Over at The Corner, Jonah Goldberg alleges that if global warming were an entirely natural phenomenon - as opposed to a man-made problem caused by greenhouse gases - then "the reluctance on the part of some on the right to fix the problem would evaporate." This is a grand claim, and it's worth noting that Goldberg doesn't explain his position. I can only guess that conservatives would be more willing to confront the inconvenient truth of global warming if it didn't involve curtailing economic growth or becoming less reliant on fossil fuels.
That said, I do find the second part of Goldberg's thought experiment more interesting. If global warming were entirely "natural," would environmentalists still be agitating for change? According to Goldberg, the answer is no: "The reluctance to 'tamper' with nature would cause at least some environmentalists to second-guess global warming science." What do you think?
Comments (2)
There certainly seems to be a meme going around that it's conservative to exploit nature to the limits of one's own ruthlessness - see Ann Coulter's crack about populating Earth until it's standing room only then going to Mars.
Whether this is a Christian Dominionist thang, or whether it's just the hardening of mythology over time, is not clear.
Posted by: Alex | July 6, 2006 11:35 AM