Global warming - Are We Doing The Right Thing? By Bjorn Lomborg

Last month in Bonn, most of the world’s nations (minus the US) reached an agreement to cut carbon emissions. Generally, the deal was widely reported as almost saving the world. Yet, not only is this untrue in the scientific sense – the deal will do almost no good – but it is also unclear whether carbon emission cuts are really the best way for the world to ensure progress on its most important areas. Global warming is important, environmentally, politically and economically. There is no doubt that mankind has influenced and is still increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and that this will increase temperature. I will not discuss all the scientific uncertainty, but basically accept the models and predictions from the 2001 report of the UN Climate Panel (IPCC). Yet, we will need to separate hyperbole from realities in order to choose our future optimally.

Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists

In what is largely a reversal of an August announcement, astronomers today said Pluto is undergoing global warming in its thin atmosphere even as it moves farther from the Sun on its long, odd-shaped orbit.

Global Warming: Enjoy it While You Can

Policymakers have been arguing for nearly a decade over what to do about global warming. Noticeably missing from this debate has been any mention of the fact that natural fluctuations in the Earth's temperature, not Man, is the likely explanation for any recent warming.

Proponents of the global warming theory repeatedly cite a 1.5 degrees F temperature increase over the last 150 years as evidence that man-made CO2 is dangerously heating up the planet and will cause huge flooding, severe storms, disease and a mass exodus of environmental refugees. Based on this, the Clinton Administration and its environmental allies want Congress to ratify a treaty that will hike consumer prices 40 percent and cost the American economy $3.3 trillion over 20 years. But the apocalyptic predictions on which they justify these drastic steps are totally unsubstantiated and ignore some fundamental truths about the Earth's climatic behavior.

The fact is, the planet's temperature is constantly rising and falling. To put the current warming trend in perspective, it's important to understand the Earth's geological behavior.

Global Apocalypse Fantasy

Looking at climate history over the last 3,000 years of human existence, there is nothing that would lead us to expect that warmer temperatures in the future - should they occur would trigger a global catastrophe. The geologic record already shows natural temperature changes that were larger and more rapid than those predicted by many climate models - and certainly larger than what can be extrapolated from observed temperature trends.

We know from recorded history that warm periods are beneficial for human populations and that cold periods bring disaster. The "climate optimum" around 1100 A.D. facilitated Viking settlement of Greenland, and saw wine grapes grown in England and Nova Scotia. The "Little Ice Age," between 1450 and 1850, brought glaciers down out of the mountains and led to crop failure, famine and disease. So, in general, the effects of even a modest rise in global temperature would be positive. One would even expect bouts of severe weather to be less frequent because models predict a reduced equator-to-pole temperature difference.

EPA Moving to Define CO2 As a Criteria Pollutant

The Environmental Protection Agency is moving quickly toward defining carbon dioxide as a pollutant of the same nature as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen. A recent memorandum from EPA General Counsel Jonathan Cannon to Administrator Carol Browner says that CO2 emissions are definitely within the scope of EPA's present Clean Air Act regulatory authority. He says that if there is scientific evidence that CO2 presents "a threat to human health, welfare, or the environment" then it falls into the same category as SO2 or NOx, and can be regulated as a criteria pollutant.

This would mean promulgation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for CO2, followed by a call for state implementation plans to reduce ambient CO2 levels to acceptable limits. Given that the vast majority of CO2 is emitted naturally, attainment could pose a problem for states.

According to Fred Palmer, general manager of Western Fuels Association, this ruling is a clear signal that EPA will move to regulate CO2. Palmer says that "only in the Orwellian world of modern day environmentalism could CO2 be regarded as a pollutant by the governments of the world and the Clinton administration." Western Fuels a fuel supply cooperative whose members are electric power cooperatives and municipal utilities.

Palmer has founded a group, the Greening Earth Society, to work on the global warming issue, arguing that more CO2 is a good thing for the planet, not a catastrophe. The society says that if CO2 levels continue their present rate of increase, in just 50 years: