Civilisation protects us from Nature!

This statement is made by the main character in Michael Crichton's recent book State of Fear. If you have the slightest interest in environmental issues and have an open mind about what needs to be done, this is a novel to read. I am obviously not qualified to comment on the science behind the debate, but I would still vote for Crichton's arguments because of the one main thought he has emphasised - poverty is the greatest source of environmental pollution (incidentally, if I remember right, Indira Gandhi made this same statement many, many years back, but did nothing abt it thereafter!). The novel also takes a well-deserved swipe at the many NGOs involved in the "business" of environmental activism. In the postscript to the novel itself, Crichton talks abt theories become accepted facts by repeated assertion.

The book Sceptical Environmentalist, which uses statistics to attack many popular beliefs abt the Greenhouse effect and such other environmental issues. Confession - I only read the book reviews and the associated debates, but not the book itself.