Tim, as to the first paragraph, whether there is a scientific consensus about human activity contributing to global warming, I make that on the basis of several bits of evidence, including the Gore assertion in his movie, which I've not seen questioned on its terms.
As for the questions you raise about the level of effect, the nearness of the danger, the size of the danger, that all that is problematic, I completely agree. I don't think anyone would disagree, certainly no one I've read in the last month or so would.
As for Gore's quoted comment in that last paragraph, the ten years quote, he said something like that in the movie. I took it he was saying two things: (1) this was not a consensus (his comment that ". . . scientists who I most respect on this question. . .") and (2) that these particular scientists were talking about tipping points, not that disaster would occur within the next ten years. |
