Climate Change: Mankind’s Greatest Threat

As a conservationist, I believe in climate change, man-made or not. Living in Calgary where the weather may change every five minutes, unlike Leonardo DiCaprio I know that a Chinook is not global warming; and that el Nino is a natural occurrence.  However, I now recognize that the assertion by terrorism deniers’ that climate change is the world’s greatest threat is real; and this is why:

After the failures of the Kyoto Protocol, some 200 countries comprising 40,000 delegates, including 380 from Canada attended COP21 in Paris in 2015. The Montgolfier brothers would have been ecstatic at the amount of hot air produced at this conference. With great fanfare, the participants signed an agreement to reduced GHG emissions to somehow prevent the average earth’s temperatures rising more than 2C higher than pre-industrial levels. To take effect the agreement needs ratification by at least 55% of the signatories, and will come into force in 2020, when ironically most leaders who signed the agreement will certainly be out of office.

Once again, this agreement has no teeth, and pledges from 186 countries were achieved because the system is essentially voluntary. While emitting carbon dioxide remains optional the only binding part of the agreement is that nations will do more planning.

 As industrialized countries shift their production to developed countries there will in effect be no change in GHG emissions since most countries like India and China make greater use of coal than Canada, the U.S and European countries. Global CO2 emissions have risen by 42% since 1990, and it is unlikely to decrease very much under the new agreement.

Let us look at why the climate change rhetoric is now the world’s greatest threat. First, the Paris agreement is likely to be the most expensive treaty in the history of the world. Based on several peer- reviewed energy- economic models, the total cost of Paris — through slower growth in gross domestic product from higher energy costs — will reach $ 1 trillion-$ 2 trillion every year from 2030. The International Energy Agency estimates the magnitude of subsidies for renewal power — which still doesn’t eliminate the need for baseload power — could top $3 trillion over the next 25 years.
Second we have the agreement to spend $100 billion, including Canada’s pledge of $2.65B.on climate aid to help the developing world. This is the most useless wealth redistribution policy put together by a number of leftist who want to feel virtuous. Worse, this will be administrated by the dysfunctional United Nations were money is usually squandered, and transferred to despots in the third world. While billions are starving and have no running water; spending billions to provide them with solar panels and wind turbines is the most dishonest way to get rid of poverty.

On the home front Alberta’s new NDP government plans to raise a carbon tax and reduce the use of coal in the province will no doubt damage the provincial economy. In addition the Trudeau government may well add to the problem with new taxes. Obama’s decision to ban the Keystone XL pipeline will further damage the economy. The irony is that the U.S will produce more oil as they lift a ban on oil exports.

Third we have the constant attack on free speech. Skeptics are always attacked and prevented from expressing their opinion. Ecojustice wants the Competition Bureau to stop Friends of Science (FoS) that has put up billboards in Calgary and Edmonton saying the sun, not human beings or CO2, is the cause of global warming. Their claim is that the information by FoS is misleading information. Yet they claim that the science of climate change is backed by 97% of scientists, while the American Meteorological Society and Netherlands surveys which were anonymous found nowhere near 97 per cent support for the IPCC conclusion.

Fourth, children are being indoctrinated instead of being educated to learn about all the facts. They are subjected to views put forward by the climate change religion comprised of  high priests Suzuki, Al Gore et al, who  ignore that the climate has been changing for billions of years, long before fossil fuel became the major source of energy. Rising sea levels are nothing new, the Bible and other ancient texts reports show that there was a major flood; that glaciers have been melting for centuries, and climatic changes happened pre the industrial revolution.

Solutions abound. Alternative sources of energy should be explored and brought on stream, but the main problem will be storage. We should invest in research and new technology. We must not ignore that we are a carbon-based specie, and that economic growth was largely achieved through the use of fossil fuels. A zero –carbon economy will not be achieved for at least 90 years, if not longer. Conservation is the answer, and it should be done through positive incentives, not punitive taxes and ridiculous subsidies which promote crony capitalism and minimize economic growth.
By stealth we are about to lose  fundamental economic and speech freedoms. Yes, climate change has become the greatest threat to mankind, not because of fossil fuels but due to political rhetoric and self-righteous politicians in search of a legacy.