A Checklist
for Global Warming
by
Dmitry Chernikov
by Dmitry Chernikov
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Suppose that
you are thinking of whether you should be worried about global warming
(GW). I suggest then that you get answers to the following questions.
-
Whether
GW is, in fact, occurring, and if so, then at what rate at any
given time, now and in the future. For how long will it continue
to occur at these rates? From what non-man-made causes does
it spring? Examine the physical consequences of GW, e.g., rising
sea-levels, floods, higher crop yields, etc.
-
Whether
GW is bad, and if so, then how bad, for whom, when it will become
bad, and how fast its costs will rise. Investigate in addition
whether GW may be good, and if so, then, again, how,
for whom, when, and how fast its benefits will rise.
-
Whether
human beings contribute to GW, and if so, then in what ways
and to what extent. Which of the man-made causes of GW, such
as human breathing, cars, airplanes, power plants, etc., contribute
how much?
-
Whether
if human-caused GW was reduced by n%, GW would still
occur (and if so, then at what rate, etc.) and would still be
bad (how, for whom, etc.).
-
Whether
the sacrifices in the standard of living and prosperity needed
to curb the human impact on GW (and there will be, perhaps enormous,
sacrifices) will be worth the benefits of some lower rate of
GW. What is the least costly way of lowering emissions?
-
Whether
technological and economic progress will not make the part of
GW caused by humans a non-problem in a decade or two.
-
Whether
the US federal government is the entity to which you would want
to entrust a new war on global warming.
-
Whether,
if push comes to shove, those who live in areas not negatively
affected by GW should be forced by the government to subsidize
those who do live in such areas.
 The
currently given answers by the GW alarmists to all of these questions
are open to doubts, and a failure to answer even a single question
definitively in a way that makes a case for the dangers of GW means
that the environmentalists are all wet.
May
29, 2007
Dmitry
Chernikov [send him
mail] is a graduate student in philosophy at Kent State University.
See his website.
Copyright
© 2007 LewRockwell.com
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