Yes, Vanuatu needs saving

ARTICLE: The View from Vanuatu on Climate Change, By BJORN LOMBORG, Wall Street Journal, OCTOBER 22, 2009

Ah, but certainly Vanuatu's biggest problem is global warming, yes?

(Via WPR Media Roundup)

Comments

[hof1991]

What a false dichotomy. If nothing is done on climate change, does that somehow benefit this woman and her family? If we move to plug-in hybrids, will that cause her to starve? If we mine and burn more coal, will her children get an education?

OTOH, when (not if) the fish populations collapse, what will she eat? As the ocean continues to rise, will her house even exist?

If he wants to advocate for doing noting, the WSJ editorial page is the right spot. If he wants to advocate for the Gap, he needs more than nay saying about a problem that the Gap recognizes, even if he doesn't.

[joe Michels]

The article lost me on the very first sentence.

Anyway, she would end up with nothing, but her political leaders would end-up with their pockets flush with our cash.

Somebody still needs to actually needs to show evidence that AWG is a "serious challenge". Where's the beef?

[Mike Nelson]

While global warming may be happening, the impact on any currently alive human is essentially nil. Climate just doesn't change that fast. So there is a reasonable argument here as to whether you invest our limited resources in chasing C02 reductions OR ameliorating more immediate concerns, and for those on the bottom of the pyramid I'd say that its a pretty obvious answer to them.

WRT to the fish population collapsing (hof1991's comment), I'm don't quite get the connection to this and global warming. Yes, I suppose GW will impact fish populations to some extent, but whether that impact will be all bad I think is extremely speculative. It is absolutely obvious however that current fishery management is abysmal and international action to better protect the oceans is extremely important (precisely because so many poor nations rely upon it as a primary food source). But, this has NOTHING to do with GW. (For the record this is an argument and observation I've been making more many many years wrt the GW debate)