Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Coyne's confused adherence to AGW dogma

Andrew Coyne in his column in yesterday's Nat Post shows that he is typical of many political commentators who have been swayed by climate scare-mongering without having done any due diligence.   Though he is critical of efforts (and the lack thereof) to "fight climate change", he uncritically accepts the underlying premise for doing so.  A letter writer in today's NP captured the essence of his confusion on the subject:
I am in total agreement with Andrew Coyne concerning the futility of the provincial carbon (dioxide) summit but for different reasons than Coyne’s. And, in fact, Coyne’s own words explain why.
“Is climate change happening? Yes.” An empty statement, since the climate is continually changing.
“Are we, as a species, responsible? Probably.” Well, since the modelling of the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming has been shown to be very wrong, this means that at this moment science does not well understand the effect of human actions on the climate. So not even the lukewarm “Probably” has a solid basis, especially if Coyne is implying that humans have a major effect on climate.
“Can we do something about it? So it seems.” But likewise, the evidence for this maybe-we-can-do-something-about-global-warming remark is absent.
But the most inconsistent part of Coyne’s argument is his statement, “There’s no point in us acting alone – we produce just two per cent of global emissions – but there’s no defence for not acting at all.” So even though it doesn’t make sense to act alone there’s no defence for not acting alone. Huh?    Alex MacMillan, Kingston, Ont.
 More on the Quebec Climate "Summit" by Peter Foster.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Are we, as a species, responsible" the answer is more than probably, it is highly likely. Not 100% certain, but over 95% certain and this has been tested several times by several scientist and peer reviewed. "There’s no point in us acting alone – we produce just two per cent of global emissions " that is probably the strongest argument for Canada not taking action as simply even if we disappeared off the face of the earth it wouldn't make much difference. Another argument I would add is Canada might economically benefit from a warmer climate such as longer growing season, more arable land, lower heating bills, fewer cold related deaths, longer tourist season etc. We are after all a cold country so while a warmer climate is probably bad for some it might be good for us.

Anonymous said...

all these carbon based organisms trying to eliminate carbon on a carbon based planet in a universe full of carbon. heh, it does not get much dumber than that.

JR said...

Anon (7:55PM) "the answer is more than probably, it is highly likely. Not 100% certain, but over 95% certain and this has been tested several times".

Actually, that we are contributing to global warming is nearly 100% certain. Where there is considerable uncertainty is in our knowledge of how much we are contributing relative to natural causes and whether that contribution is sufficient to be risking the economic harm that will follow from "fighting climate change". The data tells us that our contribution is small and that it is not worth that risk.

As for Canada benefiting from global warming (man-induced or not) - that is almost certainly true. And if you believe Elizabeth May, human induced global warming is saving us from the onset of a new ice-age. That's the flip-side of the precautionary principle that the alarmists invoke for the urgent need to "fight climate change". In the unlikely event that she is correct, it would be absolute folly for Canada (or anyone else in the northern hemisphere) to be insisting on cutting emissions.

Anonymous said...

PM Harper acknowledges there is climate change. Get with the program!

bertie said...

Even PM Harper can be mistaken sometimes.And because of all his other good beliefs I forgive him.THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GLOBAL WARMING.If you fools want to send these scam artists your money,it is a free world so go for it.But the educated people who know that it is all a money grabbing scam want to perhaps give their money to charities like Cancer Research or Hospitals for sick Children.So go ahead waste your own money,(YOU FRIGGIN IDIOTS) but don,t you dare try and use my hard earned money on your feel good idiot programs like fighting a non existent problem.In other words get out of our world with your money wasting schemes we have better things to do,like waste our money on WIND MILLS.When will these fools ever learn.Are they all mentally incompetent or just so friggin stubborn that they will destroy their countries economy to get their scams hoisted upon us all.