The Climate and Chicken Little
Back40 at
Crumb Trail points out the latest doom-mongering from the FOE environmental group.
bq.
Foes of Earth
The shrillness of climate doom mongering is increasing in advance of a report from the International Climate Change Task Force expected tomorrow. See this
press release from the FOEs.
So far the EU is the only block of countries to have shown leadership on climate change. During his Presidency of the EU, and chairing of the G8, Tony Blair must support continued European leadership and not be tempted to cut a deal with the US that will undermine the EU and international agreements on tackling global warming.
Friends of the Earth's Director Tony Juniper said:
"This alarming warning must spur the Government into urgent action on climate change. Despite his apparent concerns, the Prime Minister has so far put short term political convenience ahead of desperately needed policies to tackle global warming. This is why UK carbon dioxide levels have risen under Labour. If Tony Blair wants the world to fight climate change, he must lead by example. He must take steps to ensure year-on- year cuts in UK emissions.
"The alarm bells are growing louder. If world leaders fail to take urgent action it will soon be too late."
bq. Rubbish. The EU has done nothing. All of its energies have gone into Kyoto which does nothing at all about climate change. Treaties, taxes, regulations and the normal grift of government can hobble society but not reduce emissions enough to matter at all. Both the EU and the US would have to cease to exist to stabilize things, but only for a moment since China and India as well as other populous developing nations will add it all back and much more in short order.
The "urgent action" proposed includes setting goals and forming better ties with developing nations such as China. That will help... not. A goal of getting 25% of electricity from "renewables" in developed countries by 2025 isn't achievable absent breakthrough technology and wouldn't change things anyway. China alone will increase emissions more than that.
bq. The issue is technological. Better ways to produce power are needed and methods to cleanse the atmosphere are needed. The continued posturing of politicians and their indentured scientists is meaningless, as useful for climate management as the UN has been for tsunami relief... not at all. It's merely an excuse to fly to exotic locales and enjoy the perquisites of power, to pretend to be doing something and so stay in the public eye. It's the political equivalent of the academic requirement to publish or perish.
Back40 then links to an article at
Tech Central Station from Tim Worstall.
Tim notices that one proven carbon-free technology is missing in their 40 page report on alternative energy solutions and sums up with this paragraph:
bq. Allow me just to recapitulate this argument. A modest number of the international great and the good get together to bemoan the way the world is running to rack and ruin, identifying the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (and not coincidentally, the beginning of capitalism) as when our forefathers began to cause our problems, come up with a series of recommendations on how to reduce carbon emissions, lots of international action, international aid, international spending, international regulation, in short, lots for the international great and good to do, and in the process they take no position on nuclear energy? None at all? Not even a "Tsk, tsk, that will allow capitalism to survive?"
His whole
article is worth reading, so is
Back40's
Posted by DaveH at January 25, 2005 6:26 PM