Please Pay Attention To Global Warming

There is a Global Warming debate going on. There is no uniform agreement on whether the weather is warming or cooling. There are movies and articles and debates and scientific arguments and both sides claim that the other side's science is faulty, or missed some pertinent facts or is just made up. There is some official report by the IPCC that all scientists are supposed to agree on [proving global warming], except for the ones who have asked to have their names removed, and the one who had to threaten to sue before his name was removed. Oh, and Mars has Global Warming too, you know, from all the fossil fuels the Martians are burning.

Regardless of what side you are on, there are problems all over. If you are for curbing greenhouse gases, specifically CO2 emissions, then the Kyoto Protocol is not really working because it already excludes China and India from having to participate in the emissions reductions. They will by far be the largest polluting nations in the world, but they also could really use the electricity for their continued industrialization.

So, when the people of the United States won't voluntarily curb their CO2 emissions, what do you do? Try to enact new laws and regulations through the EPA, that's what. Even if you have to sue and get the Supreme Court to tell the EPA to either regulate CO2 or come up with a better explanation for why they won't.

You can also sue the Federal Government for not following the National Environmental Policy Act when funding foreign projects and evaluating their possible impact on global warming.

Or maybe you could be like Iowa and join seven other states in suing the top five power companies in the United States because of their CO2 emissions.

If that won't solve the problem, it appears that the next solution is to simply advocate for some kind of Global Carbon Tax to force people to reduce their consumption of products that produce CO2 emissions.

This column has written about the personal habits of the Goracle in spite of his professed belief in global warming. Also about the other side of the global warming story.

If the current trends are taken to their logical conclusions, we are all in trouble. If the EPA must further force reductions in CO2 emissions, power plants must reduce their emissions, a Global Carbon Tax is imposed, and all of the corresponding increases in costs that go along with them, it will only further entrench the haves and have-nots. Only the rich will be able to afford air conditioning, or to drive a large vehicle with bad gas mileage, or so many other things. Most of the actions being taken will only hamper the United States economy and the people who have to live with it. One alternative that is not on the table is replacing coal fired power plants with atomic power plants.

It is fair to say that the jury is still out on global warming and whether it is caused by human actions. There are so many other natural causes that it is almost silly to take these draconian measures to stop what may be a natural phenomenon. The earth came out of the last ice age without power plants or human intervention. The earth was warmer in Roman times than it is now (according to historical records).

Global Warming is now a hammer for people to use against further industrial development. It is not just a pet theory of environmentalists and other self-proclaimed friends of the earth, it is an idea that is having real-world consequences. It is worth paying attention to.

Comments Welcome

The Goracle

Al Gore is a hero to many environmentalists. He chose to use his power and influence to make an Oscar-winning Documentary called "An Inconvenient Truth". It is a movie that chronicles Al Gore's life and pursuit of informing the world about the dangers of global climate change. It is a movie showing how heroic Al Gore is in seeking to save the environment. Al Gore will be referred to for the rest of this blog as, "The Goracle".

The day after The Goracle's movie won the Oscar for Best Documentary, he was criticized for his excessive energy use at his Tennessee mansion. A spokesperson for The Goracle defended his use of energy by noting that he purchases "green power" and carbon credits. Here is an excellent article that shows how silly the concept of carbon credits really is.

The Goracle's use of carbon credits is supposed to obviate his excessive use of electricity. A carbon credit is a way to soothe your guilty conscience for using too much energy and emitting too much CO2. Here is a quote from a site listing carbon offset companies (emphasis added):

Example: a mid-sized 30 mpg car driving 12,000 miles/year will create about 3.55 tons of CO2/year. Using Carbonfund.org's calculator we figured this would cost only about $19.50 or $1.63/month to be offset! This means that for a very small amount of money you can drive the equivalent of a zero-CO2-emission car!

It is up to each of us to clean our own mess, obviously the government can't and won't do it (alone). Signing up with any of these programs might effectively reduce your CO2 contributions to ZERO! (All prices in US$)

So, by paying money to a company that promises to use the money to help the environment you can drive guilt free?!? What if the company doesn't use the money the way they say they will? There is no recourse. You are not actually buying a service or a product, you are buying a promise that your money will go to developing renewable energy, planting trees, or any other method the company says they will use the money for. There is no reliable way for a consumer to check up on what the company is doing, especially if they are promising to do something in a third-world country such as donating emissions reducing technology. This kind of arrangement is really a set up for the misuse of such funds while people feel nice about it.

Maybe P.T. Barnum was right that "There's a sucker born every minute." Or was Mr. George Hull right?

Regardless of the use or misuse of carbon offsets, The Goracle can't even get this one right, ethically. Dumb is one thing, possibly fleecing millions of people is another. From the Tennessean.com article (emphasis mine):

[The Goracle] helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe, she said.

It turns out that The Goracle is also the current Chairman of that company. The company invests (read: purchases stock) in companies that develop renewable resources and also sell carbon offsets. The Goracle invests his money through his own company to make up for using so much electricity. That is just the beginning.

The Goracle goes around the world beating the drum of climate change and man's role in causing it, therefore we must do something about fixing the problem. Instead of The Goracle reducing his own use of these resources he tries to make people feel guilty for their use of fossil fuels and then provides a way for them to pay to absolve themselves of this guilt. Sound familiar?

When so many scientists can credibly argue that The Goracle's movie was based on junk science, it is possible that he is also aware that his "sky is falling" approach is based on junk science. If that is the case, then The Goracle is just lying to drum up business for his company and the companies that he invests in. It is already evident that The Goracle has a monetary interest in people believing that global climate change is something to be worried about and that carbon offsets are one way of attempting to fix it. Here is another article about the issue of The Goracle's fiscal benefit to purchases of carbon offsets.

It is possible that the increased use of "green power" initiatives and "carbon offsets" may set up a new round of Sumptuary Laws. These laws (regulations) were designed to make sure it was easy to identify what station of society you belong to. If the EPA mandates the use of "green power" which is already demonstrably more expensive and then also mandates the purchase of "carbon offsets" for gas guzzlers, then only the well off will be able to use all the electricity they want to and also be able to drive a gas guzzler.

The Goracle's motivations may not be as pure as he would like us to think they are.

Comments Welcome