Re: Hot Enough For You? Do What We Always Do: Adapt

Well, Neil Reynolds’s article about how humans will surely adapt to rising summer temperatures is a straw-man argument if I’ve ever seen one. I don’t think that anyone disputes that humans will be able to adapt to the direct influence of warmer summer days. However, this is just one metric of climate change, viewed in isolation from the larger system. It’s the indirect effects of climate change that we should be worried about.

While Mr. Reynolds scoffs at the idea that we should be worried that “the past decade was 0.6 C warmer than the 1960s decade,” it’s a fact that glaciers, oceans, forests and agricultural land are all sensitive to even these minute changes in temperature trends. This, in turn, will greatly affect us and make it more difficult for us to adapt.

Note: This appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Globe & Mail.