Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
We read Niall Ferguson’s op-ed (“Beware Greta Thunberg’s science fiction — the end of the world is not nigh,” 2 September 2019) as a not-even-thinly veiled attack against Greta Thunberg’s heroic activism. In doing so, Ferguson downplays the gravity of climate change, ignoring both the latest climate science and economics.
Ferguson essentially says not to worry as the world can simply adapt to what’s in store. Not so. Although adaptation ought to play a big role, it is clear that the world needs to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, fast. Higher global temperatures do not just make hurricanes more intense, they lead to higher sea levels, more extreme climatic events, and a range of other severe damages. We are seeing just that in the extreme damages caused by Hurricane Dorian this week.
The vast scientific consensus on the topic concludes that climate change is real and costly. The consensus of climate-economic models says that it pays to act boldly, and now. Moreover, what we don’t know about the future suggests that delaying action could be even more costly than anticipated. It is high time the world took Ms. Thunberg’s counsel — and that of the vast majority of climate scientists and economists — seriously and cut emissions decisively, and fast.
Benjamin Franta, Ph.D., Stanford University
Gernot Wagner, Ph.D., New York University