By John F. Wasik
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Global warming is challenging celebrity worship as the latest obsession in worldwide media. Magazines from Newsweek to Scientific American have devoted issues to this threatening phenomenon.
If global warming triggers devastating climate change and disrupts world agriculture, financial markets will also react severely. It will be ``the mother of all market corrections,'' according to David Korten in his book ``The Great Turning.''Overlay other widely circulated premises that oil and gas production may have reached its peak or might be subject to regional supply shutdowns, and it's clear you have a menacing leviathan lurking about.
On a personal level, energy prices socked almost every consumer this year, curtailing other financial goals. In a survey conducted by Boston-based Fidelity Investments, more than three- quarters of U.S. households said ``steep fuel prices in recent months had hurt their ability to save for retirement.''
Is it a stretch to say that global warming is also a significant personal-finance issue?
Most of the electricity generated in the United States is produced by fossil fuels, namely coal and natural gas. The more power that is produced -- with the exception of energy from nuclear, hydroelectric and alternative technologies -- the more atmosphere-heating carbon dioxide is spewed into the air.
While coal is cheap and abundant on most continents, the costs to the environment are hurting the physical and economic health of everyone. Pollutants released by burning coal circle the globe, scientists have found.
more
{mos_sb_discuss:2}
