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Chamber: Global Warming Is Good for You
After losing several high-profile members over its climate policy, the US Chamber of Commerce spent much of this week attempting to convince the public that it does believe global warming is a serious concern that Congress should act upon. But in comments recently submitted by the group to the Environmental Protection Agency, the group advanced a very different view. In its submission, the Chamber questioned the science behind the phenomenon of climate change, suggested that humans are now less vulnerable to rising temperatures because of the growing use of air conditioners—and theorized that even if the planet is getting warmer, that might be a good thing.
The Chamber's comment was submitted to the EPA on June 23 in response to the agency's finding in April that carbon dioxide is a hazard to human health. The 86-page document is packed with claims that cast doubt on that conclusion. An excerpt:
The Administrator has thus ignored analyses that show that a warming of even 3 [degrees] C in the next 100 years would, on balance, be beneficial to humans because the reduction of wintertime mortality/morbidity would be several times larger than the increase in summertime heat stress- related mortality/morbidity.
The comment also takes aim at the EPA for relying on the research of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a massive, decade-long, peer-reviewed study by leading scientists of the effects of global warming. According to the Chamber, the EPA based their finding "entirely on untested scientific sources—mostly a U.N. report" and noting that "the science on which EPA proposes to rely raises questions on unprecedented controversy."
It concludes: there are "profound and wide-ranging scientific uncertainties" about climate change and its impacts on health and welfare that are "vehemently controverted among scientists and technicians of numerous stripes."
The Chamber also submitted a supporting document, "Detailed Review of EPA’s Health and Welfare Scientific Evidence," that includes even more bizarre statements about climate change, including:
Humans have become less susceptible to the effects of heat due to a combination of adaptations, particularly air conditioning. The availability of air conditioning is expected to continue to increase.
And:
Reduced exposure to cold days is a significant factor in the increased life expectancy experienced in the U.S. over the past 30 years. This benefit from reduced exposure to cold can be further attributed to people migrating to warmer climates.
And:
Overall, there is strong evidence that populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.
And finally:
[T]he scientific evidence is clear that cold is a more potent hazard than heat.
That sure sounds like a group with "mainstream, commonsense views" that has "supported efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere."
WOW! Sounds like something
WOW! Sounds like something a tobacco co. exec. might have said in 1955....
Who Wrote This Report???
Sarah Palin?? Jesus!
You're right. Another Ice
You're right. Another Ice Age would be much more beneficial. It'll help get rid of all you Kool-Aid drinkers...
Oh look, Mars another victim of Global Warming!
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html
Chamber of Horrors
These guys and gals are like 5 year olds who start their dads car and put it in gear. They do not understand the danger coming nor the catastrophe already on the way.
Global Denial
Is it not a measure of how bad things have become when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce positions itself as an organization entirely in the grips of right-wing insanity?
Dredd is absolutely right in his analogy -- when that five-year-old gets in daddy's car and starts it up and puts it in gear, there is danger for the child and for anyone else around him. And the Chamber's collective wisdom is precisely that of a five-year-old, when the actually suggest air-conditioning as an effective response to global warming. That solution is, frankly, stupid because: More warming, more air-conditioners; more air-conditioners, more power consumption; more power consumption, more CO2 in the atmosphere. This is five-year old thinking -- I'm sure if you asked a toddler what he'd do about global warming, air-conditioning would be his first suggestion -- because toddlers do not, and apparently the Chamber cannot, consider any cause-and-effect chain that is more complex than A causes B. Denial makes people stupid-on-purpose (thanks, Kurt Vonnegut).
With no due respect to the "kool-aid drinkers" remark by Anonymous, above, the Chamber and its public are the ones whose thinking is suicidal, as well as homicidal, because it is geocidal. The Chamber, too, wants us to believe that the best scientists in the world may be dismissed as "kool-aid drinkers."
Too bad to see the Chamber sinking to the level of the Savages, Coulters, and all the other reckless right-wingers who get so much attention today by thinking and behaving like, or worse than, most five-year-olds.
But, you know, Joe the Air-Conditioner Repairman has got to love them.
