A apagar el arbolito

Más del “calentamiento”. A celebrar la Navidad al “estilo Gore”. Por acá hay tanta gente que se prende en estas cosas que sinceramente llama la atención. Para muchas personas, incluida gran parte de la prensa, es un hecho indiscutido que 1) la tierra se está calentando, 2) el calentamiento es a causa de la acción humana y 3) el ÚNICO camino es volver a vivir a como la familia de The Little House on the Prairie:

If climate alarmists are to be believed, Americans must cut their electricity use substantially, and soon, to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with fossil-fuel combustion. Celebratory holiday lighting -- what doomsayer Paul Ehrlich once called "garish commercial Christmas displays" -- would surely be the first to go, coming before indoor lighting, cooking, heating, and air conditioning.

But are these changes really necessary for the United States, the world's most prolific user of energy? The good news -- and a reason for holiday cheer -- is that the science behind rapid, disruptive global warming scenarios is murky at best. Though the debate is highly politicized and emotionally charged, good science is beginning to drive out bad.

The Kyoto Protocol and other sledgehammer approaches to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in the advanced countries are coming under intellectual, not just political, assault.