If there were a Society of Global Warming Alarmists, Bill McKibben might get kicked out for being too much of a worry wart . . .
You've probably seen those phone-message forms with check boxes in ascending order of urgency from "FYI—no need to return call" all the way up to "the future of civilization hangs in the balance." We might see that last category as light-hearted exaggeration, but it's no laughing matter to McKibben. In his jeremiad in today's LA Times literally entitled "Civilization's last chance," McKibben solemnly declares that "the world looks a little terminal right now" and "it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth." OK. Just so long as it's nothing serious.
McKibben's lament is based in important part on a paper that James Hansen and several co-authors have submitted to Science magazine which concludes that "if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
Hansen holds the impressive title of chief NASA climatologist. But as Jeff Poor has pointed out in an article at Business & Media Institute, an NB sister publication:
Hansen’s scientific claims were recently called into question at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change on March 4 in New York. Famed hurricane forecaster William Gray said he believed the earth would experience a cooling period in 10 years. He said the models Hansen used to forecast drastic increases in the earth’s temperature due to carbon in the atmosphere were flawed because they included too much water vapor, the most abundant greenhouse gas.“[S]o he puts that much vapor in his model and of course he gets this,” Gray said. “He must get upper troposphere where the temperature is seven degrees warmer for a doubl[ing of] CO2. Well, the reason he got that was – why this upper-level warming was there – was he put too much water vapor in the model.”
In any case, here's what McKibben, who has started 350.org in an effort to get us down to Hansen's allegdly crucial cut-off point, claims is necessary to stave off doom:
- No more new coal-fired power plants anywhere.
- Quickly close the [coal-fired power plants] already in operation. (Coal-fired power plants operating the way they're supposed to are, in global warming terms, as dangerous as nuclear plants melting down.)
- Making car factories turn out efficient hybrids next year, just the way U.S. automakers made them turn out tanks in six months at the start of World War II.
- Making trains an absolute priority and planes a taboo.
Note that the American Coal Council, as cited in the BMI article linked above, says that 50% of all electricity generated in the US comes from coal. McKibben doesn't say how he proposes to replace the loss of half our electricity. Candlelight is romantic, but what if that contributed to a jump in the birthrate, with all the attendant Malthusian complications?
Oh, and by the way, we have to do this almost immediately. McKibben approvingly cites Indian scientist and economist Rajendra Pachauri, who accepted the Nobel Prize on behalf of the IPCC, as saying "if there's no action before 2012, that's too late."
Got that? We've got four years, after which we'll be on an inexorable path to doom in which those who survive "will be so preoccupied, coping with the endless unintended consequences of an overheated planet, that civilization may not."
Have a nice day!
NB: McKibben's personal website notes that one of his books, The End of Nature [more doomsdayism, apparently], has been said to be “as important as Rachel Carson’s classic Silent Spring." But Silent Spring infamously led to the banning of DDT, which in turn has been responsible for millions of needless deaths due to malaria. Some endorsement!
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Global Warming Doomsayer
May 11, 2008 - 13:33 ET by cobolpoetCOBOL poet
So 2012 is too late? We're halfway through 2008 already. Nothing gets done by this Congress in so little time, let alone the rest of the world. A phrase from my youth comes to mind: let's just have a blast while we last, OK?
His Salary
May 11, 2008 - 13:34 ET by JoelCTThe most frustrating part about this story is that Hansen's salary comes from MY taxes, and I don't have any way to get this nutcase fired.
He is more dangerous than any ten terrorists, as he can direct policy from his position, after drinking gallons of the Gore GW Kool-aid, that could quite possibly bring about the next Great Depression.
STOP THE INSANITY!
May 11, 2008 - 13:40 ET by ChasvsWhen will we wise up and just tell these idiots to Shut The F*CK UP?
THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING!!!! That's the FACT these idiots and the media refuse to accept!!!!
Time for a LAWSUIT to get these imbeciles who live off of our tax dollars to PAY for the hysteria they are causing.
We are SO SCREWED!
The end? Not my problem
May 11, 2008 - 13:53 ET by RackieI'm going to Mars.
Sorry, global warming is
May 11, 2008 - 18:01 ET by liberal_bug_zapperSorry, global warming is happening on Mars as well... the only thing you'll escape by going to Mars are the Liberals.... hey... wait.... you might be on to something.
____________________________________________________
"We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities." ~ Thomas Paine
lbz... ROFL... Or we
May 11, 2008 - 18:09 ET by bigtimerlbz...
ROFL...
Or we could save this planet first and send the liberals to Mars on a one way ticket and let them work on it since they seem to know all the answers when it comes to a planetary emergency.
Great to see you here ol' friend!
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Join the crowd
May 11, 2008 - 18:35 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsI'm going to Mars.
There's a crowd ahead of you so get in line.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
How to fight "global warming"
May 11, 2008 - 14:05 ET by ArchConservativeIf people really want to reduce CO2 being released into the atmosphere, I susggest that they just stop breathing. Tell their families to stop breathing. Tell their spouses to stop breathing. Without all that CO2 being belched into my air, this world just might turn around.
