Climate Policy

[Jester]

The issues cross multiple disciplines. The models are far from first principles. And little or none of it can be tested in the lab. We'll only know the answers in a century, maybe a millennium.

We're testing it right now, in a gigantic lab orbiting our sun. That's part of the whole point. We're not sitting idle, waiting for data and modelling to get better before making a decision about what to do. We're experimenting in real time on a planetary scale with the only home we currently have. What does a dramatic increase in atmospheric CO2 levels do to the climate? We don't strictly know, but we'll find out soon enough, because we've done it, we're still doing it, and if we accept the status quo, we'll keep doing it. I hope we like the answers, because if the climate really is nonlinear, there's no guarantee even the best CO2 sequestration technology can get us back to square one.

-Jester