I doubt he's nuts as well but imaging that 500 ppm CO2e is anything but a very bad plan is kind of nuts. Someone was also not careful enough to avoid conflating the two different definitions for CO2e. That left me unimpressed from the beginning. Perhaps the errors are not Stern's but Wolf's? I admit I didn't read Stern's paper, only Wolf's article so the errors may lie there.
> But I guess my hopes that this article made these points with unusual
> clarity were misplaced. It almost sounds like you guys are talking
> about other articles.
>
> Michael
I just believe the author rather seriously understates the problem. He is correct that it is a monumental task that is almost beyond comprehension and that the G8's self congratulatory hype is unfounded. That is why I don't believe we will not find the will to do what is needed until after it is too late. Current Governments aren't really trying to do anything except give the appearance that they. They are trying to leave the hard actions for the next administrations whoever they may be. Every U.S. President will tell himself (or herself) that 8 years won't really make any difference so they can leave the truly unpleasant actions for someone else to take the heat for. 50 years from now people will collectively sigh that not enough information was known in 2005 to enable people to act to solve the problem. Just as today we claim that millions of lives were saved by dropping the atomic bombs on Japan or other similar BS. We have a tendency to let past generations off the hook for their colossal stupidity. I imagine that trend will continue for a long time.
John Thornton