Certainly not the UN!
The debate, such as it is, over global warming has been increasingly driven by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The UN-supported body has acquired the status of , say, the Vatican Curia, a direct representative from On High, not to be questioned by mere mortals. But the IPCC deserves no such respect.
Explains H. Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis:
More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to sound the alarm over the possibility that global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to study and better understand this potential threat. The IPCC’s mission was to provide a “comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socio-economic assessment of human-caused climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.”
IPCC reports have predicted that average world temperatures will increase dramatically, leading to the spread of tropical diseases, severe drought, the rapid melting of the world’s glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. Congress is considering proposals to slow rising temperatures by joining international agreements or by implementing policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
However, several assessments have shown that the techniques and methods used to derive and verify the IPCC’s climate predictions are fundamentally flawed. They indicate that the IPCC’s central claims — that the present warming trend is unusual, caused by human activities and will result in serious harm — are not supported by scientific forecasts. Rather, these claims are opinions that are no more likely to be right than wrong.
Great. We should move ahead and wreck our economy based on ideologically biased guesses!
Loading ...
My dear Mr. Bandow, in response to your closing comment, of course. And if you doubt that this is the proper course of action, just read what Doctor Kevin Trenberth has to say in response to Doctor Bill Gray: http://fortcollinsforumonline.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=515.
I think you’ll find this most edifying.
Forgive me for posting twice consecutively. The link above isn’t clicking through. Google Fort Collins Forum Online + Bill Gray. It’s a written debate that Ray Harvey and I recently set up. You’ll love what you read.
Those well-intended Americans who resist change are undermining our economy. The U.S. economy has always prospered in times of change, as it would if we would more enthusiastically embrace efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. The new technologies we could invent and market would benefit our economy even more than the internet revolution. Those who come up with lame excuses that
the climate is not changing, or that it would hurt our economy to reduce our carbon emissions are actually killing our economy by clinging to old paradigms. These same people resisted the spread of the rail network across the country, or the move towards the information/internet age.
- Adam Rogers, New York
It’s about time someone stood up for the truth. Ray Harvey is excellent in his analysis. Just keep following the money. You will see this is mostly about power and money. Let’s see, Whole Foods gives up plastic in the name of saving the planet when their food prices only increase making the Austin hippies who started it very, very rich. They are laughing all the way to the bank while you sign your name to a recycled piece of paper swearing to “save the planet”. You better save yourself first.