"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

agreement would have allowed if they had signed it, and rising fast. Also long-term persistence of
greenhouse gases, on the order of thousands of years.

Charlie also spoke briefly of the death of all coral reefs, which would lead to even more severe
consequences for oceanic ecosystems. тАЬThe thing is, Mr. President, the worldтАЩs climate can shift very
rapidly. There are scenarios in which the general warming causes parts of the Northern Hemisphere to
get quite cold, especially in Europe. If that were to happen, Europe could become something like the
Yukon of Asia.тАЭ

тАЬReally!тАЭ the President said. тАЬAre we sure that would be a bad thing? Just kidding of course.тАЭ

тАЬOf course sir, ha ha.тАЭ

The President fixed him with a look of mock displeasure. тАЬWell, Charles, all that may be true, but we
donтАЩt know for sure if any of that is the result of human activity. IsnтАЩt that a fact?тАЭ

тАЬDepends on what you mean by тАШknow for sure,тАЩтАЭ Charlie said doggedly. тАЬTwo and a half billion tons of
carbon per year, thatтАЩs got to make a difference, itтАЩs just plain physics. You could say it isnтАЩt for sure that
the sun will come up tomorrow morning, and in a limited sense youтАЩd be right, but IтАЩll bet you the sun will
come up.тАЭ
тАЬDonтАЩt be tempting me to gamble now.тАЭ

тАЬAnd besides, Mr. President, thereтАЩs also what they call the precautionary principle, meaning you donтАЩt
delay acting on crucial matters when you have a disaster that might happen, just because you canтАЩt be
one hundred percent sure that it will happen. Because you can never be one hundred percent sure of
anything, and some of these matters are too important to wait on.тАЭ

The President frowned at this, and Strengloft interjected, тАЬCharlie, you know the precautionary principle
is an imitation of actuarial insurance that has no real resemblance to it, because the risk and the premium
paid canтАЩt be calculated. ThatтАЩs why we refused to hear any precautionary principle language in the
discussions we attended at the UN. We said we wouldnтАЩt even attend if they talked about precautionary
principles or ecological footprints, and we had very good reasons for those exclusions, because those
concepts are not good science.тАЭ

The President nodded his тАЬSo That Is ThatтАЭ nod, familiar to Charlie from many a press conference. He
added, тАЬI always thought a footprint was kind of a simplistic measurement for something this complex
anyway.тАЭ

Charlie countered, тАЬItтАЩs just a name for a good economic index, Mr. President, calculating use of
resources in terms of how much land it would take to provide them. ItтАЩs pretty educational, really,тАЭ and
he launched into a quick description of the way it worked. тАЬItтАЩs a good thing to know, like balancing your
checkbook, and what it shows is that America is consuming the resources of ten times the acreage it
actually occupies. So that if everyone on Earth tried to live as we do, given the greater population
densities in much of the world, it would take fourteen Earths to support us all.тАЭ

тАЬCome on, Charlie,тАЭ Dr. Strengloft objected. тАЬNext youтАЩll be wanting us to use BhutanтАЩs Gross
Domestic Happiness, for goodnessтАЩ sake. But we canтАЩt use little countriesтАЩ indexes, they donтАЩt do the
job. WeтАЩre the hyperpower. And really, the anticarbon-dioxide crowd is a special interest lobby in itself.
YouтАЩve fallen prey to their arguments, but itтАЩs not like CO2is some toxic pollutant. ItтАЩs a gas that is
natural in our air, and itтАЩs essential for plants, even good for them. The last time there was a significant