EDITORIAL
Will global warming reach 'Boiling Point'?

"Seen in its full dimensions," writes Ross Gelbspan in his new book, "Boiling Point," "the challenge of global climate change seems truly overwhelming."

It's no longer a matter of choosing between the kyoto Protocol (which calls for industrial countries to cut their aggregate emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012) or President Bush's voluntary alternative, because both, scientists now realize, are woefully inadequate.

Bush and Congress share the blame for cars that have the worst fuel efficiency in 20 years, and industries that have increased their greenhouse gas emissions.

The science now "is unambiguous," writes Gelbspan: "To pacify our increasingly unstable climate requires humanity to cut its use of coal and oil by 70 percent in a very short time."

Recent studies underline the urgency. One found that climate change is not only faster than we thought, but the rate of change is compounding.

Another indicates that Earth's average temperature could rise by as much as 10.4 degrees over the next 100 years. If that happens, ice sheets will melt, sea levels will rise by almost a yard, and heavily populated areas like China's Pearl River delta, much of Bangladesh and the most densely peopled parts of Egypt will be inundated.

Malaria in Hawai'i

Droughts (and consequent famine) and catastrophic storms will increase, and diseases like malaria will spread, including to Hawai'i.

Sadly, "in the absence of a compelling and obvious solution," writes Gelbspan, "the most natural human tendency is simply not to want to know about it."

This tendency is fed by an American media intimidated by the highly organized and richly endowed fossil fuel industry lobbyists, such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which are quoted in each new report of the growing danger from climate change as "another piece of climate alarmism."

But these stories are getting harder to counteract with nothing but spin. The entire ecosystem of the North Sea, one study found, is in a state of collapse because of rising water temperatures, while another report declares that "for the first time in recorded history, the world consumed more grain than it produced for four years in a row." Reason: rising temperatures and falling water tables, both consequences of global climate change.

The drumbeat of alarmism is getting closer to home, as a new study last week detailed the negative impacts of uncontrolled climate change on California's water supplies, crop yields and public health.

Businesses are beginning to break ranks over global warming. Pension fund managers, bankers and Wall Street advisers met last year to question the wisdom of a philosophy of short-term profit-taking that poses "an enormous risk."

Business Week and National Geographic have devoted current cover stories to the issue.

"Consensus is growing among scientists, governments and business," says Business Week, "that they must act fast to combat climate change. This has already sparked efforts to limit CO2 emissions. Many companies are now preparing for a carbon-constrained world."

The national geographic article takes the reader "all over the world to show you the hard truth as scientists see it."

"I'd be willing to bet that we'll get letters from readers who don't believe global climate change is real," reads an editor's note in the new National Geographic. "I can live with some canceled memberships. i'd have a harder time looking at myself in the mirror if I didn't bring you the biggest story in geography today."

The complexity and the grave dangers of the global warming issue are summed up in the long subtitle to Gelbspan's book: "How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis — and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster."

It's not too late

Can we avert disaster? Certainly. Write two Princeton researchers in a new study:

"Humanity has the hardware in hand to halt the rise in heat-trapping greenhouse gases it pumps into the atmosphere and forestall the worst effects of global warming projected for the end of this century.

"The goal could be achieved within the next 50 years by more widespread use of a portfolio of at least 15 approaches — from energy efficiency, solar energy and wind power to nuclear energy and the preservation or enhancement of 'natural' sinks for carbon dioxide such as rain forests, or the conservation tillage techniques on farms worldwide."

All that's missing, then, is the will.