The Scrutinator

Hats off again to the NY Times John Tierney for this. Global warming discussions usually ignore the human suffering they might cause, or presume the alternative must be even worse. Here's a report, however:

Dr. Goklany accepts the Stern Review’s grim numbers and looks at the I.P.C.C.’s various scenarios, which project different levels of warming and sea-level rise depending on the the rate of economic growth, energy use and other factors.

“The surprising conclusion using the Stern Review’s own [harshly criticized] estimates,” Dr. Goklany writes, “is that future generations will be better off in the richest but warmest” of the I.P.C.C.’s scenarios. He concludes that cutting emissions will do much less good than encouraging sustainable development in poor countries and policies of “focused adaptation” to deal with disease and environmental problems like coastal flooding.

via Instapundit

This can't be good for civilization, if it's true:

Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

"Losing their grip on reality" about says it. Almost unbelievable, but I've seen people latch onto so many crazy things here, too.

Like superstition, false beliefs harm civilization.