Apparently, the article below was published and reprinted all over the place a couple of weeks ago. Somehow, I missed it and in case you missed it too I’m including it here. Most of my comments are after the article.  The topic:  Will there be panic over fast climate change or a fast response to fast climate change. It sounds unlikely to most people, but think about it for a minute. If we reach a tipping point, and those feedbacks kick in and sea levels rise quickly, we could very well have a need for a sudden response by the government.   There could then be a lot of fear and anger over what the government might do.  Imagine, for instance, if the government deploys something to mimic a volcano to quickly lower the global temperature. The skies could get darker or remain hazy for a long time, and that in itself could cause a panic. Very serious politicians and scientists are talking about geoengineering and mimicking the “Pinatubo effect” right now.  Imagine the start of more wars for oil or other resources.  What could happen to get a violent or panicked response from regular people?

The coming climate panic?

One morning in the not too distant future, you might wake up and walk to your mailbox. The newspaper is in there and it’s covered with shocking headlines: Coal Plants Shut Down! Airline Travel Down 50 Percent! New Federal Carbon Restrictions in Place! Governor Kicked Out of Office for Climate Indolence!

Sometimes change is abrupt and unsettling. History shows that societies in crisis too often leap from calm reaction to outright panic.The only thing your bath-robed, flip-flopped, weed-eating neighbor wants to talk about over the fence isn’t the Yankees, but, of all things … climate change.

Shaking your head, you think: What just happened?

With a non-binding agreement coming out of Copenhagen at the same time that atmospheric CO2 creeps above 390 parts per million, it’s possible that a new feeling might soon gain prevalence in the hearts of people who understand climate science. That feeling is panic. Specifically, climate panic.

In the same way that paleoclimate records show evidence of abrupt climate changes, we think it’s increasingly possible that policy responses to climate change will themselves be abrupt. After years of policy inaction, a public climate backlash is already smoldering. When it blows, it could force radical policy in a short timeframe. It’s the same kind of cultural tipping point, often triggered by dramatic events, that has led to revolutions or wars in the past.

The backlash is brewing in the form of increasingly strident comments from respected and influential people. Economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has called government indolence on the issue “treason.” NRDC attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has called it “a crime against nature.” Environmental journalist and author Elizabeth Kolbert has described “a technologically advanced society choosing to destroy itself,” while James Hansen and Rajendra Pachauri, perhaps the world’s leading climate scientists, have said inaction in the next several [...]