Ranting about Global Warming...again

Read a good article in the London Review of Books (lrb.co.uk) on global warming.

I've reached the point where I don't even care if this phenomenon is man-made or entirely natural. What concerns me is, what are we going to do about it? The articles raises a number of questions that I don't see discussed often enough. Here they are (it's a long quote, but has a good punchline, so I'm including it all):

"What would happen if the harvest failed all across Europe or the US or Africa?

What would happen if it failed again the next year, and the year after that?

What would happen if the rain-and-meltwater pattern in the Yangtze valley, the core of Chinese agriculture, changed?

What would happen if the glacial run-off from the Himalayas, which supplies most of India with its water, were to change?

What would happen if the behaviour of El Niño were to become so unpredictable that agriculture in the Southern Hemisphere became unsustainable at current population levels?

What would happen if those glaciers were to melt away?

What would happen if the Gulf Stream (the Atlantic’s ‘meridional overturning circulation’, as it is scientifically known) were to shut down suddenly – the Day after Tomorrow disaster scenario? The prediction is that Western Europe would become 8ºC cooler, about the temperature of Canada. But Canada produces enough food to feed 30 million people and enough grain to feed 60 million. Western Europe has a population of about 450 million. So what would they eat?

Hurricane Katrina gave us a glimpse of how quickly a meteorological event can destroy a city in the richest country in the world. We may be moving towards a future in which events like that come to seem commonplace. Anything in the paper today, darling? Not much – oh, all the Dutch drowned."

Ho hum, the poor Dutch. Always the poor Dutch. It is like Global Warming is World War II and 2007 is 1938. Everyone's standing around saying, hmmm, the situation is bad. Yes indeed it's bad. It's terrible. Yep, things sure are dangerous. Terrible and dangerous. Terribly dangerous. Let's all nod our heads in agreement.

So what's to be done about it? Let's all shrug our shoulders. What? You talking to me? says every government. Governments can't impose any harsh measure 'cause, heck, they need to get re-elected.