Global Warming - A lot of hot air?

It seems (at least to me) like there's always at least one anguished and earnest news item that seeks to inform, but instead creates alarm by pointing out that at the current rate of global warming islands in the South Pacific like Vanuatu risk becoming completely submerged in a relatively short space of time. Alaskan glaciers are calving at an alarming rate and soon there will be no polar ice cap. They point to green-house gas emissions and pollution as the primary reasons for global warming and warn that unless mankind mends its profligate ways, we shall all soon meet a watery end. The subtext to this story is that if we all rode bicycles to work and eschewed air-conditioning and deodorants, the earth could return to its pristine natural state.

I must confess though that the thought of being in the presence of someone who has just ridden briskly to work, and having sworn off air-conditioning is perspiring freely in a wholly natural way unencumbered by deodorants, is enough to make me wish for an early grave. Even a watery one.

All of this demagoguery, as is usual in these cases, misses one very critical point: The earth has been going through a cycle of gradual climate change through the ages and this change seems to continue even after the advent of man. There is plenty of evidence that there is a gradual warming of the earth's atmosphere that has been occuring since the early 1800s. There is however less evidence that this warming trend has been exacerbated by human activities. It is well documented by the US Environmental Protection Agency that organic decomposition and plant respiration account for 10 times the carbon dioxide released by human activities.

Looking at the rate of change of the earth's climate from before the Industrial Revolution to the present day is particularly illuminative. While there is a change in the climate (it is getting warmer), there seems to be no spike in the rate of change following the industrialization of some parts of the world. While it is true that cities are warmer than the surrounding countryside, the difference would appear to be imperceptible to all but the most sensitive instruments.

So why all the shrill ranting about the irreversible effects of climate change? Why the incessant hectoring by the radical left about the Kyoto accord? To state it simply, the Kyoto accord seeks among other things to reduce CO2 emissions by 10% by 2010 from the 1990 levels. There is a considerable amount of argument on both sides of the subject on whether this will actually have any effect on the temperature of the earth by 2010.

I suggest two very simple explanations for all this hysteria: (1) well-intentioned but mis-informed or uninformed people, and (2) the profit motive. Not that there's anything wrong with the profit motive. I like profits as much as the next guy - more even. Let's just call it what it is.

NGOs get grants by sensationalizing the problem. Manufacturers sell products by touting them as being somehow more environmentally friendly, never letting the truth get in the way of a sale. Read my blog "The Pious Prius Posse". As CNN reports "Global Warming is Good for Business".

With Earth Day just around the corner, expect to be bombarded by more such alarmist drivel.