Will Global Warming Make Future Generations Worse Off? (No, according to realistic analysis)

By Indur Goklany -- April 20, 2009

Some people argue that we are morally obliged to reduce greenhouse gases aggressively because otherwise the world’s current development path would be unsustainable, and our descendants will be worse off than we are.

But will a warmer world be unsustainable, and leave our descendants worse off?

I have examined these claims out to the year 2200, using the IPCC’s own assumptions regarding future economic development and results generated by the Stern Review on the economics of climate change. Note that both the IPCC and Stern are viewed quite favorably by proponents of drastic GHG reductions (see, e.g., here).

The first figure (see below)…

“New York’s Thousand Islands Are Being Ruined” (Letter to Sen. Schumer on the blight of government-dependent windpower)

By <a class="post-author" href="/about#r_donway">Roger Donway</a> -- April 19, 2009

ALBERT H. BOWERS III
NAVAL ARCHITECT & MARITIME CONSULTANT
P.O. BOX 177 – 11891 ACADEMY STREET
CHAUMONT, NY 13622
BERTNA@TWCNY.RR.COM

April 17, 2009

Senator Charles E. Schumer
Washington, D.C.

New York’s Thousand Islands are being Ruined

Dear Senator Schumer:

We need your help. We and many neighbors in surrounding communities have been concerned for the past several years about the arrival in northern New York of very aggressive developers seeking to build large industrial wind turbine facilities in our small communities. In neighboring Ontario, these large wind turbines have recently been installed on Wolfe Island, just across the river from Cape Vincent, New York. Below is a photo, taken previously, of the Tibbits Point lighthouse in Cape VIncent, marking the point where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence River:

Unfortunately, this beautiful scene will not be visible in this form again due to the construction of large wind turbines, visible in the following photo,…

“EPA Recognizes Peril of Greenhouse Gases” (Houston Chronicle headline on endangerment finding indicative of alarmist bias)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2009

Headlines are meant to sell papers, but the above scream from atop Page 1 of today’s Houston Chronicle deserves critical comment. A fair and accurate (but less sexy) headline would have been: “EPA Declares Peril of Greenhouse Gases.” Just changing one word–from “recognizes” to “declares”–makes all the difference.

The Chronicle, particularly the editorial page, has been a bastion of climate alarmism rather than informed skepticism, or what a lot of us simply call climate realism. (Eric Berger, the “sci-guy” at the Chronicle, is more of a straight shooter on day-to-day global-warming reporting.)

The science is not settled in favor of climate alarmism. But this conclusion requires some background and explanation.…