folks in West Virginia have just got to sort of accept those facts. You can obviously fight them for a while, but they're going to catch up with you, and find a new way forward."

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/02/23/430953/chinese-solar-module-prices-fall-below-1-a-watt/

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