Monday, July 9, 2007

Cost of Global Warming Action

How much are you willing to pay to decrease carbon emissions? Live Earth has asked millions to Answer the Call by making a commitment in six areas; commitment to actions designed to reverse or prevent the climate crisis. Five of the choices are things which all of us can do relatively easily and without much expense. These are things which we should do, today. But the sixth choice (the only default choice) adds your name to the Live Earth Pledge. Nowhere is the old axiom “read before you sign” more important than in this case. This pledge lists 7 itemized actions to which you agree. All require some degree of life-style change, but item 1 will result in the kind of radical life-style change none of us can afford.
1.To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth [Emphasis Mine]
I am sure most of us don’t realize what the actual cost of just this part of the pledge will be, and this cost alone is far more disastrous than the effects of man-made global warming.

According to the National Review Online (NRO) article Economics in Reverse to achieve just 1/3 of the 90% goal of Live Earth will have such disastrous economic impacts that the cost benefit ratio yields bankruptcy - figuratively and literally.
In order to decrease carbon emissions by 33 percent, we would have to remove every existing car and truck from the road (yes, that includes your hybrid), ground every airplane, and shut down every gas station in the United States. In order to bump up from there to a 73-percent decrease in emissions, we would have to shut down most of our electrical grid, with the exception of areas supplied only by nuclear plants, windmills, and dams.
Are you ready to re-enter the Stone Age. This is the way. Al Gore and his ilk have gained most of the press on this issue. They are using scare tactics to manipulate us to take action which at best can only have minimal effect on the Global Warming situation. At Worst, we will be required to make costly and most certainly impossible life-style changes. For what? Despite what Al Gore has claimed since 1982, not all scientists agree with the hype. Clearly man has some effect on Global Warming, but how much is the question not yet answered. We simply do not have enough evidence to cry wolf yet. There is hard to find, but available scientific evidence (see all my posts) that the current Global Warming is mostly a natural cycle for our Earth. We need more Scientific Research and less hyperventilating “Chicken Little” rhetoric before we take any irreversible and EXPENSIVE steps.

President Regan once said the most publicly feared words were “Hi. I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” We would do well to remember this admonition.

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