I found this article by C.J. Carnacchio
that I had to repost. I appologize to my wife who doesn't think that she got enough repreive from politics on my blog. But I promise the next one will be non-political.
Myth #1: Global Warming: Despite the rantings of the apocalyptic eco-prophets, the actual temperature records, taken in North America and Western Europe, show no significant or consistent upward trends. There is, instead, a series of highs and lows. According to the Greenhouse theory, the increase in carbon dioxide emissions since the beginning of the Industrial Age should have increased average temperatures by two to four degrees Celsius over the last 100 years. In reality, temperatures have only increased a paltry 0.5 degrees Celsius.
In fact, between the 1940s and the mid-1970s temperatures were steadily declining. This led environmentalists in the 1970s to predict global cooling and the coming of a new ice age. They blamed the same industrial economy and pollutants then for global cooling that they now blame for global warming. New ice age or melting polar ice caps, the environmentalists can't seem to make up their minds. It seems as long as they have a crisis to fuel their agenda and keep those donations rolling in, they'll preach anything.
As for the claim that the carbon dioxide emission levels of industry are responsible for global warming, here are some facts. Both historic and prehistoric levels of carbon dioxide have shifted and changed without human intervention. Historic increases in carbon dioxide have occurred about the same time as temperature increases, but a careful study of the data shows the rise in temperature preceded the increase in carbon dioxide, not the reverse. In the prehistoric era, carbon dioxide levels were at times ten times what they are today, and that was during a period when life was evolving and taking shape.
Carbon dioxide is actually a minor greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide, methane, hydrocarbons, and aerosol only account for two percent of greenhouse warming. The main greenhouse gas which accounts for the other 98 percent is water vapor. So carbon dioxide's effect is ultimately insignificant, no matter how much industry has created.
Myth #2: The Hole in the Ozone Layer: Contrary to the environmentalists' claims, there is no permanent hole in the ozone layer and no ozone shortage. Ozone is constantly created and destroyed. The interaction of ultraviolet radiation with oxygen molecules is what produces ozone. In the stratosphere, 10 to 40 kilometers above the earth's surface, several tons of ozone are produced every second.
The amount of ozone present at any one time is influenced by many factors. For example, the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the stratosphere (and ultimately producing ozone) depends upon latitude, solar cycle, and season. Concentrations of ozone may differ drastically from one day to the next, sometimes by as much as 50 percent, depending on the weather. Ozone holes are natural reactions to these ultraviolet light variations. Ozone levels can also be affected by the amount of volcanic matter in the stratosphere. Each volcanic eruption emits roughly a thousand times the amount of ozone-depleting chemicals than all the CFCs man has ever produced.
The ozone hole that appeared over Antarctica and caused all the panic is a natural and annual phenomena. The annual ozone hole was first measured in 1956-57, long before the ozone-destroying CFCs were in common use. The hole appears at the end of the dark, cold Antarctic winter, lasts about three to five weeks, and then disappears. There is no overall or permanent depletion of the ozone layer.
Myth #3: Deforestation and Clear-cutting: America's forests are not vanishing. There are 730 million acres of forest land in the United States today. The growth on those acres is extremely dense, with a total of 230 billion trees (that's 900 trees for each American). When the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, 45 percent of what is now the 48 contiguous United States was covered by mature forest land. Today, 32 percent is still covered by forest, two-thirds of the total before the pilgrims arrived.
Contrary to environmentalist propaganda, clear-cutting does not leave behind a scarred and barren wasteland. It is usually done in a checkerboard manner leaving behind large areas of forest. The areas where cutting occurs are then replanted. Trees are a valuable commodity, and companies have an incentive not to overcut them. Today, many companies are planting millions of trees on their own land and carefully harvesting them.
Even the U.S. Forest Service admits that, "Drastic as it may seem, clear cutting plays a legitimate and prominent role in scientific forestry. Properly done, it paves the way for a new, unencumbered and hence vigorously growing forest." Clear-cutting was even practiced by the Indians, who burned areas to provide a cleared space for new growth, which was favored by animals they hunted such as elk and deer.
Myth #4 Endangered Species: Environmentalists claim that five species go extinct every day, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that five species, subspecies, and varieties of plants and animals have gone extinct every three and three-quarters years since 1620. The fact is that most animals and plants go extinct from natural causes such as climatic changes, food shortages, disease, and competition with more dominant species. It's called survival of the fittest. Some animals are meant to go extinct and some are meant to survive. This is how species perpetuate themselves.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 represents one of the most irresponsible pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress. The law basically gives the government the authority to stop extinction in all cases, regardless of the cost, by any means necessary. Not every species can or should be protected. Do we really need to save every allegedly endangered insect out there? Many creatures on the endangered species list are not really endangered or even a scientifically defined species at all. Yet, we spend roughly $2.6 million a year for each creature on the list.
The environmentalists use their doomsday predictions as a form of political blackmail. They create these eco-bogeymen, hold them over people, and then preach the coming of the apocalypse unless their demands are met. Environmentalists see themselves as the Earth's new vanguard class, uniquely capable of seeing the impending doom while the rest of humanity remains blind to the danger.
The greatest casualty of the environmental movement has been the property rights of American citizens. The greatest benefactor has been the Leviathan State. What better way to control someone's property than to subordinate one's private property rights to environmental concerns. Under the guise of "defending the environment," the imperial Congress has been able to enact laws which allow government officials to confiscate private property, levy fines for noncompliance of up to $25,000 a day, prevent owners from using their land, and even jail a land owner who uses his land for any purpose other than that which the government has dictated. This is a clear and obscene violation of the Fifth Amendment which states, "No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."
The ideology of the Greens has roots in both fascism and Marxism. The Nazis were naturalists and have been described as "the first radical environmentalists in charge of a state." As political writer David Horowitz wrote, "The enthronement of biological imperatives, of the virtues of blood and soil and the primitive communities of the Volk, the pagan rejection of the Judaeo-Christian God, and the radical anti-humanism featured in the philosophy of the Greens" are all derivatives of the Nazi ideology.
From Marxism, the environmentalists derived their hatred of the free market, private property, and the upper classes. The environment has become the new weapon of choice to attack capitalism. Dolphins and trees have become the new proletariat. In order to achieve the ecological balance the radical environmentalists advocate, it would be necessary to progressively narrow "the gap to reduce the differences between the Earth's wealthiest and poorest inhabitants" until there are "more or less equal shares for all people." Sound familiar, comrade? How ironic that it was the totalitarian regimes of Eastern europe and the soviet Union that had the most horrendous environmental conditions on Earth.
Paul Watson, co-founder of the eco-terrorist group Greenpeace, summed up the true face of the environmental movement when he said, "It doesn't matter what's true; it only matters what people believe is true ... You are what the media define you to be. [Greenpeace] became a myth and a myth-generating machine." Amen.
0 comments:
Post a Comment