Chamber Consistent
You might also recall the US Chamber of Commerce has been a continuous opponent of the international human rights regime. In the case of climate change impacts on indigenous peoples, these two issues converge. The Chamber mindset is consistent with the attitudes that prevailed regarding the U.S. Constitution prior to amendments outlawing slavery and extending equal civil rights to Blacks, Indians, and women. Today that mindset is supportive of such things as sweatshops and human trafficking.
Yeah cause we all know,
Yeah cause we all know, droughts, floods, harsh storms, sea level rise, dying crops and cattle in our breadbaskets, massive food shortages... This will lead to the collapse of western civilization, seriously. We gotta deal with it or most will die. Republican denialists are probably aware of this. They wanna see DC destroyed.
Someone's been reading "Cool it"
Bjorn Lomborg was actually the man who popularized the idea in "Cool It" that global warming is more beneficial because it reduces the number of cold related deaths which are much more significant than heat related deaths. Lomborg doesn't deny that global warming is occurring however, but his argument is that more funding should go to causes like malaria vaccinations.
What Lomborg and the Chamber fail to take into account though is that the majority of the world's population live in hot climates. Look at the droughts in Iraq and Iran, look at the tsunamis hitting the Philippines and Indonesia. Europeans and North Americans might be having great summers, but the majority of the world population who live in hotter climates...not so much.
Of course Lomborg started his Copenhagen Coalition...in Copenhagen. A miserably cold city. Juuuust saying.
Strictly speaking Copenhagen
Strictly speaking Copenhagen is not a cold city by any reasonable definition. The climate in Denmark is coastal temperate. Most winters it barely snows, and if it does snow, it normally melts within a day or a week at most. It could be argued that it it useful to have someone who is willing to question received wisdom, but I am afraid that Lomborg does not really fit the bill as he seems to question just about anything indiscriminately. He was accused of scientific fraud but it was not demonstrated so conceivably he was merely incompetent. The main problem is that he is doing calculations about all sorts of topics on which he cannot have but a shallow understanding.
I can hear Morbo the Annihilator Now
"GLOBAL WARMING DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!!!"
Let them eat Air Conditioners
No doubt the US Chamber of Commerce also has figured out and believes that Recessions are good for us, that we need more Bernie Madoffs, and that we will never run out of oil. Let the good times roll!
Jeesh!!!! What a bunch of morons!
If they are anything like my local chamber of commerce, then I am not surprised. My local one is full of Real Estate agents who tried to force a pair of huge golf course developments down our somewhat rural throats here NW of Seattle. One got built partially and now the owner is under water by the tune of $5.9 million. The other party more or less gave up. They are still, to this day, trying to keep the dream alive - with Stimulus money funds even - to fund a fast ferry to Downtown Seattle as if that will help sell all those empty homes. Meanwhile, small businesses in our town are holding on by a thread if that and are not important to them. The County Chamber of Commerce ain't much better.
that's a nice matter bcoz
that's a nice matter bcoz that's related all over world.thanks for sharing that post.
climate
"Warmer weather"???? Where to begin. Climate is not weather.
AGW mistake
Those who bothered to check would have discovered that since 2000 the atmospheric carbon dioxide level has increased 18.8% of the increase from 1800 to 2000. Since 1998 the average global temperature has not increased. That is outside of the 'limits' of all of the predictions of the 'consensus' of Climate Scientists. The separation between the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide level and not-increasing average global temperature has been increasing at an average rate of about 2% per year since 2000. The sun has not been this quiet this long since 1913. I wonder how bad the starvation that will result from crop failures due to cold weather will need to get for some to realize that maybe they got it wrong.
Mistake?
Dan,
Possibly you should check your data. Goddard Institute for Space Studies refutes what you are implying. Basically, 2007 tied 1998 in global temperatures, yet the 1998 high temperature was helped with the "El Nino of the century." Read more for yourself here if you actually care. http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2007/
And to your credit, you are correct. There will probably have to be a disaster before some will realize that maybe they got it wrong.
Global warming
Yep. Global warming is better than global cooling. No doubt about it folks.
