Climate freak-out

At Scientific American, my friend Robin Lloyd has a good summary of an emerging (and confusing) controversy over whether deforestation might actually mitigate global warming as discussed in the forthcoming SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance.For all I know, Levitt and Dubner have a point, but I've become a little more skeptical of them since I reviewed the first Freakonomics; it's odd that so many of their findings are hot-button counterintuitive things that help sell books.

UPDATE: More from Stand-Up Economist.

UPDATE 11-3: Quite a bit more from Ronald Bailey.