At least this once, then, political opposites like libertarians and multiculturalists may have it right. Politics is local. Sure, I can ask what this means to me . And in the case of global warming, the answer is plenty. Dr. Gornitz touches on, so to speak, only the tip of the iceberg.
Science can make sense, both in ordinary language and in human terms.
Scientific research and environmental action can make serious economic sense. We can think locally and yet learn from it to act globally. This essay first appeared, in slightly different form, as the editor's introduction to Earth Affairs , the online-only magazine of columbia earthscape , itself a publication of Columbia University Press. Kramer was writing in The New York Observer .