Easy Answers

George Will, ever willing to show a little conservative leg now and then, asks this surprisingly easily answered question:

Are we sure the consequences of climate change -- remember, a thick sheet of ice once covered the Midwest -- must be bad?

This is meant to seem like a tricky question, inspiring all sorts of trade-off considerations about longer summers and shorter winters and such. In fact, the answer is that climate change would be a catastrophic human tragedy, not because we prefer warmer or cooler climates, but because world population patterns are based largely on regional weather patterns. Any substantial shift in these patterns will disrupt whatever balance exists between climate and population, causing widespread human suffering.