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Real science research shows little correlation between increases in CO2 and warming throughout Earth's history
Cutting through the climate jargon
By Timothy Ball
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Re: Published: Friday, January 19, 2007New Environment Minister John Baird remarked that it was unusual to not be wearing boots in January in his home town of Nepean. How true -- there aren't many back yard rinks in Eastern Ontario right now either. But it is also true that it is unusual to wear boots in Victoria where I live -- and yet that has been a necessity many times in the midst of the record cold we have been experiencing.
What does it all mean?
For Mr. Baird, replacing Rona Ambrose because of her apparent failure to convince voters that the Conservatives are serious about the environment, it means grabbing on to anything -- in this case that greatest of Canadian conversation topics, the weather -- as an excuse to show a more aggressive "green" stance.
Polls suggesting the environment is a major issue for voters presents a dilemma for the Conservative government. Not because they are not dealing with the problem (Stephen Harper's carbon dioxide reduction targets are actually tougher than were those agreed to by Jean Chretien in 1997), but because the Conservatives are perceived to favour business over protecting nature. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party in Britain, faces a similar quandary.
"I've been trying to recapture the environment and climate change from the sort of doom mongers. I mean, if this is all about doom and gloom and taxes, we're not going to persuade people to come with us. ... We've got to try and make the environment and climate change uplifting and fun and interesting. ..."
PREJUDICES
A measure of our prejudices is reflected in our reaction to these comments. A "touchy-feely" Conservative seems incongruous. But this misses the point and merely demonstrates that all sides have the climate change issue wrong. They simply don't understand what's going on, and as a result do what appears to be emotionally and politically expedient instead of what makes sense in the real world.
Canadians obviously want serious environmental concerns addressed, but they want them addressed sensibly, not with hysterical strategies drafted in response to hysterical claims. They want environment policy that will help our children stay healthy and our natural surroundings vibrant. They want clean air, clean water and clean land. Most of the public don't believe that to accomplish this we have to waste billions on international agreements, more and more programs or ad campaigns that tell us how to be better people. Canadians suspect there are creative ways to address environmental problems, based on sound science, fostering new technologies and encouraging people to pursue opportunities on their own rather than just having to respond to government directives.
They're right, and the sooner government wakens up to this fact, the more likely they are to develop policies that benefit the natural environment without damaging the economy. Baird is uniquely positioned right now to deliver on these issues with practical, science-based policies and legislation.
Of course, climate change is a natural phenomenon that occurs for many reasons. Despite the confident assertions of David Suzuki and other activists whom Baird consulted during his first days in office, real science research shows little correlation between increases in CO2 and warming throughout Earth's history. The eventual recognition of this point led alarmists to change jargon from "global warming" to "climate change," an intentionally more vague tagline. This permits them to point to any weather event outside the norm as evidence of humans disrupting the climate system. Warmer, colder, wetter, drier, more storms, fewer storms, boots, no boots, it's all our fault, they say.
