Paul Krugman Says He Feels 'Despair' Over Global Warming

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote Monday that he sometimes "feels despair over the state of the planet." He compared climate scientists who are making increasingly dire predictions to the cursed prophetess who foretold the downfall of Troy. "Climate scientists have, en masse, become Cassandras - gifted with the ability to prophesy future disasters, but cursed with the inability to get anyone to believe them," Krugman wrote.

Krugman attributed his despair to the correctness of scientists' predictions over the past few years, and the growing indications that cataclysmic changes in the global weather patterns are happening faster than anyone believed. "In a rational world, then, the looming climate disaster would be our dominant political and policy concern. But it manifestly isn't." Krugman blames the lack of focus on climate policy on perceived economic "inconvenience," despite the fact that most analysts believe the economic impact of government climate action would be far less dramatic than many believe.

"The industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don't," Krugman laments.

Cassandras of Climate [New York Times]