Desperate times, desperate scientists



Salon.com



Dec. 12, 2007 | How dire is the climate situation? Consider what Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the United Nations' prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said last month: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment." Pachauri has the distinction, or misfortune, of being both an engineer and an economist, two professions not known for overheated rhetoric.



In fact, far from being an alarmist, Pachauri was specifically chosen as IPCC chair in 2002 after the Bush administration waged a successful campaign to have him replace the outspoken Dr. Robert Watson, who was opposed by fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. So why is a normally low-key scientist getting more desperate in his efforts to spur the planet to action?



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Comments

Anonymous said…
Many people think that global warming is just not a big deal so why do anything about it? They think that nothing is going to happened drastically in their lifetime so why bother with it. The time frame is not 50 years; something will happen and it will happen soon if we don't change things now. Even if things don't happening the way everyone is thinking, and by that I'm talking about the time frame, it will happen and even if it's not in your lifetime who will be the one's to suffer? It will your children or your children's children. Either way people will be hurt, life will be completely different...!!
12:48 PM
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