You support the troops by supporting the mission! If you don't support the mission, have the guts to say you don't support the troops.
Won't work
May 11, 2008 - 14:12 ET by HumblepieAl Gore will just see it as carbon credits and can be used to offset his speeches.
During this time with political correctness at its zenith, I reserve the right to let you know you're an idiot.
Remember those people who
May 11, 2008 - 14:11 ET by Jack BauerRemember those people who used to stand on street corners with sandwitch boards proclaiming...
They're in charge now. McKibble should be locked up indefinitely in a rubber room, for OUR safety.
These global warming hoax deniers crack me up.
May 11, 2008 - 18:06 ET by Joe C.When CO2 increases have been shown to FOLLOW warming, and when CO2 is still increasing yet not only is the world not warming but it is slightly cooling, when climate is shown to have cyclical variation that correlates almost perfectly with solar activity, when there is 25 times more argon in the atmosphere than CO2, and when it was warmer preceding the Industrial revolution than it is now, the whole theory falls apart.
Now that the “theory” has been disproven, to continue to enforce an invalid opinion can only be described as a hoax. The reason to perpetrate a hoax is for some secondary gain - i.e. political (ultraleftist anti-capitalist world view- i.e. economic terrorism) or economic advantage (more research funding).
Time is short
May 11, 2008 - 16:03 ET by 10ksnookerThe ice age is advancing, the glaciers never go away they just go back for more rocks. Oooops, that was the 70s hoax in play, we've moved on sorry I forgot. We are now all going out in a blazing ball of fire. 30 year peridicity on hoax cycles, strangely about the same timing as the PDO.
The hoaxers are out of time, hence the current rhetoric we have to act now -- So then they can then take credit for doing nothing when nature's cold stops the fever. I predict the cold will win and the warmers may not survive until 2012.
The bad news is we seem to be doing nothing about a real threat, cold, which is far worse than warm -- We can't stop it, but we could do common sense things like harden the electric grid, make sure crops are cold resistant, things like that.
Note to alarmists, the next time start early, to give yourself at least ten years before nature pulls the rug out from under your hoax. My advice, start the "next ice age hoax" about 2020.
What a dweeby looking clown
May 11, 2008 - 16:03 ET by terrigSeriously, what's with our government and our tax dollars at work with morons like this. I think a lawsuit is a good idea.
BTW so some clown on Fox yapping about the SUVs going down the road with 1 person in it and how that shouldn't be allowed because of "global warming". I about died laughing.
Stalinists new Useful Iditiots
May 11, 2008 - 16:25 ET by wizardjrWhen we destroyed the USSR empire all those rats left the ship clinging to various bits and pieces. Eventually they bumped into their fellow travellers in the eco-Nazi Brigade (Sierra Club, Save The Whales, etc.). It was a natural afinity. The object was to control people. People were willing to put up with all sorts of stupidity in the name of Saving The Planet. They have reached a critical mass. We're screwed.
Think of all those pictures of Russians lined up for hours to buy one potato or one loaf of bread. I am not exaggerating. Listen to this guy. It's their life goal to reduce/eliminate humans from the dirt they worship and to make us all "equal". Of course some will be more equal than others - can you say "Aparatchik"?
Just the fact Mr. Just the facts
May 11, 2008 - 19:27 ET by demobaterHaving lived for 55 years I can attest to the stupidity of man, especially liberal man (woman too). In the 70's it was global cooling and the next ice age was ushering in.
In the 60's when they wanted to build a oil pipeline from Prudoe Bay, the tree huggers went bonkers saying that it would pollute the enviro and kill the poor caribou. 40 years later no pollution (none,zip,zada). The heated oil traveling through the pipeline causes green vegetation to grow around the pipeline during winter causing the caribou herd to triple from what it was 40 years ago.
2007 winter in the S. Hemisphere was one of the coldest in recorded history and just this month, the temp figures released for this past April were some of the coolest in over 114 years. Snow fall reached records highs in many of the New England states as well as the northern plains, in 2008.
These folks are brain washed idiots that thrive on guilt and how bad man (mainly American Man) is for the world. I wish they would quit expelling CO2 and vaporize...
"September 30th 1938, Chamberlain, we have signed a peace treaty with Germany" You can never appease Dictators/Totalitarians nor can you appease Liberals...
I live in Fairfax, VA - an
May 12, 2008 - 07:46 ET by HelenSI live in Fairfax, VA - an uncomfortable 16 miles from Washington DC - and as such am in one of the more liberal infested areas of the country.
And I do believe that God is trying to have words with all these frenetic morons that surround me (I being one of the few, the sane, the conservatives :o) - It was 47 degrees yesterday when I woke up. It was cloudy all morning and started to rain in the afternoon. It rained all night and was blustery and chilly. It was 44 degrees this morning when I left for work. It is May 12th and I think I've been comfortably warm outside for a grand total of 5 days so far this year. (I may be exaggerating but it has been very few)
Perhaps God is trying to tell them (although I doubt they'll hear) that they can blow hot air all they want, make their dire predictions, and make the arrogant assumption that they can affect the weather but then He'll just quietly show them to their face that they're wrong.
