Cooler Heads Digest
Announcement
A new watchdog Web site on the Center for Climate Strategies, an environmental front group that is manipulating the climate policy process in more than 20 states, is now officially ready to be recognized, reviewed and linked from your Web sites:http://climatestrategieswatch.com/Feel free to send in your comments, criticisms, or thoughts on anything else you’d like to see on the site, through the “Contact” option on the top menu.The site is designed to maintain as complete information as possible on CCS, with up-to-date developments as well. A few more areas need to be populated with content, but right now there is a lot to chew on.
To learn more about the CCS, read Paul Chesser’s article, “Beware Climate Control,” below.
News Highlights
Science Is the Pursuit of Truth, Not Consensus
John Kay, Financial Times, 9 October 2007
France: Unlikely to Meet Emissions Targets
Reuters, 8 October 2007
Biofuels: Green Dream Fast Fading
Nao Nakanishi, Reuters, 8 October 2007
Bushwhacked: Europe, Media Can’t Handle the Truth
Chris Horner, Human Events, 8 October 2007
The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Plan for Global Warming
Ron Baily, Reason Online, 8 October 2007
Bjorn Lomborg, Washington Post, 7 October 2007
UK Court Finds 11 Errors in Gore’s AIT
New Party, 5 October 2007
Roy Cordato, Carolina Journal, 5 October 2007
Paul Chesser, DC Examiner, 5 October 2007
Weather Watch, Imperial Valley News, 2 October 2007
Inside the Beltway
CEI’s Myron Ebell
Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) along with Senator Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is a co-sponsor of the Lieberman-McCain cap-and-trade bill. As a presidential candidate, Obama has now pledged to do more. In a speech in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on October 8, Senator Obama laid out a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. Obama’s goal is to reduce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This is in line with the prescription of former Vice President Al Gore and many radical environmental pressure groups of what is necessary to save the planet.
Obama’s plan includes a cap-and-trade program covering all sectors of the economy. Unlike most other similar proposals, Obama would not allocate any of the emissions credits or permits for free. Instead, permits would be auctioned to emitters. The powerful special interests that believe that when a cap-and-trade program is enacted they will be able to push to the front of the trough and get more credits than less powerful special interests are not going to be pleased by Obama’s auction approach.
Another refreshing aspect of Obama’s speech was that he recognized that global warming policies have costs. According to a story in the Washington Times, “Mr. Obama said the transition would be costly in the short run for U.S. consumers, taxpayers and businesses, requiring the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars. ‘It will not come without cost or without sacrifice,’ he said.
Around the world
CEI’s Iain Murray
The British government decided that it would be a good idea to send copies of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to all schools, with then Environment Secretary (now Foreign Secretary) David Miliband declaring that “the debate over science is over.” Well, it may be, but not in the way Gore portrays it. A truck driver and school governor, Stuart Dimmock, took the government to court, alleging that the film portrays “partisan political views,” the promotion of which is illegal in schools under the Education Act 1996.
The judge has decided that this is indeed the case and that the Government’s guidance notes that accompanied the film exacerbated the problem.
In order for the film to be shown, the Government must first amend their Guidance Notes to Teachers to make clear that 1.) The Film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument. 2.) If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination. 3.) Eleven inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children.
A full listing of the noted inaccuracies may be found here.
This is a far better result than refusing to allow the film to be shown at all. It requires that students be told by teachers that Al Gore is factually inaccurate, misleading and – in one case – making things up. These inconvenient truths for the former Vice President have been covered up or obscured by the hype surrounding his film. Students will now realize that there are significant shortcomings and inaccuracies in the way the global warming scare has been presented to them. This is a victory for honest debate, a victory for science and a victory for education.
The comprehensive guide to Gore’s innacuracies is, of course, Marlo Lewis’ “Al Gore’s Science Fiction.”
Hypocrite of the Week
Connie Heidegaard, Denmark’s Environment Minister, last week claimed to be an increasingly impatient emissary on behalf of “the planet”, demanding that the U.S. make the same promise as Europe to reduce its greenhouse gas (principally CO2) emissions.
That same week, Denmark released figures showing that it increased its 2006 CO2 emissions by 16.1% over 2005 levels, citing their growing economy (which relies on coal-fired power, it seems).
U.S. emissions, however, dropped 1.3% over the same time, while the economy grew by 3.3%.
Call for Content
Have stories we may want to include in our weekly news roundup? Is your organization working on something other members of the Coalition might be interested in? Let us know by contacting William Yeatman at [email protected].
Contact CEI
If you or your organization is working on energy or global warming policy, please use CEI as a resource. Contact William Yeatman at [email protected].