BRENT: George Will’s column “Climate Change Through History” cites two books telling the terrible results of extreme climate change in the past. Neither book is written by a climate scientist.
Neither book deals with the causes of the rapid change in climate taking place today. The books do, however, give the reader a preview of the horrors we may look forward to if we continue our current behavior. As the Earth is much more crowded and infrastructures much more fragile today, the resulting starvation and violence could be much worse than in the past.
While past climate change may not have been caused by humans, physical evidence indicates that the current climate change is at least exacerbated by human activity. Potential suffering can be, if not prevented, at least lessened if our generation changes how we produce and use energy. This is acting with foresight based upon the best evidence available.
Cassandra’s curse was knowing that disasters she foretold would come to pass and her warnings would be ignored.
