Our Sources Say
Climate change: Science or politics
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lthough he didn’t say it, President Obama clearly declared a war on coal in a speech June 26 at Georgetown University. He stated he would take action on climate change because the issue was too critical and the damage too acute to wait on Congress to act. He said he had instructed EPA to implement rules to control carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired electric generating plants. He stated we didn’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society and that he doesn’t have patience for anyone who denies the reality of climate change. He stopped short of saying climate change is the result of anthropogenic (man-made) carbon dioxide, but the implication was clear – burning coal is increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise. Despite a 50 percent increase in global carbon dioxide since 1990 (U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have dropped to 16 percent of total global carbon dioxide emissions), it appears the climate has not changed dramatically. Inconveniently, annual global temperature has remained statistically unchanged for the past 17 years. President Obama stated that July 2012 was the warmest month in the warmest year on record. What he didn’t say was the warmest temperature was not the hottest temperature on record. Rather, the July 2012 night temperatures were slightly less cool than the next warmest year in the 1930s. Even Phil Jones with the UK’s Climate Research Unit, one of the most outspoken climate change alarmists, admits global temperatures have increased only 0.12C per decade over the past 17 years, which is not statistically significant with a measurement uncertainty of 0.5C (four times the temperature change). President Obama stated more than once in his speech that “97 percent of scientists acknowledge the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.” His comments relate to the study authored by J.D. Cook, “Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature,” based on surveys of paper abstracts. It was not mentioned that, weeks
after the study, Cook admitted that only 1.8 percent of the authors expressed an opinion in the abstracts. So the actual count of scientists is 97 percent of 1.8 percent. President Obama also stated that Arctic ice is receding quickly, and we must act before it is completely gone. What he didn’t say was that Arctic ice was not tracked by satellite data until 1979, so the sample size is still extremely small. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported last year there was 28 percent more Arctic ice than in 2007 and that Arctic temperatures were higher in the 1930s. Others, like Al Gore, have consistently stated that climate change has caused more and stronger hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and floods. Data recorded by Dr. John Christy at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and confirmed by NOAA establish there are fewer and less severe hurricanes and tornadoes in this century than in other eras. Also, there is no scientific evidence that droughts and floods are any more frequent or severe than in other periods. President Obama also carries his attack on carbon dioxide emissions on political grounds. He refers to “carbon pollution,” although life is impossible without carbon dioxide. He used the term “carbon pollution” at least 20 times in his Georgetown speech to correlate carbon dioxide emissions with the alleged damage of climate change. If the President can move the political bar of public opinion against carbon dioxide emissions by painting it with the brush of carbon pollution, he can bring pressure on electric utilities that burn coal to agree to a tax on carbon emissions. The carbon tax, of course, solves many problems for the President. The interests of the environmental left are served with the carbon tax, which theoretically reduces carbon dioxide emissions and also raises tax revenue for government spending programs. It appears climate change is now much more a political issue than a scientific issue. And, who knows what happens in politics. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a good month. A
Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
44 OCTOBER 2013
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