What Al Gore doesn't understand about climate change.

"Gore has depicted the fundamental trade-off as one between environmental responsibility and personal greed. Of course, as everyone over the age of 12 is perfectly aware, the real trade-off is between the quality of our own lives and the quality of our descendants'.

In other words, climate policy is almost entirely about you and me making sacrifices for the benefit of future generations. To contribute usefully to the debate, you've got to think hard about the appropriate level of sacrifice. That in turn requires you to think hard about roughly half a dozen underlying issues

1. How much does human activity affect the climate?
2. How much harm (or good!) is likely to come from that climate change?
3. How much do we—or should we—care about future generations?
4. How likely are those future generations to be around, anyway?
5. Just how rich are those future generations likely to be?
6. How risk-averse are we?"

Read the article for further explanation.

Bron: What Al Gore doesn't understand about climate change. - By Steven E. Landsburg - Slate Magazine