Gaia's prophet …

… Bryan Appleyard — James Lovelock: The Epic of the Earth. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

"…  The problem with the climate is none of us really knows what it’s going to do. We don’t have enough good, solid evidence, therefore one tends not to speculate. Speculators have been a bit wild, and I say that because I was one of them … That’s why I get so annoyed when unwise politicians start passing legislation to control what they think will happen in 2050. We just don’t know.”

Freeman Dyson has been making the same point for years — in noting which I do not mean to make Lovelock see any less impressive than he in fact is.