Doing the right thing for the wrong reason may seem like an okay plan, but it can backfire. The risk is that once the false reason is exposed, the right thing won’t be done.

The example I’m thinking of is the issue of global warming. Over the past decade, the threat of global warming has become increasingly accepted by mainstream society.

Of course, it has its critics, including those industries that would pay the cost of trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, several studies have recently appeared in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature which suggest global warming could take a lot longer to occur than previously thought. It could be delayed, in fact, by an additional 20 years. Although no one can say for certain exactly how long it will take, the high temperatures of the late 1990s might not be surpassed until 2030. Other findings that complement these studies suggest that the deep oceans are actually getting colder, not warmer.

To us, it has always seemed rather arrogant for science to assume it can know what the climate will be like 100 years from now, when it can’t even predict next month’s weather with any degree of accuracy. The complexity and number of variables involved in this kind of forecasting are too enormous.

This is not to say we are against the idea of a clean environment. But the case for immediately stopping all CO₂ emissions is far from conclusive.Read more...