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Elitist Leaders Out of Step with Scientific Reality
Volume 4, Number 7: 14 February 2001

In his editorial in the 5 February 2001 issue of U.S. News & World Report, David Gergen says "the world looks to the United States for leadership in preserving the biosphere, and we are conspicuously failing."  Why?  Because, he continues, "with only 5% of the planet's population, we account for roughly one quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions."

Gergen's population and emission facts may well be impeccable; but his interpretation of them is a hundred and eighty degrees out of phase with reality.  The United States should be applauded for its emissions of CO2; for it is the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content that will ultimately prove the salvation of the planet.

How do we know that?  Because carbon dioxide is the very elixir of life, the primary raw material upon which nearly all plant life - and, hence, nearly all animal life (including man!) - depends for its existence.  And the more CO2 there is in the air, the better plants grow; and, consequently, the more food there is for human and animal consumption.

And that's a fact, as literally thousands of laboratory and field experiments have clearly demonstrated (Idso, 1995).  And that fact stands in stark contrast to the mere speculations of the vastly-imperfect computer models that form the basis for the outlandish climate change predictions (1) of the elitist group that is trying to scare the world into adopting a retrogressive energy policy that would make the recent electrical power problems of California look tame by comparison.

So where does Gergen come by his innovative, i.e., inverted, thinking?  Apparently, he gets it from the "3,000 CEOs, political leaders, scholars, and journalists" that recently met at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the vast majority of whom know next to nothing about the intricate workings of earth's climate system.

Next to nothing?  Yes, we say it confidently; for although there are many specialists whose knowledge about various aspects of earth's climate is truly impressive, there is no one person or group of persons that knows enough about the myriad complexities of all the interrelated physical, chemical and biological components of the land-ocean-atmosphere system to produce a future climate scenario in which we can have real confidence.

A case in point is the U.S News & World Report's "Scary Weather" cover story of 5 February (Shute, 2001), which gives the gist of the most recent global warming predictions by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  The picture painted in its pages is totally out of sync with reality, especially when it warns about more frequent and extreme droughts, floods and storms.  We are told, for example, that with continued increases in atmospheric CO2, "weather would become more unpredictable and violent," when just the opposite is likely to be true; for there are no indications of weather of any type becoming "more unpredictable and violent" as the earth experienced the significant warming that revived it from the global chill of the Little Ice Age (2).  Indeed, dramatic weather events of all types have actually become less variable and violent since the demise of that dreadful period (3), indicating that warmer is better.

The Scary Weather story also warns of impending heat-induced crop failures, along with increases in various diseases, apparently oblivious of the facts reported in the related "history lesson" of Hayden (2001), who recounts some of the problems experienced in Europe during the Little Ice Age, when the people there "endured famine, disease, and general wretchedness when cold, wet weather spoiled their traditional cereal crops year after year."  Yes, not only is the UN/IPCC-inspired Scary Weather story incorrect in its predictions, it is inconsistent with the article that accompanies it!  And as for every other calamity the article predicts, a careful search of our website will reveal that, again, just the opposite of what is predicted is more likely to be true.

So what's important?  Is it truth or politics?  Gergen warns that U.S. President Bush "will touch off a holy war with environmentalists if he insists on an all-out drive to produce more fossil fuels without developing an aggressive set of green policies."  That sounds a lot like politics, when what we really need is education, education about the truth, which is something we might rightly expect to see from a man who seems to be moving quickly to establish himself as the "education" President.

The environmentalists - God bless the good intentions of the better of them - just do not understand that by their calls for draconian reductions in anthropogenic CO2 emissions they are biting the invisible hand that feeds and supports the entire biosphere.  Unless they learn the facts about the mountains of real-world evidence that clearly demonstrates that higher levels of atmospheric CO2 are actually going to be needed to feed the burgeoning human population of the globe in the decades ahead (4), as well as maintain the species richness of the rest of the biosphere (5), the entire spectrum of life on earth is going to be in for a world of hurt from which recovery will be very, very difficult.

Let us hope and pray that President Bush will not be bullied by the likes of David Gergen and the other elitist leaders that recently convened in Davos.  Their ill-advised plans for the planet will provide nothing but harm for every living thing -- except, of course, the enlightened favored few.

Dr. Craig D. Idso
President
Dr. Keith E. Idso
Vice President

References and Notes
Gergen, D.  2001.  Bush as global steward.  U.S. News & World Report 130 (5): 64.

Hayden, T.  2001.  History lessons: Weathering the storms.  U.S. News & World Report 130 (5): 52.

Idso, S.B.  1995.  CO2 and the Biosphere: The Incredible Legacy of the Industrial Revolution.  Special Publication (Kuehnast Lecture Series).  Department of Soil, Water & Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.

Shute, N.  2001.  The weather turns wild: Global warming could cause droughts, disease, and political upheaval.  U.S. News & World Report 130 (5): 44-48, 50, 52.

1. See our Editorial of 31 January 2001: Sound the Alarm Bells!

2. See our Editorial of 15 November 1999: Noticed the Weather Lately?

3. See, for example, the many Journal Reviews listed under the various subheadings of Extreme Weather in our Subject Index.

4. See our Editorials of 1 February and 15 November 2000: In Search of the Second "Green Revolution" and The Neglected Issue of the Global Change Debate: Food Security.

5. See our Editorials of 15 April and 8 November 2000: Biodiversity and CO2 and Biodiversity, Productivity and CO2.

6. See, for example, the many Journal Reviews listed under Disease (Humans) in our Subject Index.