Presenting the other side of this argument is an organization called The Carbon Sense Coalition.
It wants "to restore balance and reason to the carbon debate, and to explain and defend the key role of carbon in production of most of our energy for heat, light, and transportation, and all of our food."
With this in mind, Carbon Sense on Friday strongly advocated observance of Earth Hour with a slight twist destined to bring a smile to climate realists across the globe (emphasis added throughout, h/t Heartland):
The Carbon Sense Coalition today came out in support of “lights out” during Earth Hour (Saturday 29th) but claimed the time should be renamed “Dark Hour” and suggested that consumers should also forgo the consumption of gasoline and diesel during this period.
The chairman of “Carbon Sense”, Mr Viv Forbes, claimed that consumers should spend the hour they sit in the dark with no transport, air conditioning or hot coffee, remembering the contribution that carbon fuels have made to modern society.
“And while contemplating this hour of darkness, they should steel themselves for the hour when, if the Global warming alarmists have their way, this will become a necessity not a nicety."
How delicious. But there's more:
“All of this comfort, safety, convenience and prosperity is now threatened by hysterical claims that man’s carbon emissions can and should be stopped. Even though the weather records and the science deny the doomsday forecasts, the politicians, like lemmings, are leading us over the Greenhouse Cliff. Without the nuclear parachute, it will not be a pleasant fall." [...]
“If we continue down this path, we can no longer assume that electricity will come at the flick of a switch. Consumers need to learn a new vocabulary for these bad new times – “load shedding, demand management, quota allocation, rolling blackouts, brownouts, emission permits, load prioritisation, interruptible customers, emergency customers, zone rota systems, power emergency declarations, priority lines, three-day-week rationing, power outages, grid instability, electricity rationing, operating reserve, maintenance shutdowns . . . .” - all the jargon of a power system in crisis, suffering from stagnant or falling capacity and growing demand."
Forbes then listed some modern day examples of how environmentalists around the world are threatening our ability to light, heat, and cool our houses:
“One of the first places to experience power shortages was, appropriately enough, California in the early 2000’s, where Deep Greens have harassed and delayed every practical method of generating base-load power. The operating reserve margin in California is now about 5% whereas 15% is considered safe. More “Dark Hours” can be expected there. And their Green Tick solar collectors will produce 12 Dark Hours EVERY DAY."
As a resident of California, I can attest to the accuracy of Forbes' analysis, for environmentalists in this state have for decades interfered with virtually every effort to expand the energy grid as our population has exploded.
With this in mind, Forbes offered this marvelous conclusion:
To steal a phrase from my friend, Rod Bates: “On Saturday night, after they have turned off their lights, I suggest the participants in Earth Hour wander down to the nearest beach, pee into the sea and observe what effect it has on the tide.”
“This will illustrate the effect that cutting man-made carbon emissions will have on future climate.”
Amen.
Readers are advised to take this opportunity to spend an hour recognizing just how much of your lifestyle you owe to that which folks on the left and in the media are currently demonizing and trying to destroy.
While you meditate, consider the words offered by Rush Limbaugh Friday on this very subject:
I am all for innovation, invention, creativity. I am all for this is this magical new alternative energy that will replace oil. I'm all for it. But ain't there. We're nowhere close. Oil is the cheapest, it is the most abundant, as I have pointed out timeless times, it is the cheapest, it is the most abundant, it is the most efficient fuel source we have. It is the fuel of the engine of freedom and democracy. Biofuels. There are more and more stories that are hitting the decks here, these biofuels are just causing all kinds of damage. They are not cost efficient whatsoever. They are using more energy to produce them than they save in their usage. I've got a big story here, in Norway, 400% more water is being used. You ought to see the price of rice worldwide. There are rice shortages. Rice grows in water. All of these alternative fuel sources, they sound so wonderful, wind farms, diddly-squat. Solar, fine. But nothing is out there yet that is going to replace oil. And the trashing of oil and with such phrases as "no blood for oil" and so forth is dangerous because oil has led to our freedom and our advancement and our prosperity. You ought to stop and think about just how relevant it is and how dependent we are on oil, not for wherever it comes from. We're dependent on oil for our very freedom. We are dependent on it for our very security. We are dependent on it for our lifestyle and our ability to grow. It is the blood flow of the United States and of the free world. There's nothing anywhere near out there that is in quantity or in cost that's anywhere near to replacing it. [...]
May I have your attention please, folks, on the business of alternative fuels? Look at me. Look-k-k at me. The United States is not a zero-sum game. Meaning when somebody gets hired, it does not mean somebody gets fired. Meaning when somebody earns an additional five dollars, somebody has lost an additional five dollars. It doesn't mean that it's either oil or else. The whole concept of the United States, the capitalist system, is the free market -- and the free market is fueled by freedom! Freedom leads to ingenuity, invention, entrepreneurism, and what is the pursuit? The pursuit is profit. The profit derives from success. Now, there's some charlatans in our free market. The people in carbon offset businesses are sharks. They are pure frauds! They are convincing people to pay them X-amount of dollars for whatever, to plant trees, to soak up the additional carbon footprint of what is "allowed." Allowed by who? Who says that there is a maximum carbon footprint? There is no such law, there is no such standard, because we have freedom!
If you want to have a 30,000-squarefoot house and a big-ass swimming pool and a bunch of outdoor lights and you can afford it and you pay for it, and there are people that provide it. End of story. You are not guilty! You are not guilty. No, you are not. Just because somebody else doesn't have a 30,000-square-feet house, doesn't have a big-ass swimming pool and outdoor lights, doesn't mean they're innocent and you are guilty. As this relates to alternative fuels, oil is the most plentiful energy source we have. It's the most efficient. But while oil is being used, and while it is being exploited, the United States taxpayer, ladies and gentlemen, already spends billions of dollars on alternative energy research -- and you can bet that the private sector is investing in it, too, and do you know why? Because we are a growing country and everybody needs energy! We're not going to stay the United States if we start reducing energy usage. Conservation is not the answer. So because it free market's percolating and gurgling and burbling out there, somewhere in this mix will come the magical alternative fuel source. It may not be for a hundred years, it may not be for 50, but it will happen, and it will happen all by itself...if we stay free. [...]
Oil is not the enemy. We can peacefully co-exist with oil while looking for the miracle alternative fuel source that everybody wants, but we're going to have to do that while using oil. Oil is not the enemy, folks. It's our buddy.
To quote Barack Obama and his followers, Yes We Can!
