Veritas Rex

Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor.

There's a new book out, called Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor.

From One News Now's review:

Spencer agrees there has been some global warming, but in his book he defends the argument that the warming is due to natural weather cycles.

"Global warming might well just be part of a natural cycle, and that's what I hear from the public a lot," he shares. "They have this intuitive feel that global warming could be part of a natural cycle. The first thing I wanted to do with the book was to support that view with some basic science, saying, 'Hey look, this is how weather basically works. Here's what we know; here's what we don't know -- and you're being misled by the media,'" Spencer points out.

On the flip side, Spencer argues that even if manmade "catastrophic" global warming were true, all the so-called fixes that are touted by Al Gore and the media amount to pandering. "Al Gore's suggestion at the end of his film -- that just buying compact fluorescents, and buying hybrid cars, and turning the light off when you leave the room is going to fix this problem -- is just pandering. And it's going to have no affect on future global temperatures," Spencer contends.

Global Warming fanatics are hurting families

I found an interesting video on global warming that I have embedded below.  I'm posting a couple of highlights below.  I'm all for good stewardship of the earth, mainly because in so doing we help our fellow man.  Littering or dumping toxins in rivers and streams are harmful to the public good.  However, the environmental wacko's who care more about worshiping the earth than showing good stewarship over it hurt families by making life more expensive and difficult.  Increasing government regulation to prevent "man-made global warming" unneccessarily burdens families financially through the increased cost of goods and services, while doing little to nothing to decrease global warming (which is itself a natural phenomenon...the science shows that the earth goes through cycles of warming and cooling).  Enjoy:

Fully 95% of the carbon dioxide, now identified by worldwide environmentalists as a form of pollution, is produced by natural sources.  Each year, of the 157 billion metric tons released in the atmosphere, barely 457.2 tons comes from cars and trucks. 

"Eliminating all U.S. gasoline powered vehicles would reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions by less than one half of one half of one percent.”
                                         - James Johnson
                                           American Enterprise Institute

Al Gore, in his book “Earth in the Balance,” advocates “eliminating the internal combustion engine: by the year 2018. 

“The answer to global warming is in the abolition of private property and production for human need.  A sociality world would place an enormous priority on alternative energy sources.  This is what ecologically-minded socialists have been exploring for quite some time now. “
                                           - Louis Proyect
                                              Columbia University

Update:

Here is an excellent article on the danger of the radical left's environmental policies.

Hat tip:  Craig Ladwig

Could passenger rail increase traffic congestion?

If you've read VR for awhile, you know that I am very favorable towards the idea of passenger rail.  Having had good experiences in several places with rail, I think it could be a positive solution for Indianapolis' growing transportation needs.  I find it very attractive particularly when compared to new highway construction.

However, I stumbled across this interesting article from the Heartland Institute.  Could increased passenger rail actually make traffic congestion worse?

In a study forthcoming from The Heartland Institute, I find there is no case in which an expansion of passenger train service has resulted in a material or sustainable reduction in traffic congestion. This is because passenger trains reduce the competitiveness of freight trains, resulting in the diversion of cargo from trains to trucks, thus increasing traffic congestion.

Reducing traffic congestion should be an economic priority. A strong body of research shows traffic congestion reduces economic growth, increases product prices, and increases poverty by making it more difficult for lower-income workers to get to and from work in urban areas.

OK.  This seems counter-intuitive, but his arguments seem sound.

Freight Trains Cut Traffic

There is no doubt that greater use of freight trains--not passenger trains--could reduce traffic congestion.

America's trains have never carried more freight than they do today. Trains continue to carry more freight than the nation's large and growing truck fleet, measured in ton miles.

Moreover, during the past 35 years freight trains have nearly maintained their market share despite the expansion of the interstate highway system, which has facilitated truck commerce.

The situation is the opposite in passenger train-intensive Japan and Western Europe. Freight trains have lost 60 percent of their market in Western Europe and 80 percent in Japan. Freight train volumes have fallen in actual ton miles. It is not unusual for there to be virtual parades of trucks along the freeways of Western Europe as a result.

Passenger Declines Help Freight

A big reason for U.S. freight rail's success has been the decline of passenger train ridership.

Passenger trains often receive priority on the tracks they use. Many rail lines are single track, which means passing can occur only at sidings, where one train stops and waits for the other to approach and pass. Even where there is double tracking, passing can occur only where there are crossover connections between the two tracks.

The priority given to passenger trains means delays for freight trains as they make way for passenger trains.

But between 1950 and the establishment of Amtrak in the early 1970s, passenger train volumes declined more than 90 percent. As a result, freight train operating speeds were able to increase, and freight operations became more reliable and competitive.

Divorce is bad for the environment

Couples used to stay together for the kids.  Today, they should stay together to help the environment, an easy conclusion made from a new study by an ecologist at Michigan State University. 

