Sorry, Climate Change Wouldn't Hurt America's Economy

Stronger hurricanes

Please have a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Global_warming/Archives/2008/6#US_gov.27t_.28NOAA_leading.29_finally_expresses_an_opinion_on_storm_strength

Isn't the constant battering of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts by more and stronger hurricanes a pretty strong economic drain? Now that AIG is wrapped up in the TARP, doesn't that mean it comes out of our taxes?

James of CA @ Jan 07, 2009 16:04:17 PM

So, screw the poor countries?

So basically, since we live in the US - an area that won't be so badly damaged by altered climates - we should just close our eyes and try to make our economy bigger, probably costing developing nations trillions of dollars and millions of lives? We're willing to let the majority of people suffer because of our bourgeois lifestyles? Absolutely intolerable!

I'm sorry, but this is no "solution," nor is it a reasonable stance to take. This is more or less advocating genocide, even though it's at the hands of all of us.

Absurd - this article should be recanted. Clearly the author has misunderstood its true scope and underlying implications.

Luke Gardner of NC @ Jan 07, 2009 11:39:07 AM

A rather narrow analysis

Off the top of my head, the authors didn't include:

The costs of sea level rise. USGS recently reported that we might face a four-foot rise by 2100. Assuming this is linear (which I don't know to be true, but bear with me), we face a two-foot rise by 2050 or so. What might this do to our coastal cities?

The costs of ocean acidification. Our releases of CO2 are driving the pH of the ocean down. This puts a huge variety of marine organisms at risk, as many animals build shells of calcium that will dissolve in acidic conditions. Fisheries worldwide are already in decline; taking out a wide variety of species of plankton, the foundation of the ocean's food chain, will only make this worse.

Temperature ranges outside the last fifty years. Since 11 of the hottest years on record since 1850 have taken place in the last 13 years, one might assume that we're going to experience different phenomena than has previously been the case.

Ethical concerns. Hey, we're doing fine here in the US! Oh, a few million Bangladeshis have been displaced by rising sea levels, and many can be expected to starve, and all to be miserable? Sorry, can't be bothered.

Faster, please? No thank you.

Doug Blair of PA @ Jan 06, 2009 17:40:21 PM

Sorry, Climate Change Wouldn't Hurt America's Economy

Forget global climate change. Forget man-made global climate change.

Climate change hurt's America's economy every year. Hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, the Dust Bowl are all examples of climate change that impact crops, business, lives and homes.

Now we are told, that a change to the entire planet will have no impact? Based on what facts?

When is the media going to wake up and start questioning the 'experts?'

Robert Burlingham of CA @ Jan 06, 2009 14:35:50 PM

More on this "Climate Divide"...

Nice post and interesting study, although not surprising. Wealth and temperate latitudes shield the wealthy from risk. There's a lot more on this glaring "Climate Divide" in our 2007 series of that name, links in the Dot Earth post here: http://tinyurl.com/dotDivide

Andrew Revkin of NY @ Jan 06, 2009 14:12:38 PM

JCSpilman REFERENCES

There are several primary references associated with the material that I have covered, if ever so briefly.

(1) Earth’s Changing Climate. Lecture Series by Dr. Richard Wolfson, the Benjamin F. Wissler Professor of Physics at Middlebury College. This is a six hour lecture series (12 segments of 30 minutes each) on two DVDs produced by The Teaching Company of Chantilly VA 20151-1232.

www.TEACH12.com.

This series covers in-depth detail of the science and methodology of climate change. It is not an advocacy program. Interestingly, Dr. Wolfson does not even mention Methane-Clatherate in this lecture series -- knowledge on that subject is almost too new to have been included.

(2) Fire in the Ice. Quarterly Journal , U.S.Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory. Also known as Methane Hydrate Newsletter. Recommended reading is all issues to current issue from about 2000 forward. This is the best of several technical journals devoted to the science of Methane Clatherates.

http://www.netl.doe.gov/about/index.html

(3) HIGH TIDE by Mark Lynas. Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. 10010. ISBN 0-312-30365-3. This well written book clarifies the problems of Global Warming “… The American People have been subjected to one of the most pervasive misinformation campaigns ever undertaken …”

www.picadorusa.com

JCSpilman

JCSpilman of AL @ Jan 05, 2009 20:45:13 PM

RE: You missed the point of the article

Thanks for the very succinct assessment of the report.

It's important that we not let the media think for us.

Sorry about all the skeptics...same ole' same ole'

TH of KY @ Jan 05, 2009 20:07:19 PM

The simple truth is that "global warming" only becomes a problem when the rate of climate change becomes smaller than the applicable decision making cycle.

A wall of water coming at you is a far greater emergency than the 10cm/year sea level increase projected by IPCC's own numbers. The movie "The Day After Tomorrow" was dramatic because the storm changed the world's weather at a rate that no reputable scientist believes possible in real life. 30 walls of water, sudden mass extinctions, heat waves so sudden that lakes evaporate overnight, those simply aren't going to happen no matter what the doomsayers predict.

Instead what's most likely, if there's anything to AGW, is that the ariable growing belt would broaden and move slightly farther north of the equator than it is and a lot closer to the arctic regions. The sea levels, which have been rising steadily since the end of the last Ice Age, would rise fractionally faster and low-lying coastal regions will either be dyked or become uninhabitable a bit sooner than these would have otherwise. Polar bears would NOT die off but simply alter their hunting patterns to adapt to the changing climate, as would most other species. Plants and animals will die due to environmental pollution and habitation destruction whether it's hot or cold: If there are a hundred reasons to stop pumping poisons into the air from our factory smokestacks then global warming/climate change predictions is probably #14.

A hundred years from now our descendents will look back onand wonder what kind of mass hysteria/delusion gripped our minds to make us go unhinged over predictions of doom and death from "global warming".

Orion of CA @ Jan 05, 2009 18:22:23 PM