Re: How we stopped talking about climate change, May 16. I was a little surprised to read in Dan Gardner’s column Wednesday morning that I consider climate change to be a socialist plot, based on my recent article in Policy Options.
I reviewed the piece just to make sure that I had not slipped up. It may well be a socialist plot, but I did not say so. Nor did I call the Prime Minister Stephen Harper a liar. I characterized his behaviour on this file as prudent because the evidence to justify more action remains to be found. It may be out there, but all we have to date is speculation, assumptions, climate models, and attributions that some mild warming equals anthropogenic climate change requiring drastic public policy.
It is all the more surprising given Gardner’s authorship of the deservedly well-received Future Babble and Risk, both of which make the case that much of the prognostication and doomsaying about risk and the future are not well founded. I agree with that, including on catastrophic man-made climate change.
All that remains, therefore, is his accusation that the prime minister has engaged in hyperbole. So, what else is new? Was there ever a prime minister who didn’t?
Michael Hart, Ottawa Professor, Carleton University
