The Church of Climate Panic
Hot stuff.

By Rich Lowry


Sophisticated people in Western societies don’t stand in public and shout, “The end is near!” the way a nutty preacher does. They don’t cut their scalps the way Shia Muslims do in a rite of self-flagellation to mark the Day of Ashura. They do none of these things, because they have the issue of global warming instead.

The planet is indeed getting warmer (by about .7 degrees Celsius during the 20th century), and carbon emissions are contributing to it. This is a problem that deserves study and debate about what realistically can be done about it. But it doesn’t justify the bizarre panic that suggests the issue has become a trendy vehicle for traditional fears of the apocalypse and for rituals of guilt and expiation.

The latest assessment of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the Vatican of the Church of Climate Panic — prompted apocalyptic headlines worldwide. The New York Times dubbed it “a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet.” Actually, the summary report was less grim than prior reports, but grimness is the only acceptable mood when it comes to climate change.

Christopher Monckton, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, points to the neglected data in the IPCC summary. It “more than halved its high-end best estimate of the rise in sea level by (the year) 2100 from 3 feet to just 17 inches.” In his scare-documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore posited a catastrophic sea-level rise of more than 20 feet (feet, not inches).

Monckton notes that, “The U.N. has cut its estimate of our net effect on climate by more than a third,” and, “It now thinks pollutant particles reflecting sunlight back to space have a very strong cooling effect.” As for the increase in temperature, Monckton writes, the best estimate for the effect of the CO2 level reaching “560 parts per million, twice the level of 1750, was 3.5 C in the 2001 report. Now it is down to 3 C.”

But no editors are going to run blaring headlines, “IPCC Climbs Down Slightly From Direst Predictions.” The report was, in any case, crafted to avoid any such less-than-grim headlines. “I hope this report will shock people,” said the chairman of the IPCC.

Shock tactics inevitably mean simplifying in an area of unimaginable complexity. No one knows how to create a reliable model of the planet’s climate, and inconvenient anomalies muddy the story line of the warming zealots. From 1940 to 1975, the global temperature fell even as CO2 emission rose. Since 2001, global temperatures have only gone up a statistically insignificant 0.03 degrees Celsius. And in recent years, the oceans have actually gotten cooler.

None of this, obviously, is to deny global warming, but to introduce a note of caution about the calls for individual and collective self-denial that accompany the warming panic. If people feel better about using compact fluorescent light bulbs, so be it, but schemes to mandate drastic reductions in carbon emissions based on avoiding an entirely speculative calamity are folly.

Even the Kyoto Treaty, which would have only a slight effect on global climate even if fully implemented, is unrealistic. Earnest, well-meaning Canada would have to reduce its emissions by a whooping (and impossible) one third to meet its Kyoto target by 2012. That great climate scold, Europe, has been increasing its CO(2) emissions at a rate faster than ours, according to Christopher Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We can crack-down on our emissions as much as we like, but China will soon pass the U.S. as the world’s greatest polluter and is robustly unrepentant about it.

The sensible ways to try to mitigate global warming and counteract its effects in the long run are the development of new energy technologies in the West, as well as economic development and aid programs for those third-world countries that are most vulnerable to disease and sea-level rises. These solutions won’t, however, satiate the deeper atavistic urges behind the global-warming panic. For that, people will have to head to their nearest place of worship.

© 2007 by King Features Syndicate

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Hey Vi, I think I've found your problem. You've been smoking marijuana. Here's some of the effects:
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Short-term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, loss of coordination, increased heart rate, and anxiety.
marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint)

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

Med ...

I'm so happy that you've "found" my problem. Now if you could only find yours.

Vi

__________________
Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Yes Vi', all we can do is estimate. I imagine the people of pompei were estimating that vesuvius would stop, sparing all their lives.

The truth is, we don't know what's happening, why, or even if it will stop. Something is happening, just as vesuvius warned the pompei citizens with it's tremors, now the earth is warning us with it's erratic weather. Let's not forget New Orleans, the Asian tsunami...

Even slight shifts in our temperatures can have catastrophic consequences. I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but it will be for millions of people that are going to die as a result. Millions that HAVE died as a result.

No offense meant here Skunk, but ... New Orleans, at least the toll on property and lives WERE caused by human error. Not by driving SUVs or using hair spray ... but BECAUSE A WHOLE BUNCH OF STUPID ASS PEOPLE CHOSE TO BUILD A CITY AND LIVE BELOW SEA LEVEL!" The Tsunami was caused by a earth quake, not global warming. But this is a great illustration in how the propaganda spewing from the left has influenced mainstream thinking.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Uhh........... would you consider all the damage and wasted lives and treasure in Iraq Human error, or are you too blind to see the truth staring at you from every angle. Just because Humans decided to build New Orleans doesn't mean that we should abandon them while spending billions rebuilding Iraq. What kind of idiocy does that entail?

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.

Duh, did you read the fucking post, Med? We were talking about the causes of global warming and skunk intimated that New Orleans and the Tsunami was cause by global warming. Did I say that we "should abandon" the people in New Orleans? And, WTF does Iraq have to do with New Orleans?

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Sorry Vi', my mistake. I actually meant to intimate that gw will cause catastrophies like these, and more besides.

Even though you cannot prove that these catastrophies were caused by gw, there is still room for pause. The trouble with America is that it is run by the oil companies. I am neither left nor right. I like to gather evidence from both sides then make my own mind up.

I've seen tornadoes in my city, the type that can pick people up off the groud. That is unusual in my country, yet a very recent occurence, and they are getting worse. I wonder how much of the wildlife has been killed in my country after the unusually hot weather for this time of year. Animals awoke from hibernation thinking it was spring only for several inches of snow to land a couple of weeks later. This will have a knock-on effect.

The oil companies stand to lose billions if gw is realised as a real threat, they will spend millions to ensure this doesn't happen.

OK, now please explain how George Bush causes hurricanes and earthquakes.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

You just don't get it Vi., Bush is an ass of the first degree, most of us know that. We are not blaming him for the effects of global warming, just the covering up of the truth. I think you are losing your ability to reason, I've been noticing in your posts of late a rather abstract accounting for reason. I mean, Dubya causes hurricanes and earthquakes, You aren't dealing with 5 year olds here, we can figure that out. If you are going to answer posts with questions, please make an attempt at sincerity?

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Life is good, the water is sweet. The ground keeps moving beneath my feet.