We are living in an age when science has been polluted by politics, economics, big business, governments with an agenda, religions, multinational corporations, fanatics, scientism, quacks, and more.
I’m generally cautious about accepting scientific announcements that have impacts (actual or potential) on the human condition: They are invariably diluted or slanted by political, economic, and religious interests.
Yet, I am convinced that one will have to be reasonably (or unreasonably) mindless and/or subconsciously afraid of the economic impact of slowing down the industrial-energy-converting engine to deny that their have been disconcerting weather-changing patterns, such as the intensity and number of hurricanes and tornados, the melting of the polar icecaps and icebergs in Greenland, in recent years.
The most plausible explanation for these seems to be in the frightening reality of global warming resulting from excessive spilling of CO-2 into the atmosphere by increased human industrial and technological activity. This is a threat of mammoth proportions for our species.
The only reason for reluctance to do something about it is the need and pressure to consume more energy, not just for the creature comforts of those who are reasonably comfortable, but more importantly for increasing the standard of living of people all over the world who are yet to attain even a modest level of comfort that technological use of energy leads to.
The human condition in this regard is like that of a skier on a delirious downward slope with no mechanism to stop or slow down even though one is warned by knowledgeable people that the slope is headed to a steep precipice.
Spurts of Thought 