What’s strange is that this story has received so much attention. After all, these are hardly the first people on Earth who have killed themselves as a result of excessively strong religious beliefs.

Steve’s on to something here. The hype has bred an unhealthy environment, and we are only just now beginning to see the consequences.

        Joffan said:

Or, in less flippant terms Steve, you caution against laying the whole blame on media treatment of global warming, but I would need convincing that we should lay any blame there.

I blame the media for confusion about global warming, but for this, I blame the parents. Sure they’re dead, but I’ll still trash their memory and reputation: they’re a couple of murderers of the lowest kind, whether or not they’re crazy.

I doubt they decided to have another child. People like this are generally just too stupid to use birth control.

Or, in less flippant terms Steve, you caution against laying the whole blame on media treatment of global warming, but I would need convincing that we should lay any blame there. Even though I’d normally love to blame the media for inaccurate and sensationalist science reporting.

What changed in the media world since sixteen months ago when they decided to have another child? Not very much, I’d argue. If this appeared in a fiction I wrote, “Daddy” would just have been given six months to live – I’d watch for the autopsy results.

        Bruce said:

Both in Australia, where their global warming bill was recently defeated

Well, the problem with Australia is that they currently get the vast majority of electricity from coal, so if they pass binding legislation for carbon dioxide reduction and don’t accompany that with building some reactors, they’re going to be sitting in the dark… or perhaps with candles. Of course, candles would contribute their own emissions, but I suppose a few candles would likely still be less than all the power plants in the country.

Of course, lack of light would be the least of their problems. No refrigeration, sewage treatment, pumping of drinking water, electronic communication, air conditioning and so on would be even worse.

It would be great if the media would simply make an effort to be accurate and dispassionate. Yeah right!

A lot more people then this are going to die if we don’t control carbon dioxide emissions. This might sound harsh, but it is a simple reality.