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Posted on 06/05/2009 4:11:18 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON—Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., in the middle of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S.-China climate change relations, leaned forward in his chair and asked the expert panel, “What’s the catastrophe?” Lugar, a long-time advocate of emissions reductions and global warming prevention, asked the expert panel to clarify just what the disaster would be if carbon emissions are not reduced.
The three members of the panel, all experts on greenhouse gas emissions in China, looked at each other and hesitated.
The panel had reached a consensus that the United States and China contribute 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and must forge an emissions-reduction partnership to “avert climate disaster.” So for a few minutes of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing Lugar shifted away from policy and asked exactly what calamity they are trying to avoid.
Dr. Ken Lieberthal, a panelist from the Brookings Institute, formed the most complete response. He said the public should be made aware of the damage already being done by negative climate change, such as increasing storms, fires in California, and receding forestation: “This is about more than just polar bears in the Arctic.”
Ben Lieberman, a senior policy analyst in energy and environment for The Heritage Foundation, later said that was not true: “There are no tangible problems from climate change.” He added that real problems arise from incorrectly linking natural events to the very slight increase in average global temperature—problems such as additional cost to taxpayers from unnecessary climate change reform.
At the hearing, Lugar also asked for specific potential damages to agriculture. Elizabeth Economy, a director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, responded that her specialty was China’s emissions, not agriculture, but that farmers in rural China will often attribute their poor land quality and growing water scarcity to climate change. Severe flooding, she added, would also occur.
Lieberthal said there was no way to predict specific global warming damages because “there is uncertainty region by region,” which, he added, makes it scarier. But there are more ways to motivate people than just by fear, he said, because people ultimately “want to do the right thing.”
The committee moved on to discussing the cap-and-trade legislation that Democrat House leaders are pushing to enact greenhouse gas limits on energy suppliers, but there was no discussion on whether or not climate change is actually occurring, or how rapidly.
Lieberman, however, said the climate change debate is still open, and even climate change experts have not reached a consensus on the possible harms of a slight increase in temperature. “It shouldn’t be a front burner issue,” he said. “There are no catastrophic consequences.”
Didn’t they have teleprompters with an answer?
Translation: If we clobber people with a huge disguised tax and it turns out there are no dire consequences to this globull warming, the voters will clobber us back. Sorry enviros, we're talking politician self-preservation here.
What’s the catastrophe?! Rising oceans, cities sinking, polar bears in Tampa, dog and cats sleeping together! We’ve got to act now!!! Time to import Yugos! Ban all Hummers!
Bump!
The climate is constantly changing for a variety of reasons—most beyond our control. There always have been, and always will be, things like fires, droughts, and floods. Any “expert” who says otherwise is just a modern version of a witch doctor.
Ther have always been storms. droughts, Hurricanes. In fact the last two years hurricanes have been light. The people in the tornado belt have always had to deal with tornadoes.
The Global warming scare is just another excuse to raise taxes and destroy the economy of America. They know that and we know that.
An incredible lack of specifics when the ‘experts’ are asked to list the negative effects of global warming. Mention is always made of increasing storms. For those who might be interested, tropical cyclone activity is at historical lows (cyclones include hurricanes). I hate to let facts get in the way of global warming alarmism, but quoting from the Florida State University Dept. of Meteorology:
“Upon examination of all tropical cyclone activity in the basins throughout the Northern Hemisphere for the past 2 years, a remarkable downward trend in cyclone energy has continued and reached historic levels of inactivity....Analysis of integrated global hurricane activity shows that the previous 12-24 months exemplify a continuing decreasing trend since 1997. “
http://coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/tropical/maue_2008.php
“But I don’t like polar bears.”
Don’t they eat the baby seals Greenpeace is always trying to protect? And who doesn’t want it to be warmer? Especially by a tenth of a degree over the next fifty years (snort...)
Can't do that, the Democratic Socialist Party will lose a ton of Chinese campaign contributions, and you all know, that can't happen.
Yet the earth is cooling now and forcast indicate it is going into a cooling trend that will last for a decade.
2012 will likely be one of the coolest years on record according to scientist.
And these idiots go on about global warming...
Well, that "negative climate change" pretty well covers everything, now doesn't it?
By the way, has that grant money been wired to the bank yet?
I have a report on Global Warming. It is June. As I drove north on I 81 in southwest Virginia today, I noticed the usually verdant kudzu covered rock cuts were still mostly brown. The kudzu is having a hard time with the cold wet spring. this photo is from better Kudzu times
What this means is the northern limit is being approached and likely will retreat southerly
There is apparently a climate cooling crisis
No. The guy who made that statement was from the conservative Heritage Foundation. He’s one of the good guys, and is trying to head off the hysterical “crap and tirade” juggernaut.
I just found out that humans contribute only 3% of the world’s carbon dioxide. The other 97% is caused by nature. Do they think cutting it down to 2.75% will make a difference? Global warming is just another ploy used by the government to take our money.
Oh the Who-manity. Paging the mayor of Who-ville. This global warming crowd is simply comprised of grinches.
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