A New One Percent Doctrine

To those people who continue to deny the evidence for climate change, or who admit climate change but deny there is enough proof that it is caused by man, I have always thought the best argument is that the world simply doesn´t have time to wait for perfect, 100% conclusive evidence. The risk is that, by he time we have such evidence, we will all be toast, water-logged toast if we live by a coast. I marvel at the risk these people are willing to take with other people's lives.

Ted Kaufman, in a recent blog post, makes the point much more deftly. He reminds us of the so-called Cheney doctrine shortly after 9-11 which declared the U.S. had to act in situations where there was even a 1% chance of a terrorist attack. Kaufman asks:

Can a rational human being who doesn’t believe in climate change at least agree there is a remote possibility that 95 percent of climate scientists are right? Maybe a 1 percent chance?