Re: the Gaia Revenge hypothesis

To: Retort
From: RP 

Vis-a-vis the Lovelockian hypothesis, Robert Proctor, our historian of tobacco, notes a sombre fact:

Of course even if the climate doesn't change, "billions will die this century": probably about two billion, with about half of these from smoking.  That's if everything goes well, climate change excluded.  

Robert


To: Retort 
 Via: EY 
File under: Eco-paralysis 

 [An interview with James 'Gaia' Lovelock, who believes that billions will die this century, with a "few breeding pairs" left near the Arctic. We must expect plenty more of this kind of thing; it's the other face of Gore-style moralizing. IB] 

'Enjoy life while you can' 
 Decca Aitkenhead
 March 1 2008 

.....
Lovelock believes global warming is now irreversible, and that nothing can prevent large parts of the planet becoming too hot to inhabit, or sinking underwater, resulting in mass migration, famine and epidemics. Britain is going to become a lifeboat for refugees from mainland Europe, so instead of wasting our time on wind turbines we need to start planning how to survive. To Lovelock, the logic is clear. The sustainability brigade are insane to think we can save ourselves by going back to nature; our only chance of survival will come not from less technology, but more.
...
Nuclear power, he argues, can solve our energy problem - the bigger challenge will be food. "Maybe they'll synthesise food. I don't know. Synthesising food is not some mad visionary idea; you can buy it in Tesco's, in the form of Quorn. It's not that good, but people buy it. You can live on it." But he fears we won't invent the necessary technologies in time, and expects "about 80%" of the world's population to be wiped out by 2100. Prophets have been foretelling Armageddon since time began, he says. "But this is the real thing."