THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 106, May 2, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHY THE PUBLIC WON'T BUY GREENHOUSE LIMITS
By Dennis T. Avery
ENVIRONMENTALISM & THE CLIMATE STRATEGY OF THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS: WHY THE POLITICAL
ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY & THE ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT HAS THUS FAR FAILED TO GET THE
U.S. CONGRESS TO ENACT REGULATORY & TAX LEGISLATION LIMITING THE EMISSIONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE & OTHER
GREENHOUSE GASES INTO THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE -- THE DECLINE IN PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT MAN-MADE GLOBAL
WARMING -- HAS GLOBAL WARMING BECOME A DEAD ISSUE? HAS THE EARTH ENTERED A COOLING PHASE?
FULL STORY:
In the April 2, 2011, issue of the Far-Left New Republic, Associate Editor Bradford Plumer asked his readers
whether the Greens’ climate strategy had been a “total flop.” He said the Greens had helped elect President Barack Obama
and a filibuster-proof majority in both Houses of Congress, and approved Obama’s Cabinet and “czars.” The President
was expected to roll over the climate deniers.
“Instead,” says Plumer, “the climate push was . . . a total flop."
"By late 2010, the main cap-and-trade bill had fizzled out
in the Senate; not a single Republican would agree to
vote for it. Greens ended up winning zilch from Congress,
not even minor legislation to boost renewable electricity
or energy efficiency. Worse, after the 2010 midterms, the
House GOP became overrun with climate deniers, while
voters turned apathetic about global warming.”
Plumer wants to know who or what to blame. Was it strategy? Money? A failure of Presidential will? None of the above.
The Greens and Obama are failing on emission controls for the simplest of reasons. The earth stopped warming.
James Hansen told the Senate in 1988 that the earth would thenceforth do nothing but get rapidly warmer, dictated by
rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. For a time, Hansen’s predictions seemed to be accurate — but then,
after 1998, the warming trend stopped. CO2 concentrations continued to rise, but the temperatures didn’t. The public
began to wonder if the previous warming-with-CO2 had been a coincidence.
Then came 2007, and a sharp drop in global temperatures! The computer models’ predictions had failed. The mainstream
media kept mostly silent about this unnerving development, but the blogs and talk radio didn’t. This was itself a key
change in the public persuasion machinery, which had previously been unanimous in its promotion of man-made global
warming.
The lack of public panic on temperatures has been supported by the satellites, arguably the best source of global
temperature information ever devised. The global warming alarmists kept shouting “record high averages,” but the
satellites have revealed only a modest increase since 1979, and no recent upward temperature trend.
The skeptics also note that the thermometer record has recently trended both upward and downward — in 30-year
spurts. Those spurts now appear linked to a 60-year cycle in the Pacific. In 2008, NASA said its satellites confirmed the
Pacific moving into a cool phase, which is likely to last 25 years. The sunspot index has just been through an ultra-long
minimum, which also suggests colder temperatures. Is this another climate step-change?
Climate legislation now hinges on the temperatures over the next three years or so. A cooling trend will endorse the
solar cause of warming. A resumption of warming will re-endorse the greenhouse theory.
But the public isn’t waiting. They’ve already “gone apathetic,” to quote Plumer. Concern about global warming has
dropped 12 percent in America since 2001, according to a March Gallup poll. We’ve had a series of obviously colder,
snow-filled Winters. Several of the IPCC scare stories have been proven wrong. The fear of man-made warming has
dropped below critical levels.
Prediction: Global warming is a dead issue, unless the planet can be persuaded to start warming again, quickly. Don’t
blame the President or the eco-ad campaign. Blame the thermometers.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The Earth's Natural History, Global Climate Changes,
& the Future of Human Life & Civilization on the Planet:
Science, Ideology, & Public Policy
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., is an environmental economist. He was
formerly a senior analyst for the U.S. Department of State. He is co-author, with S. Fred Singer, of Unstoppable Global
Warming Every 1500 Years. Readers may write to him at P.O. Box 202, Churchville, VA 2442; or send him email at
cgfi@hughes.net. Visit our website at www. cgfi.org
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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