Anybody who thinks that global warming won't cost much - like those incorrigible folks at the Cato and Hoover institutions - should ponder the economic impact of the flood in the Czech Republic. Those who blithely assert that we've "weathered" climate changes in the past, should remember that back then, folks simply packed their meager belonging onto their goat and headed a bit further north. But guess what guys? Now we got infrastructure! The old historical models don't apply.

What needs to emerge, and will over time, is a consensus that fighting global warming makes economic sense - given the investment we've made in cities over the last, what, 500 years.


Forget the tree-hugging. Simply take a financial approach. Maybe that will convince the conservatives.

posted by Quiddity at 8/14/2002 03:29:00 PM