Green Wackos

Global Warming is a minor hot button issue with me. Not the fact that the climate is getting warmer, but all the politics surrounding the fact, and the science/pseudo-science associated with the phenomenon. There’s some debate going on here, but not a lot. What little dissent one sees to the received wisdom about the causes of global warming is immediately pooh-poohed by a host of experts as “uninformed,” or worse. Witness our Bud AlGore, perhaps the leading light in the pantheon of Green Demagogues. And the previous link is old, predating the release of “An Inconvenient Truth.” Don't get me started on that subject. Please.

And so yesterday I learn, from the flippin’ Weather Channel, of all places(!), that Tony Blair “enlisted” AlGore to lobby the US on climate change. The Irish Times:

The British government has hired former US vice president Al Gore as a lobbyist to convince the American public that action must be taken urgently to combat the "disastrous" threat of global warming.

The unusual appointment was announced yesterday following the publication in London of a major review by the government's chief economist warning of the dire consequences of failing to deal with climate change.

Sir Nicholas Stern's review starkly warned that the world was entering "dangerous territory" unless urgent action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the rise in global temperatures.

[…]

The review was published just a week before the latest round of UN talks on climate change starts in Nairobi, Kenya and on the same day that the UN secretariat in Bonn released data showing an upward trend in emissions between 2000 and 2004.

The weighty review provides ammunition for Mr Blair's drive to persuade the US, as well as fast-growing developing countries such as China and India, to sign up to a new global framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Well, now. That’s pretty interesting, isn’t it? Now about that Stern report…Here’s an op-ed in the WSJ on that subject. It’s a fairly long read, so it’s work. But Bjorn Lomborg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist," read the Stern document so you don’t have to. Thank him for that, and read his critique. I’ll give you the executive summary, according to Mr. Lomborg: the Stern report suffers from errors, bad data, bad assumptions, and worse…bad prescriptions for a solution to “global warming.” The “solutions,” if implemented the way the Green Wackos want, would be worse than the cure. More debate on this subject, please. Convince me, because I’m sure as Hell not there yet.

Oh, and for the folks at The Weather Channel: stick to your knitting and spare us the global warming sermons. You’re very good at what you do, which is weather reporting. On the other hand, I find Dr. Heidi Cullen, Climate Expert, and her "commentary" annoying as all get-out. Stop it.