Yesterday's Indianapolis Star reported the AP story, "Study:  Divorce Stresses Planet".  The researcher, Jianguo Liu, created an environmental impact analysis of divorce:  the extra households use an extra $3.6 billion annually on water and $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, among others. 

Liu looked at the U.S. and eleven other countries from 1998 to 2002.  One conclusion was that if divorced households had combined to have the same average size as married households, there could have been a million fewer households using energy and water.  This study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Think these groups will partner with IFI to discourage divorce?  Maybe we'll get a sweet grant to outline the (well documented) emotional, educational, financial and other benefits that marriage brings - all God-designed and time-tested benefits of marriage.  We should celebrate this report!  We're getting closer to finally marrying the moral and the environmental, the values and the behavior.

Watch for IFI's new marketing campaign - we're going green!

Everything bad is because of global warming

If you think, along with me, that the global warming enthusiasts are whipping themselves up into a religious fervor, here's your confirmation.  Below is the ongoing list, compiled by John Brignell at numberwatch, of all the crisis', extinctions, weather changes, and health problems that have been attributed to global warming.  Check out the article on struggling brothels for a humorous read.  Perhaps the pro-family movement should support increasing pollution to help combat prostitution.

Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, Africa hit hardest, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end,  amphibians breeding earlier (or not),  ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety,  algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic lakes disappear, asthma, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric defiance,  atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased,  bananas destroyed, bananas grow, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000,  better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, bird visitors drop, birds return early, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, bluetongue, boredom, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain Siberian, British gardens change, brothels struggle, bubonic plague, budget increases, Buddhist temple threatened,  building collapse, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north,  cancer deaths in England, cardiac arrest,  caterpillar biomass shift, challenges and opportunities, childhood insomnia, Cholera, circumcision in decline, cirrus disappearance, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping,   cockroach migration, cod go south, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , cold spells, cost of trillions, cougar attacks, cremation to end, crime increase, crocodile sex, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cyclones (Australia), damages equivalent to $200 billion,  Darfur, Dartford Warbler plague,  death rate increase (US), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat,  destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities,  diseases move north, Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people,  ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early marriages, early spring, earlier pollen season,  Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spinning out of control, Earth spins faster, Earth to explode, earth upside down,  Earth wobbling, earthquakes, El Niño intensification, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, equality threatened, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing,   evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, bats, pandas, pikas, polar bears, pigmy possums, gorillas, koalas,  walrus, whales, frogs, toads, turtles, orang-utan,  elephants, tigers, plants, salmon, trout,  wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species,  not polar bears, barrier reef, leaches), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, fading fall foliage, famine, farmers go under, fashion disaster, fever,figurehead sacked, fir cone bonanza, fish catches drop, fish catches rise, fish stocks at risk, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, flesh eating disease, flood patterns change, floods, floods of beaches and cities, Florida economic decline, food poisoning, food prices rise, food security threat (SA),  footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frostbite, frosts, fungi fruitful, fungi invasion, games change, Garden of Eden wilts, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, gingerbread houses collapse, glacial earthquakes, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, god melts, golf Masters wrecked, Gore omnipresence, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop,  greening of the North,  Grey whales lose weight, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome,   harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, hazardous waste sites breached, health of children harmed, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes (Australia), heat waves, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, homeless 50 million, hornets, high court debates, human development faces unprecedented reversal, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, human health risk, hurricanes, hurricane reduction, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, illness and death, inclement weather, infrastructure failure (Canada), Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, industry threatened, infectious diseases,  inflation in China, insurance premium rises, invasion of cats,  invasion of herons, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, Kew Gardens taxed, kitten boom, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, lake shrinking and growing, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!), lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, lush growth in rain forests, Lyme disease,  Malaria, malnutrition, mammoth dung melt, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, marine dead zone, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, monkeys on the move, Mont Blanc grows, monuments imperiled, more bad air days,   more research needed, mountain (Everest) shrinking,  mountains break up, mountains taller, mortality lower, mudslides,  National security implications, new islands, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India, Northwest Passage opened, nuclear plants bloom,  oaks move north, ocean acidification, ocean waves speed up, opera house to be destroyed, outdoor hockey threatened,  oyster diseases, ozone loss, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, Pacific dead zone, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts,  plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, plants march north, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears drowning, polar bears starve,  polar tours scrapped, porpoise astray, profits collapse, psychosocial disturbances, puffin decline,  railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, rape wave, refugees, reindeer larger, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice threatened, rice yields crash, riches, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, rivers dry up, river flow impacted, rivers raised, roads wear out, rockfalls, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, Ross river disease,  ruins ruined, salinity reduction, salinity increase,  Salmonella, salmon stronger, satellites accelerate, school closures, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, seals mating more, sewer bills rise, sex change, sharks booming, sharks moving north, sheep shrink, shop closures, shrinking ponds, shrinking shrine, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smaller brains, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall heavy, snowfall reduction, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, space problem, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, squirrels reproduce earlier