Finally the Democrats Get Something Good Done

fundingfather
Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:19:20 +0000

“We should have alternative energy whether global warming exists or not.”
That is a different subject than just global warming since many of the advocates of fighting global warming want to put a tax on CO2 emissions. This only indirectly leads to alternative energies but is more likely to drive more jobs to China where not only will the CO2 emissions be greater than in the US but all of the other pollutants as well. The net effect of this is a lose-lose-win scenario (with the only winner being China).

I don’t see your analogy which assumes that the underlying problem really is running out of gas (i.e., analogous to the underlying problem being man-made global warming). What the scientists are saying is that global warming is a natural phenomenon and to put money into fighting it is like trying to boil the ocean - you just can’t fight with mother nature. It is far better to put the money into adapting to the warming for as long as it lasts and/or improving the overall welfare of the impoverished people of the world - those who are most likely to be adversely impacted by natural global warming.



The UN climate conference in Bali has been planned to take the world along a path of severe CO2 restrictions, ignoring the lessons apparent from the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, the chaotic nature of the European CO2 trading market, and the ineffectiveness of other costly initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Balanced cost/benefit analyses provide no support for the introduction of global measures to cap and reduce energy consumption for the purpose of restricting CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it is irrational to apply the “precautionary principle” because many scientists recognize that both climatic coolings and warmings are realistic possibilities over the medium-term future.

The current UN focus on “fighting climate change,” as illustrated in the Nov. 27 UN Development Programme’s Human Development Report, is distracting governments from adapting to the threat of inevitable natural climate changes, whatever forms they may take. National and international planning for such changes is needed, with a focus on helping our most vulnerable citizens adapt to conditions that lie ahead. Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity’s real and pressing problems.

[Don’t fight, adapt](Home | The National Post Home Page | National Post)
So, these scientist don’t see the efforts of Gore as something where there is no downside; rather they see it as a cause for eventual global suffering because it directs resources at the wrong target.