Global Warming Skeptics Are Not Evil - Ed Ring
It is beyond debate that the earth is warming, and that CO2 is a
partial cause of this warming. The remaining debate, and it is by no
means closed, is how much the earth is warming, and how much of this
warming has to do with human-caused CO2 emissions. An under-reported
fact is that among atmospheric scientists, the most catastrophic
projections are not something for which there is anything near a
consensus.
Whether or not you believe greenhouse gas from humans is the biggest
problem to ever face humanity or not, the right to debate this issue
should not be infringed. But earlier this month, taking a step that
ought to chill any American who believes in the right to free speech,
California Attorney General Bill Lockyear filed a motion in federal
court to force auto makers to disclose all documents and
communications between the companies and "climate skeptics." Lockyear
claims these "climate skeptics" have played a "major role in spreading
disinformation about global warming."
This motion is part of a lawsuit by automakers challenging the state?s
greenhouse gas emissions limits for new cars, light-duty trucks and
sports utility vehicles. California has been joined in the lawsuit by
the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the
Environmental Defense Fund.
In a pre-trial discovery motion, California and the environmental
groups asked for:
"All DOCUMENTS relating to both GLOBAL WARMING and to any of the
following individuals: S. Fred Singer, James Glassman, David Legates,
Richard Lindzen, Patrick J. Michaels, Thomas Gale Moore, Robert C.
Balling, Jr., Sherwood B. Idso, Craig D. Idso, Keith E. Idso, Sallie
Baliunas, Paul Reiter, Chris Homer [sic], Ross McKitrick, Julian
Morris, Frederick Seitz, Willie Soon, and Steven Milloy, including but
not limited to:
All DOCUMENTS relating to any communications between YOU and these
individuals, and All DOCUMENTS relating to YOUR relationship (or the
relationship of any automobile manufacturer or association of
automobile manufacturers) with any of them, including but not limited
to payments directly or indirectly from YOU or any other automobile
manufacturer or association of automobile manufacturer to any of them."
Since when are greenhouse gas skeptics on trial here? What exactly is
the point of this motion - to intimidate anyone who challenges the new
greenhouse gas orthodoxy?
Why don't California's lawmakers and their powerful environmental
lobby stick to regulating pollutants from automobiles? The air in
California's central valley is filthy and disgusting, it's nearly
unbreathable on many summer days. And all CO2 does is make the corn
grow. It is not a pollutant. It may be a greenhouse gas, but it is
not a pollutant. Regulate air pollution, not CO2. As everyone,
including Governor Schwarzenegger, falls over themselves to be
proactive on the global warming issue, our eyes sting and our lungs
hurt and nothing's being done.
The measures that would have to be taken to make meaningful cuts in
CO2 emissions would be literally communist in scope. But big business
would buy into the process, earning even more profits from the new
carbon taxes that would fund lucrative contracts for carbon
sequestration and carbon mitigation - and every small entrepreneur
would lose. It would be a consolidation of state and private
enterprise akin to what we've seen in the waste management industry,
but on a far, far greater scale.
On the international level, forcing reductions in carbon dioxide
emissions will be a justification for war. Geopolitically, enforcing
these measures would be the equivalent of a blockade. It would
strangle the economies of emerging nations. But nobody thinks about
these other consequences - and nobody pauses to question just how
likely the worst-case global warming scenarios really are.
The fanaticism of the global warming zealots is dangerous. The
unquestioning obedience of the media to the global warming lobby is
criminal, if anything is criminal in this charade. And the
gullibility of the public proves H.L. Mencken right again. It would
be so easy to be cynical, in this crazy, mixed up democracy called
America.
Ed Ring
Editor
ecoworld
www.ecoworld.com
