Doomed

The odd thing is that I just don't see the world getting out of its own way. Of course, having reports screaming doom from economists on the issue of climate change are a bit strange, but that doesn't help either.

A report commissioned by the British government and scheduled for release Monday calls for substantial international cooperation to combat global warming and doubling public spending on research into low-carbon technologies.

The main findings of the 16-month study, led by Sir Nicholas Stern, the chief of Britain's economic service, were described over the weekend in several British news reports. The Reuters news agency quoted the report's 27-page summary as saying, "The evidence gathered by the review leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs."

The report, prepared for Tony Blair, the prime minister, and Gordon Brown, the finance minister, has been heavily promoted by Britain and environmental groups as one of the most authoritative reviews of climate costs, although some economists and energy experts at anti-regulatory research groups saw it as understating the cost of an accelerated transition away from the fossil fuels that provide nearly 90 percent of the world's energy today.

The report, called the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, will be published online at sternreview.org.uk.

Oh, wait, that is from the NYTime who is actually reasonable on reporting this. Let's look at the CNN report for contrast:

Climate change will devastate the global economy on a scale of the two world wars and the depression of the 1930s if left unchecked, a top economist has warned.

Introducing a report by Nicholas Stern that it commissioned, the British government also said Monday that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who is now a vocal environmental advocate, is to serve as an adviser on the issue.

The report's main argument is that the benefits of coordinated action around the world to tackle global warming will greatly outweigh any financial costs.

But Stern, a former World Bank economist, who wrote the report, concludes that ignoring climate change could lead to huge economic upheaval.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said if no action was taken, climate change could cost the world up to 20 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

Kinda scary when the NYTimes sounds like the voice of reason.
Oh, and can't forget the part about blaming Bush for the problem.

U.S. President George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol -- which calls on the 35 richest countries to cut carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars -- in part because he said it hit jobs.

Though the NYTimes actually reports it correctly.

The United States has not ratified the Kyoto pact but is a party to the voluntary treaty that preceded it, which requires all signatories to seek to avoid a dangerous buildup of greenhouse gases.

Well, so much for the MSM reporting abilities.

I do enjoy reading the Greenpeace response:

"This confirms what we’ve seen for a long time,” said Kert Davies, a climate-policy coordinator for Greenpeace. “The longer we take to act, the greater the costs will be."

It's almost laughable. The group that stands firmly in the path of any energy source that could replace the use of fossil fuels is prognosticating doom. But then that wouldn't help their desire of seeing every country moving back to the pre-industrial ages, since that is the only place we'll be able to exist with the energy sources that they think are worthy.

The Kyoto protocol keeps being touted out in all of these reports, though the viability of that process has been more than clearly shown that it would completely fail. But hey, let's just keep calling on the world to use a worthless protocol irrespecitive of whether it will actually aid in any correction of the problem.

No one wants to sacrifice in the least to limit emissions and no one wants to allow alternatives that would reduce emissions.

Doomed I tell you.