Most right wing politicians are still stuck in their old scripts when it comes to global warming. They’ll say that climate change doesn’t exist, and that even if it does, it isn’t because of human activity, and even if it is our fault, it isn’t really a problem for the human and natural worlds. Scientists disagree overwhelmingly with these conclusions, but that doesn’t stop the right wing politicians from asserting them over and over again.
However, even for those right wing politicians who do accept the problem of human-caused global warming, there’s a final point of refuge: They say that technological innovation will solve the problem, so that people can go on living just as they always have, and everything will be all right.
A new study from researchers at MIT suggests otherwise. The researchers looked at past patterns of pollution and technological development, and used that information to project the impact on carbon emissions of technological development in the next four decades. What they found is that technological innovation is likely to spur even greater energy use, and even greater carbon emissions, not reduce them.
Technological innovation is important, and some forms of innovation may help cut emissions and energy use, but taken as a whole, technological innovation isn’t likely to solve the problem of growing carbon emissions. We need to start coordinate, national conservation efforts as well – now. In 2008, we need to elect a President who understands this, and won’t just pin our hopes on the development of whiz bang Buck Rogers technology some time in the future.
(Source: ScienceBlog.com, November 19, 2007)
