Climate change: Debate and reality

The debate about climate change has been raging for over 30 years. Is the climate really changing? If it is, are the changes caused by human actions? If they are, can anything be done about it? And, if so, should anything be done? On each of these questions, opinions clash. On one side are those who would say yes to all four questions. Among them are almost all climate scientists, most of the world’s governments and a large part of the educated public. On the other side are the current United States Government, most oil, gas and coal corporations, and most conservative politicians and their supporters, especially in the United States. It cannot be denied that the debate has caused confusion in the mind of the public—at least in the United States—and has helped prevent effective measures to mitigate global warming. In this essay, however, I argue that the impact of the debate pales in comparison to that of two other factors: developmentalism, the glorification of economic growth; and consumerism, the modern energy-intensive way of life. While the causes of the failure to mitigate global warming can be found in every country, the case of China is particularly glaring