Winds of Change Newsletter, September 2005     See sidebar for table of contents

Global Warming May Take Economic Toll

from Rueters, August 12, 2005

WASHINGTON - The White House’s refusal to consider government caps on greenhouse gas emissions may save the US economy short-term pain, but experts warn unchecked global heat could exact a heavy long-run toll.

“While there are costs associated with reducing emissions, there are certainly costs associated with not doing anything,” said Kevin Forbes, head of Catholic University’s economics department. “It would be, in my opinion, folly not to try to do something.”

…”I think it’s one of the great tragedies of our era that the administration hasn’t risen to the occasion on this. It’s committing future generations to extraordinary costs and problems,” said James Gustave Speth, dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.