I read this at the bottom of an article by an environmental scientist:
It has always been hard to persuade the public that invisible gases could somehow warm the planet, and that they had to make sacrifices to prevent that from happening. It seemed, on the verge of Copenhagen, as if that might be about to be achieved.But he says all that ended on Nov. 20. “The e-mails represented a seminal moment in the climate debate of the last five years, and it was a moment that broke decisively against us. I think the CRU leak is nothing less than catastrophic.”
I certainly hope that this is the end of it, but I am not so stupid as to think that it is. After all, environmentalists want to ban plastic bags, limit power generation, restrict overseas holidays and make us all eat organic food. The mere fact that the evidence against CO2 may have been shown to be 'enhanced' is not going to stop them in their battle against us.
On the other hand, environmentalists gain power only when we (the public) give it to them. If you don't want to read about environmentalism in the paper, don't buy a paper with an environmentalist message on the front page. The editor will soon learn, unless he is the editor of the Guardian. If M&S hassle you over a plastic bag, leave half of your stuff behind and just buy the one or two items you can carry. If someone sends you an email exhorting you not to print it out unless absolutely necessary, print 50 copies and post them individually to the furthest ends of the earth (this only works if you tell the email sender what you have done).
The solution to environmentalism has always been to ignore it. We have successfully ignored it for decades, if not for centuries. The problem recently is that we have forgotten to ignore it. We need to remember.
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