Dr. Sallie Baliunas’s Tech Central Station writes on the latest report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises.

The report asks for a study of cost-effective steps to, among other things, advance climate forecasting, improve the environmental quality of land, air and water, and minimize impacts of extreme climate events. The report urges low-cost steps that advance adaptation or reduce vulnerability to dramatic climate events by assisting ‘poor countries, which lack both scientific resources and economic infrastructure to reduce their vulnerabilities to potential abrupt climate changes.’ All are noble goals that have been widely recognized by scientists and decision-makers for decades.

But the ‘new thinking’ in the report is to embrace a plea to retard climate change, which, the report insists, may minimize the possibility of climate surprise