Interesting article by Bjorn Lomborg, possibly the most high profile skeptic in the world today. While i do agree that doomsday climate change scenarios are thrown about too willy-nilly, i think its a problem of the press rather than that of scientists. I also disagree with Lomborg that the sudden appetite for biofuels is driven by a desire for a greener economy. In the US at least, the surge in biofuels subsidies is likely the Bush administration’s strategy to protect US energy security as fuel prices soar with little indication that they’ll be coming down anytime soon. While the administration may cite climate change as a justification, even Lomborg cant be so naive as to believe that the country that has undermined Kyoto and its possible successor would suddenly opt for a major policy shift in the structure of its national fuel use, based on ‘the hyperventilations of a bunch of bleeding hearts and hippies.’
Also, i do remember reading somewhere that the earth has indeed experienced cooling over the past few years, largely because of a sudden surge in volcanic eruptions and the resultant ash that is suspended in the atmosphere.
Anyway – its all yours to read on…
Al Gore and the green inquisition
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/eo20080716a1.html
Consider one of the most significant steps taken to respond to climate change. Adopted because of the climate panic, biofuels were supposed to reduce COe emissions. Hansen described them as part of a “brighter future for the planet.” But using biofuels to fight climate change must rate as one of the worst global “solutions” to any great challenge in recent times.
Biofuels essentially take food from mouths and puts it into cars. The grain required to fill the tank of an SUV with ethanol is enough to feed one African for a year. Thirty percent of this year’s corn production in the United States will be burned up on America’s highways. This has been possible only through subsidies that globally will total $15 billion this year alone.
Because increased demand for biofuels leads to cutting down carbon-rich forests, a 2008 Science study showed that the net effect of using them is not to cut COe emissions, but to double them. The rush toward biofuels has also strongly contributed to rising food prices, which have tipped another roughly 30 million people into starvation.
Because of climate panic, our attempts to mitigate climate change have provoked a disaster. We will waste hundreds of billions of dollars, worsen global warming, and dramatically increase starvation.
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