It would be unfortunate if China and India were to impoverish themselves by ceasing to burn coal, only to have the resulting decrease of snowfall over Greenland and Antarctica cause sea levels to rise faster. The precautionary principle is not a useful substitute for scientific understanding.
如果中国和印度在停止燃烧煤炭导致自身贫困的同时，却降低了格陵兰和南极上空的降雪量并引发了更快速的海平面上升，那么这一切就太糟糕了。由此可见，预防性原则并不是科学认知的有用替代品。