Here is an article the Chronicle science writer Charles Petit wrote about the exchange. I want to argue that the ways in which Ehrlich and Schneider argue that the world will get worse are less important in human terms than some indicators I will mention - and which I expect to get better in the main. Simon had mentioned that he considered life expectancy as more important than any of the Ehrlich-Simon indicators, and I agree. First I'll given the Ehrlich-Schneider indicators and then my own. There will be more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2004 than in 1994.
Carbon dioxide is the most important gas driving global warming.
There will be more nitrous oxide in the atmosphere in 2004 than in 1994. Nitrous oxide is another greenhouse gas that is increasing because of human disruption of the nitrogen cycle. The concentration of tropospheric ozone globally will be greater in 2004 than in 1994. Tropospheric ozone has important deleterious effects on human health and crop production. Emissions of sulfur dioxide in Asia will be significantly greater in 2004 than in 1994.