global warming/cheap oil shortage analogy

from a correspondent"

It is like knowing you have to lose a lot of weight, but being told the answer is to come up with a way to make a lot of doughnuts

I worry the natural inclination is to be short sighted and afraid of change. Dumb moves like claiming offshore oil with not only make a difference, but do it in the short term will be accepted at face value by a large segment of the population.

Discontinuities on the horizon