How did we go from the first stage of climate denial to the last in just a few short years?
Five years ago in the Guardian, Dana Nuccitelli enumerated the 5 stages of climate denial:
deny the problem exists (it's a hoax!) deny we are the cause (sunspots!) deny it's a problem (more food! Bananas in Canada!) deny we can solve it (too expensive!) It's too late (let's party!)Nuccitelli suggested that few climate contrarians have reached level Five, but that was so five years ago. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is clearly up there in stage 4 and 5 territory, as it provides justification for the Administration's rolling back of scheduled increases in fuel efficiency.
Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney of the Washington Post did the digging through the NHTSA's Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which goes through a lengthy analysis which accepts that climate change is happening, and that it is caused by humans, and that it will lead to rising waters and changing temperatures. Then they found this zinger:
The emissions reductions necessary to keep global emissions within this carbon budget could not be achieved solely with drastic reductions in emissions from the U.S. passenger car and light truck vehicle fleet but would also require drastic reductions in all U.S. sectors and from the rest of the developed and developing world.
NHTSA/Public Domain
