The Coming Storm: How The Political And Economic Elites Chose Global Warming

Adaptation: the process of changing to suit different conditions. In today’s climate crisis, it means changing our way of life to survive its consequences. But is climate change adaptation a pragmatic new answer or a solution chosen decades ago? How did we come to this?

Our story begins after the Second World War, when a small circle of atomic scientists, veterans of the Manhattan Project, began to take an interest in the risk of global warming. They envisioned a future of energy abundance for mankind thanks to nuclear power. As early as 1953, the nuclear lobby used global warming as a major argument. For two decades, only a few people paid any attention to the problem.

By the 1980s, it was clear global warming was already underway. NASA scientist James Hansen developed a model that accurately predicted the course of global warming. But the scientists were ‘outnumbered, outgunned and especially outspent’ by the oil industry. A deliberate choice was made to maximise profits over the short term rather than attempt to prevent global warming. The Republicans demonized climate legislation while Democrats were terrified of its economic cost.

 “We’re up against a history of industrial development”, states climate activist Rafe Pomerance. “These companies ….decide to disrupt the whole process through various means of propaganda, phony science, politics, money in politics”. Now, for many people, the only option is adaption. But, as James Hansen states: “There’s only so much you can do to adapt in the case of a sea level rise..”