See my previous blog entry about global warming for the preamble to this one. Once again, Mr. Horner's words have sometimes been paraphrased or summarized as well as quoted. My comments are in Italics.

5. Climate change is raising sea levels:
Sea levels rise during interglacial periods such as the one we find ourselves in. Sea levels have slowly been rising for a long time and even the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change finds no statistically significant change in the rate of increase over the past century. Industry, rising temperatures and increase CO2 have not noticeably affected the rate of sea level increase.

Take a look at a map of the world that shows where the continental shelves lie and you’ll have a pretty good idea of where to find the coastlines of the world during an ice age. Is it any wonder that so many of the world’s religions – old and new - tell of floods? Most of these religions were born at the dawn of civilization, when the ice age had ended and glaciers were rapidly melting and filling the seas with their runoff. As the world has been free of the Little Ice Age for only 160 years or so, it should be no surprise to find that sea levels have been slowly rising. However, I still believe that anthropogenic greenhouse gases may very well be contributing – no matter how small a degree – to the warming trend. Still, as many scientists frequently point out, even stopping all man-made CO2 now would not stop the warming process. It would likely continue for another 200 years or so before the earth’s natural systems reabsorbed CO2 from the atmosphere sufficiently halt the warming process.

4. Climate change is the greatest threat to the world’s poor:
Weather, actually, remains one of the greatest challenges to the world’s poor. Climate change adds nothing to that calculus, however. Climate and weather patterns have always changed and always will. Man has always best dealt with this through adaptation and technological advance. The most advanced or wealthiest societies have always adapted best. Institutions, infrastructure and access to energy are keys to dealing with an ever-changing climate.

Does anyone recall the Dirty Thirties? I wasn’t alive then but I learned about those days in school. No one blamed the drought in North America on global warming then. There have always been problems with drought and flooding all over the world. It seems it is just a recent trend to blame it on global warming caused by industrially produced greenhouse gases. In the early eighties, Ethiopia suffered terrible drought and famine. At that time it was still believed that the earth was in a cooling trend and that global cooling was going to bring about drought and famine. Millions upon millions would die it was predicted. The biggest problem in Ethiopia it seemed was more related to political issues and a militaristic government that had overthrown the king in the mid-seventies. That government made it difficult for the average citizen to survive on agriculture once the drought began. They also took most of the relief supplies donated from other countries for themselves. Look at North Korea and see how millions are suffering from under nourishment because of their government. Drought, famine, pestilence and the like will always occur and more so in some places than others. Doesn’t anyone remember El Niño and the devastating effects it has on tropical countries? If human beings are going to spread out and occupy the whole planet they have to deal with the consequences of living in certain places.

3. “Global warming” means more frequent, more severe storms:
Storms are cyclical and are not more severe or more frequent than in the past.

Last November a wind storm with typhoon-like speeds raged across the Pacific Northwest and ripped out thousands of trees in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Around the surrounding cities giant trees were knocked over and at least one crashed through a house. Environmentalists blamed global warming caused by industrial greenhouse gases. However, as one meteorologist pointed out, people seem to forget that November wind storms are an annual occurrence in the Pacific Northwest. I can recall years of two or three storms in November, and as my parents worked in the insurance business I heard plenty about flooded basements and fallen trees. In 1964 I think it was, a typhoon ravaged Vancouver Island. This was during the global cooling period. The 2005 hurricane season was one for the history books for sure and some said it was evidence that global warming was making more hurricanes. The following year was considerably quieter and 2007 also failed to measure up to the damage of hurricanes like Katrina and Rita. In fact, the nasty 2005 hurricane season was predicted as records show severe storm seasons occur every sixty years. So how much can we really blame ourselves for natural disasters? It seems we want to feel guilty.

2. “Global warming” proposals are about the environment:
“Wealthier is healthier, and cleaner.” Even accepting every underlying economic and alarmist environmentalist assumption, no one dares say that the expensive Kyoto Protocol would detectably impact climate. Imagine how expensive the pact must be to so severely ration energy use as the greens demand. Instead, proponents candidly admit desires to control others’ lifestyles; supportive industries hope to make millions off the deal; Europe’s environment commissioner admitted that Kyoto is “about competition, about levelling the playing field for big businesses worldwide.”

In the book, Mr. Horner devotes an entire chapter to explaining how the greens are the new red, the new communist movement that desires a more centralized government that would exercise greater control over business and energy use. Being a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and an obvious opponent of Al Gore in the text, it is no surprise that he focuses here on how an environmental issue is actually a political and business one. But he makes a good point about wealthier societies having more resources to spend on environmental impact research and spend more money devising and developing ways to lessen their impact on the environment. The nations that threaten the environment the most are the ones that rush ahead into industrial practices without any environmental protection safeguards in place. I have also read that some scientists believe that this may well be our natural course in the evolution of our civilization and technology. First we develop industry to the point that we threaten the extinction of our species through warfare and environmental pollution. Then, if we survive, we develop the technology to clean up our planet and find cleaner ways to live.

1. The U.S. is going it alone on Kyoto and “global warming”:
The U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol’s energy rationing scheme along with 155 other countries, representing most of the world’s population, economic activity, and projected future growth. Kyoto is a European treaty with one dozen others, none of whom are in fact presently reducing their emissions.

In the beginning the U.S. looked like the bad guy as they quickly moved out of the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that it was more important to boost the struggling American economy than worry about reducing the world’s CO2 emissions. But as time has gone on, more and more nations are forgetting their commitments and finding excuses not to support the Kyoto Protocol. Now many people say it is ineffective and will do little or nothing to change things. Some environmentalists say that the protocol is simply the first in 30 steps to reduce CO2 and other GHG emissions and limit industry and power usage. I see it more as a trophy that some try to hold high: “Look, we got almost everyone to agree to do something to save the planet!” Now with the changing of governments and minds, some are still desperately clinging to the hope that supporting the Kyoto Protocol will save us from a terrible catastrophe. While many nations are fidgeting and looking around for ways to sound green while finding excuses to back out of the Kyoto Protocol, many big businesses are taking it upon themselves to reduce their emissions by more than the protocol demands. While teaching English at the technology and research centre of Japan’s largest cement manufacturer, I was always impressed with how an entire department was responsible for finding ways to increase factory production while reducing toxic emissions and pollutants. Each year the team meets with French cement company La Farge to exchange ideas about more efficient and cleaner ways of producing cement.

Still more to come about global warming later…