Humans Are Too Stupid to Prevent Climate Change

[FourScore]

James Lovelock: Humans Are Too Stupid to Prevent Climate Change
In his first in-depth interview since the theft of UEA emails, the scientist blames inertia and democracy for lack of action
by Leo Hickman

Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory.

It follows a tumultuous few months in which public opinion on efforts to tackle climate change has been undermined by events such as the climate scientists' emails leaked from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit.

"I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change," said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. "The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."

One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."

Lovelock, 90, believes the world's best hope is to invest in adaptation measures, such as building sea defences around the cities that are most vulnerable to sea-level rises. He thinks only a catastrophic event would now persuade humanity to take the threat of climate change seriously enough, such as the collapse of a giant glacier in Antarctica, such as the Pine Island glacier, which would immediately push up sea level...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change

[tom_paine]

1. Oh, I wouldn't say "stupid". We tool-using monkeys are very clever.

Short-sighted and slaves to evolutionary survival strategies (such as boundless greed and limitless procreation) that have been transformed in the modern to "evolutionary destructive strategies".

Though I must confess his idea that "democracy be oput on hold for awhile" is pretty repugnant and would ultimately be counterproductive because which of we tool-using monkeys can be entrusted with such limitless power?

So, maybe Lovelock is just a stupid tool-using monkey like the rest of us.