G'day all,
If global warming is a natural cycle then I still believe we should work towards decent monitoring and even prediction. If we are about to get colder for instance, I for one would think it very very important that we are forewarned.
If it is likely that the climate is about to change, either getting significantly warmer or returning even to a mild form of the LIA, then some planning is definitely needed to minimise the damage done to human society. If we are likely to return to a glaciation then very serious thought should be put into how best to cope.
I'm not advocating we should not attempt to monitor climate change or even attempt to improve predictions so eventually they may actually have some value. It is just like weather forecasting. It took an awful lot of work to get a day or so into the future reasonably accurate but it was worth the effort because of the huge benefits to society. If we can create prediction models of climate change that finally include enough variables to be more reliable than just guessing then that is a good thing, providing of course, that the climate is likely to change in the next few decades or less (and that is a big question since it hasn't changed much in more than 130 years).
The question will remain at what point has our ability to predict climate risen to above the level of just a guess because only then will it have any value. To attempt to utilise it before then is actually worse than no attempt at all, imho.
Just some more food for thought.
Regards
Richard
