A lot of hot air was blowing at the United Nation's Climate Conference in Cancun, and it had nothing to do with the pleasant 80-degree weather in sunny Mexico. Instead, the warmth was emanating was from the mouths of bloviating environmentalist who were trying to maintain their relevance, after a year in which their claims of global warming have fallen flat.
Even the usually in-the-tank-on-global warming New York Times, observed,
The apathy is palpable, and a far cry from the atmosphere last year when President Obama and the leaders of more than 100 other nations descended in droves upon the chilly Danish capital of Copenhagen to hawk their views at the climate circus. That conference saw U.S. congressional champions of cap-and-trade legislation as well as skeptics jostling to share their views on the prospects for American domestic action and a new international treaty.
I'd like to claim a little credit for that palpable apathy in Cancun, as my book "Climategate: A Veteran Meteorologist Exposes the Global Warming Scam," blew the lid off the motivations – and the faulty science – of those who claim the earth is about to melt like cheese on a hot plate of nachos. The book, of course, also disclosed the damning e-mails that were leaked from a computer server belonging to the once esteemed Climate Research Unit, or CRU, at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. The communiqués revealed well-known climate researchers speaking in baseless terms about their critics, discussing clever ways to sidestep skeptical colleagues of man-made climate change, devising plans to freeze opponents out of peer-reviewed journals, and systematically manipulating the earth's temperature record. The e-mails became known as "climategate" and led to the title of my hard-hitting book.
Perhaps to stake out new relevancy, the declarations made at this year's U.N. climate conference were more over the top than ever. They included:
- Temperatures will climb 6.4 degrees Celsius (11.4 degrees Fahrenheit) after 2050.
- Sea levels will rise two meters by the end of the century.
- The islands nations of Maldives and Tuvalu are soon to be inundated by rising waters.
- Developed countries should immediately implement energy rationing systems to mandate the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, thus reducing the imminent threats imposed by global warming.
- By staying on our current emissions path, climate change will double grain prices by 2050 and leave millions of children malnourished.
All of the above assertions are bogus. For example, since 1850 – the beginning of the Industrial Revolution – the earth's average surface temperature has only risen .7 degrees Celsius (just a bit more than one degree Fahrenheit). Just .7 degrees Celsius in 160 years – that's all the warming planet earth has experienced; and this minuscule temperature increase coincided with the proliferation of the train, car, truck and even the lawnmower and leaf blower. Oh, and here's a pill that's tough for the global whiners to swallow: The bulk of this warming occurred before 1940.
The U.N.'s new predicted 6.4 degree Celsius rise in temperature surpasses any of their previous predictions. It's likely the prognosis is the product of a political activist with a PhD who got a turn to play genius with a government computer model.
As for the sea level rise, Al Gore has been showing maps of a similarly predicted deluge for several years. If Gore was so confident of the increase, why did he purchase a multi-million dollar bayside condo in San Francisco? According to the maps, his pad will be swamped. Truth is, the oceans have been steadily rising since the last Ice Age. Take your index finger and place it as close as you can to your thumb, without the two touching. That's how much the oceans rise each year. Over the next 90 years the rise will be no more than several inches, not over six feet.
And about Tuvalu and Maldives? Their surrounding waters show no measurable signs of rising. The problem is the islands of Maldives are relatively flat atolls, composed of coral. Since tourism was first introduced to the nation in 1972, 90 plush resorts have been built, with locally mined coral being the primary aggregate for constructing the resorts. Digging up coral on small islands to build large hotels and conference centers is as stupid as sucking the air out of a lifeboat to breathe. The mining has severely compromised the atolls, creating the impression that the islands are sinking.
Likewise, Tuvalu's problem is not climate change. Tuvalu's mess is that their country was never meant for modern habitation. Their primary indigenous vegetable crop, taro, has been gravely over-farmed. There is no fresh water available – only what can be cached from rain. Much of the population on the main island uses a lagoon for its bathing and toilet facilities. The tiny nation ships its garbage to landfills in Fiji and New Zealand. Tuvalu is a tropical island mess being run by imbeciles who are using global warming as a shakedown operation, the likes of which would make a Chicago community organizer proud. In a 2007 speech at the United Nations, the Deputy Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Tavau Teii, said that major greenhouse polluters should compensate Tuvalu for the impacts of climate change. "We are seeking new funding arrangements to protect us from the impacts of climate change … we believe that the major greenhouse polluters should pay for the impacts they are causing."
As I discuss in "Climategate," last year, caving to public pressure, New Zealand finally responded to the fake cries of forthcoming submersion, allowing the Tuvaluans to immigrate.
Then there's the claim that the solution to climate change is rationing. This is the most troubling assertion of all, as we have an administration running the White House who believes this plan is worthy. Note President Obama's Director of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, who has written, "A massive campaign must be launched in North America to restore a high-quality environment and to de-develop the United States. … This effort must be largely political."
In addition, one year ago, Lisa Jackson, director of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued a statement declaring, "The current and projected concentrations of [carbon dioxide] … threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations."
Indeed, the 2009 House Energy bill calls for an 80 percent reduction in C02 by 2050. By then the United States will have – according to Census figures – 100 million more residents. An 80 percent decrease in carbon-dioxide emissions will mean the end of the coal industry (which supplies energy to 50 percent of our homes), the offshoring of our entire manufacturing sector and the death of the automobile. Thank God the Senate never passed similar legislation or we'd be on our way to – rationing!
And the claim of food shortages? Actually, if the temperatures were to warm a couple degrees, the amount of available land for farming would increase dramatically. For example, in Canada, Russia and China, agriculture would benefit from longer growing seasons. Other benefits would be the expansion of forests and a decrease in heating fuel costs.
The flaming hot rhetoric down in Cancun made this conference more of a circus than ever. It's also interesting to note that the conference was virtually ignored by Congress. Granted, they are embroiled in a lame-duck session back home, but very few congressional staffers were seen at the confab. Usually these bureaucrats are seen bellying up to the bar and hobnobbing with the best of them.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who supported climate legislation last year, admitted that the global negotiations didn't even register a blip on her radar. "I haven't really thought about it, to be honest with you," she said.
The outgoing chair of the Senate Panel on Environment and Public Works, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., didn't even send a representative to the event. Instead, she said, "I'm sending a statement to Cancun."
The global whiners can continue to make all the wild pronouncements they wish, but the fact is, they're losing the debate.
Brian Sussman is a former television meteorologist and the author of "Climategate: a veteran meteorologist exposes the global warming scam." He hosts the morning show on KSFO, 560AM, in San Francisco.