He points out that Climate Change is nothing new and it's not the "Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse", and asks how much do we really know about the impact. So "… instead of assuming the worst, we should study the impacts of climate change and seek to balance them against the negative effects of climate policy."
Sure there might be danger but he suggests climate policy is about balancing risks and we must not forget "…there is a cost to human well-being in constraining fossil fuel use."
Tol suggests, "Climate change is a problem, but at least as an economics problem, it is certainly not the biggest problem humankind faces…" so "…Concentrating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in rich countries will not solve the climate problem. And slower growth in rich countries means less export from and investment in poor countries."
And finally he says, "…while climate change is a problem that must be tackled, we should not lose our sense of proportion or advocate solutions that would do more harm than good. Unfortunately, common sense is sometimes hard to find in the climate debate…"
Well said professor.
Read the entire article here…