This is definitely an unusual May and yet the cries of AGW continue unabated. If we ever needed proof that reality is a concept that is completely lost on libs, this must be it.
"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" - Shakespeare
How can we handle such a drastic decrease in CO2...
May 11, 2008 - 19:17 ET by on-the-rocksfrom the current 0.0385% to 0.0350%?
We probably wouldn't even notice if it happened overnight, but the plants would not be happy when we take away their food.
McKibben's Fraud
May 11, 2008 - 19:37 ET by hwm98264Who is to say that Bill McKibben is more knowledgeable on the environment than you, the reader or than me. His newfound ‘350.org’ setting 350 ppm of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as the upper safe limit is a fraud. He states: “Tattoo it (350ppm) into every human brain.....And we hope that will shove these negotiations in the direction of science.” Science is exactly what is needed; not politics or religious belief. What he wishes would be the best thing that could ever happen to end his ‘350.0rg’ and the current global warming hysteria. Why; because there is no scientific evidence nor facts that link CO2 as the cause of global warming. A true meaningful scientific debate would end this wasteful hysteria.
-
May 11, 2008 - 19:45 ET by dahliatraversRight. If man is causing global warming (... oops, it's cooling now, but pretend for a minute), how do we know - how does anyone know - that reducing our CO2 from 385 ppm to 350 WILL DO THE TRICK? Suppose we achieve this reduction (impossible because of China and other developing worlds but, again, let's pretend) and global warming carries on (once it starts again ... if it ever does)?
Really, the only way to be sure that we are going to cure global warming (if we are causing it) is to go back to the technology level of the mid 19th century. This is not a joke.
No cars, trucks or planes; no central heating or cooling; no electricity; no modern medicine; food limited to what you can grow within maybe ten miles - a lot less if you don't have a horse.
This is one of the great lies about the theory of AGW. No one can say FOR SURE what level of CO2 would stop it. We're supposed to take Draconian steps such as proposed by McKibben simply on blind faith and then hope for the best.
If James Hansen wrote this:
May 11, 2008 - 19:38 ET by NL207If James Hansen wrote this:
"if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
in a submission to Science. Maybe he should read this:
"Preliminary results indicate that atmospheric P(CO2) was less than 800 ppm V for most of the Tertiary, but was significantly higher during the Mesozoic (2500 to 3000 ppm V). "
These numbers don't look like 350 ppm to me. Furthermore, we know that life of all kinds flourished on Earth during these Eras. Life was 'adapted' to these conditions.
Hansen is either an ignoramus or he is intentionally trying to deceive people.
"Making trains an absolute
May 11, 2008 - 21:15 ET by Cortillaen"Making trains an absolute priority and planes a taboo." Riiight... Howsabout you go impress that little point to all of your AGW-endorsing, fearmongering friends with their regular private jet flights? I'll sit back and laugh at you.
www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.
"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi
and how the heck do I get to Asia?
May 12, 2008 - 12:17 ET by wizardjrCortillaen has it. I'd like to know how this moron thinks we're supposed to get to Asia and Europe for instance? I guess we don't anymore (ah, an end to Global Economy, another liberal goal). Either that or I my wife and I start rowing now to arrive before we die so we can visit with the family. Actually, in a few dozen years the ice bridge will start reforming off Alaska so I guess we could take a dog sled across. In the mean time we cold rent an umiak from the locals and paddle.
As my hero Bugs liked to say, "Oh, what a maroon!"
ecofascism ushers in islamofascism
May 11, 2008 - 21:43 ET by upcountrywaterBy turning our attention to things like curley bulbs, carbon credits. Our oil infrastructure will just go away..With a nucklur shove from iran. Average age of 79 years will drop to 35.. We will be hunter-gathers
OH my bad that's what greenies want! You know substainable!
The POPE says, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
IranianUranium<sleep>New/Infrastructure/repair?/ROFLMAO
Good Grief!! Sorry, but
May 11, 2008 - 23:37 ET by SvenGood Grief!!
Sorry, but even if AGW was a scientific fact (and it's NOT!!), these idiots have completely jumped the shark on this issue. People cannot run on a constant state of fear for lengthy periods of time without it severly affecting their mental health! Maybe this explains the mindset of the typical liberal...never happy, always finding soemthing new to worry and obssess over.
Reports like this remind me of the proverbial whiny kid. When they're ignored, they kick and scream even louder. Because morons like this Mr. McKibben and his ilk and their constant doomsday stories (every other week the planet has less and less time to survive), people have stopped listening! They also see that this has been one of the colder winter in a few years and probably want some Global Warming.
Mr. McKibben, please get a life, and then try enjoying it!
What A Marvelous Scam
May 12, 2008 - 09:50 ET by V the KI think I see how the plan works now. The Global Warming Con Artists call for the impossible (shutting down 50% of the US electricity production), and, knowing this to be impossible, can continue to call for it and scare up grants, donations, and easy money forever.
It's quite brilliant when you think about it.