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A Tipping Point for the Planet

Paul Krugman had some harsh words for climate change deniers in his recent New York Times column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/opinion/29krugman.html?_r=1&em

With his customary clear-thinking, he has wondered about the implications of the narrow margin with which the Waxman Markey bill passed in the House.

The scary part about all this is if legislators in advanced nations find it hard to come to a consensus about climate change, what would be the fate of similar bills in legislatures in less developed nations such as China and India ...

Will people realize the gravity of the issue only when the dire consequences predicted by scientists become real and people start dying?

When hurricanes with the ferocity of Katrina become annual events rather than unusual anomalies and droughts become commonplace around the world, perhaps people will begin to realize that we can't go on burning fossil fuel without suffering consequences.

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