Climate Surprise: Why More CO2 is Good for the Earth

I had the good fortune to attend a talk by conservative author Mark Steyn at the Princeton Club in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, sponsored by Roger Kimball’s The New Criterion and co-sponsored by the newly formed CO₂ Coalition, founded by Princeton physicist Will Happer.
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Rapture Of The Deeps

One of the reasons I lived so much of my life in the tropical South Pacific is because of the diving. Coral reefs are one of the most astounding ecosystems on the planet, boiling over with energy, movement, and color. I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in the water, both snorkeling and scuba, and most of my time was spent just marveling at the endless variety of the reef creatures large and small.


As a result, I’ve had a long-time interest in the claimed effects that people say increased CO2 will have on the reefs.


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The Snows of Rainier

On March 26th 2013, retired Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University gave a devastating testimony before a Washington State Senate Committee against the belief that human induced CO2 is causing global warming. He opened up his presentation by criticizing media bias and the politicization of science through climate change, and said the planet is getting cooler rather than warmer.

Easterbrook acutely remarked that while CO2 levels have continued to rise since World War II, the planet underwent a significant cool down between 1940-1975. He also emphasized that another cooling trend abruptly began again in 1998. Like the cycle of 1940-1975, Easterbrook predicted cooling weather will continue for the foreseeable future. So far his prediction has come true -- and CO2 levels continue to rise.

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OPB: OSU Study Casts Doubt On 'Worst Case' Climate Change

A new study led by Oregon State University scientists casts doubt on a climate change worst-case scenario. The new study helps narrow down what the greenhouse effect might mean for the earth’s climate. Read more at OPB... Read More......

Bonn talks heat up, but where is the warming?

FORBES, 6/8/2011 by James M. Taylor (Heartland Institute) - Global greenhouse gas emissions have risen even faster during the past decade than predicted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other international agencies. According to alarmist groups, this proves global warming is much worse than previously feared. The increase in emissions “should shock even the most jaded negotiators” at international climate talks currently taking place in Bonn, Germany, the UK Guardian reports. But there’s only one problem with this storyline; global temperatures have not increased at all during the past decade. Read more at Forbes... Read More......

Feldstein: Cap-and-Trade: All Cost, No Benefit

WASHINGTON POST, 6/1/2009 by Martin Feldstein - The Obama administration and congressional Democrats have proposed a major cap-and-trade system aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Scientists agree that CO2 emissions around the world could lead to rising temperatures with serious long-term environmental consequences. But that is not a reason to enact a U.S. cap-and-trade system until there is a global agreement on CO2 reduction. The proposed legislation would have a trivially small effect on global warming while imposing substantial costs on all American households. And to get political support in key states, the legislation would abandon the auctioning of permits in favor of giving permits to selected corporations. Read more at the Washington Post...

Hat tip: John H. Detweiler
John says, "It may be all cost and no benefit but it is politically correct. Besides, it make us feel good." Read More......

EU reconsiders green laws to shore up industry

Sectors affected by the ongoing recession – including cars and the chemical industry – will be offered specific treatment under a revised industrial policy to be agreed by EU ministers today (28 May). ∴ EU ministers responsible for industry, trade and research are due to agree a new approach to industrial policy that takes greater care of key sectors such as the chemicals and automotive industries as Europe battles through its worst economic recession since the 1930s. ∴ Germany in particular reckons that all additional environmental legislation should be put on ice until economic conditions return to normal, according to one senior diplomatic source. ∴ The REACH regulation on chemicals and the extension of carbon dioxide emission limits to light duty vehicles in the automotive sector were both cited as areas where industry will be offered special treatment. ∴ The aim is to soften the impact of Europe's strict environmental rules as industries fight their way through the economic recession. Read more at EurActiv... Read More......

Re: HB2186: Write Now!!!....Right now (please)

MOVED TO TOP
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY writes: HB 2186, pending before the Oregon Legislature, is a dangerous bill! HB 2186 will be considered on the floor of the House next Tuesday, and we need you to respond immediately to send your Legislators a message that they need to vote against this legislation. This bill is an effort to sneak global warming restrictions through in the guise of expanded State Agency powers.

HB 2186 would grant the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality broad but poorly defined powers to regulate greenhouse gasses within our economy. It provides DEQ with a virtual "blank check" to implement any new regulations the Agency deems necessary to reduce CO2. Studies have shown that an effort to limit CO2 emissions in Oregon will cost our state almost 100,000 jobs - at a time when our state has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation. DEQ would be able to ban - without public input - any product it deemed "contains too much carbon."

The DEQ has expressed interest in adopting the greenhouse gas regulations currently in force in California. Coupled with the bill's mandate of a 10 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020, the most likely response is a mandate to increase the use of ethanol fuel which presents a fire hazard, causes lower vehicle performance and can cause damage to vehicles. In addition, the bill allows DEQ to adopt "green tire" standards for passenger cars that would increase tire costs and limit consumer tire choice. All these costs will be passed along to Oregon vehicle owners.

In addition, DEQ is considering requiring expensive retrofits for the entire Oregon private medium- and heavy-duty trucking fleet to reduce aerodynamic drag. Since Oregon has so few manufacturing facilities due to the high cost of doing business and the government's hostility to business, most products must be brought into our state by truck or rail. The retrofit cost estimates for the fleet run as high as $4.5 billion - a price that will be passed along to Oregon consumers. The bill also allows DEQ to restrict truck and ship idling - in California this means shutting off your engine when idling for more than five minutes at any location.

HB 2186 is a bad bill that will cost Oregon jobs and our economy billions of dollars. Efforts to fight global warming at the state and federal levels are just an excuse to raise our taxes and make us pay more to heat our homes, drive our cars and buy the products we use every single day. I urge you to add your voice to those opposing HB 2186.

Yours In Freedom,

Jeff Kropf, State Director
Americans for Prosperity – Oregon Read More......

Letter: Concern over climate change is premature (April 6)

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES, LETTERS, 4/6/2009 by Jean Nelson - The extreme environmental movement appears to be producing a following akin to a religion. Doting on exaggerated claims of catastrophe if we don’t do something NOW, these alarmists blame people for the 0.6 degree Celsius increase in the Earth’s temperature over the past 100 years. Never mind that much of the warming occurred prior to the time that the combustion engine could have affected the Earth’s climate. Don’t pay attention to the fact that today we’re in a period of cooling.

Computer-generated models that predict radical results from global warming have not been able accurately to predict past events. Though now discredited by many scientists, the faithful still cling to predictions of future catastrophe. Oregon’s Legislature is under pressure to declare “emergency” and attempt to reduce greenhouse gases. No scheme seems to be too great. Even eliminating our access to affordable sources of energy is being considered.

Carbon tax, cap-and-trade — they, too, are negative, damaging, premature solutions that are being proposed before adequate alternative fuels are available.

Cap-and-trade is meant to discourage use of fossil fuels by increasing their cost and availability. Some scientists think controlling CO2 emissions will reduce variations in the Earth’s temperature. Others, like prolific writer Prof. Delgado Domingos of Portugal, who founded the Numerical Weather Forecast group, says, “Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense. The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control ….”

Jean Nelson, Corvallis
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Whoa Nellie, if CO2 is designated a pollutant by the EPA!

E.P.A. Expected to Act in Regulating Carbon Dioxide. “If the environmental agency determines that carbon dioxide is a dangerous pollutant to be regulated under the Clean Air Act, it would set off one of the most extensive regulatory rule makings in history.” --Instapundit Read More......