There must be something really wrong, I thought.
Henny-Penny, founder and recording secretary of The Holy Order of
The Sky is Falling, never calls at night and it was now 10 p.m.
“It’s a calamity,” She squawked. “They’ve decided not to pass a
climate change treaty at Copenhagen next month. The sky is going
to collapse by the end of the year,” she moaned. I did my best to
calm her:
Us: Now settle back on your
nest and take a deep breath. So those leaders at the APEC
conference in Singapore saw reality and postponed their treaty.
China and India weren’t about to cut their carbon emissions way
back, and without them a treaty wouldn’t be worth
anything.
Ms. H-P: But there won’t be
anything to stop global warming now. Within a few months the sky
will have fallen so far that the other hens and I will be laying
fried eggs.
Us: If this calamity is so
imminent, what will you do about it?
Ms. H-P: I’m going to ask our
Pontiff, Al Gore, to issue a Pontifical Bull.
Us: I thought that’s what
he’d been doing for the last 20 years or so.
Ms. H-P: You’re not taking
this seriously.
Us: I take global warming
fear-mongering very seriously. There are two kinds of
scientists supporting the notion that the world is getting
warmer, that it will get a lot worse and it’s all caused by
industrial society. One kind is made up of scientists who
genuinely believe that the readings of average ground level
temperatures are a reliable guide for basing computer
models. The other kind is made up of people on the payrolls
of organizations dedicated to the politics of global warming. By
politics I mean the belief that humans are ruining the planet and
must be made to ratchet down their living standards and have a
lot fewer children. But cheer up, I have some good climate
news.
Ms. H-P: I don’t know what
could be good about melting icebergs.
Us: The Pacific Research
Institute, a think tank, has
released its annual “Index of Leading
Environmental Indicators,” based on 2008 figures. They wrote
that “the data show that 2008 was the coolest year since 2000,
and there has been no discernible warming for the last decade,
after two decades of steady warming between 1978 and 1998.”
You’ll be interested to know that they also report that “Arctic
sea levels rebounded form the all-time modern low observed in
2007.”
Ms. H-P: They’re probably
financed by some coal mining company.
Us: Far from it. Their
supporters are individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses that
believe in finding market-oriented solutions to policy
problems.
Ms. H-P: That may be, but
it’s unfair to call scientists worried about global warming
“alarmists.”
Us: Let me give you an
example. John Holdren, President Obama’s Science Czar, is a
leading cheerleader for the global warming theory, but back in
1971 he was predicting a new ice age that would be caused by such
human-caused phenomena as air pollution, agricultural dust, jet
exhaust and decertification. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The
calamity is the same, but three decades ago it was going to be
caused by global cooling; now it’s global warming.
Ms. H-P: There’s still hope
that something good will come out of Copenhagen next month. When
the leaders made their announcement the other day they said they
expect the conference to reach a “politically binding”
agreement.
Us: If you believe that, you
can believe that a good fairy is going to deliver you a golden
egg. That statement of Obama et al. is just talk, just as the
Bali conference was two years ago and this one will be in
Copenhagen.
Ms. H-P: If our leaders can’t
see that the sky is falling, I may stay home from that
conference.
Us: Now, that’s a good idea.
Think of all the carbon emissions you’ll save. Good
night.
(Mr. Hannaford writes from the Northern California coast,
which has had another cool year this year.)
.
