"The sky is falling, so we must shoot the dog"

Orson Scott Card offers a review of a Scientific American article by William F. Ruddiman on the topic of real scientific approach to the questions of global warming in his most recent Ornery American column.

He compares the eco-extremists who believe in the man-made end of the world theories to religious fanatics -- "Enviro-Calvinists", he calls them, for their view that Man is inherently evil and must be forced out of the eden that is our planet.

among other things, Card states:
"We need better measurements. We need rational analysis. We need to stop regarding humans as 'unnatural' and recognize that we, too, are part of the biosphere and are entitled to influence the environment as part of our effort to survive.

"Because we're the cleverest of the beasts, we are capable of making more sweeping and devastating changes. But we're also capable of making sweeping and beneficial changes."


Further, he offers:
"Rational science says, Here are the observable events; here are the possible causes; here are changes we might make; here are the possible outcomes of action or inaction. (Rational science also admits it freely when we just don't know enough to make an informed, intelligent decision.)"


I haven't much cared for Card's recent fiction, but I could easily become fond of this man's sane approach.