*Jumps through mental loops
*Jumps through mental loops and bad science to maintain an unsustainable lifestyle*
*is a conservative*
It never ceases to amaze me
It never ceases to amaze me that global warming deniers keep repeating the red herring of how warming has not increased since 1998. The data shows the overall trend for a couple hundred years is an increase. During that period, there have been plateaus but no downward movement in that trend. The past ten years are one such plateau. That does not change the overall trend. Visit RealClimate to see actual science explained by adults with college degrees. As for who are the real kool-aid drinkers, why not follow the money? The chamber of commerce is trying to protect short term financial interests and make specious arguments and points to opinions of those with no background in climatology to make their case. The scientists who study climate will receive funding for their research regardless of what the data shows. Sure, there are organizations that may benefit from a climate scare, but those are not the people who do the research or fund it. And amongst those pure scientists, there is near universal agreement on this matter.
As for for the issue of a/c's, all I can say is OMG. The main concern of a rise of a few degrees in average temperature is not heat mortality (though much of the population that lives in hot climates still do NOT have a/c's and won't anytime soon). It is one of rising oceans flooding coastal areas, alterations of growing seasons (many crops need cool periods of a certain length at a certain time), increase in disease-causing and crop-damaging pests, disruptions in fisheries, etc. These fools do not even have their own members' best interest at heart, because these changes will cause a lot of damage to business as usual.
Yes, but....what about the
Yes, but....what about the flora and fauna that human beings need in order to survive? Are we going to bring everything on Earth indoors to benefit from artificial air cooling? It is nice for the energy companies to think that the effects of climate change can be mitigated by artificial means...
C of C
I remember when people made comments like that of the C of C, and 90% of the population turned their heads smirkingly.
Now only 10% do !
All the more reason for EDUCATION REFORM.
Start in the SOUTH !!
Facts? We don't need no stinking facts.
Thank you Ronnie Reagan for creating the undying "Greed Gud, Facts Bad" conservative mentality. You gotta figure society took a wrong turn somewhere when the issue of sheer planetary survival has become politicized. Rep. Alan Grayson was spot on when he characterized Republicans in power as "knuckle dragging."
These people who laugh off
These people who laugh off or ignore what is right in front of their eyes are like the frogs ignorantly languishing in the pot of water that grows warmer by the minute, unaware of the boiling temperatures that are moments away...until it is too late. What is scary is that these people are the ones sitting in a position of influential power.
I sincerely hope that our children, sitting in their classrooms, are being taught the truth of what is happening to our planet. Maybe they will be the wiser generation to stop and even begin to reverse the damage that has been done.
Anything is possible if you
Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about. It is unfortunate that so many bloggers have no ability and may even lack the interest to do their own research on the planet’s climate. As a result they have no technological basis to challenge the highly politicized claims of many and sometimes resort to ad hominem attacks.
I have an MSc in Mechanical Engineering and have been researching the global warming issue for thousands of hours for over two years. I have determined that atmospheric carbon dioxide has only minuscule influence on average global temperature and that a time-integral of sunspots correlates with the observed average global temperatures. My findings are presented and links to the source data are provided so anyone can verify what I have done. Although I only use data of highest quality, I still compare the data from various agencies when possible and sometimes just average them to avoid bias.
Arctic sea ice is not disappearing. Arctic sea ice area has actually increased the last couple of years and is currently about at the middle of the range that it has had for the last seven years. A multi-year daily-updated graph is shown at http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm . As this graph clearly shows the Arctic ice is NOT disappearing.
Climate Scientists with their faulty computer programs got it wrong. The real message from MEASURED data is that the temperature has stopped increasing and the trend is now down. The average global temperature is below the lowest that was predicted by the Climate Scientists and their twenty or so Global Climate models. One problem is that Climate Scientists apparently do not understand the science that, with paleo temperature data, shows that there is no significant net positive feedback from average global temperature. This science is well understood by some engineers who have exploited it in many common practical devices. It is described further in one of the pdfs at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true . Without net positive feedback there is no human caused global warming. Without human caused global warming there is no human caused climate change. The other pdf at this site shows the sunspot assessment. Any activity to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to reduce climate change is a mistake that takes away freedom and prosperity.
Since 2000, atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by an amount equal to 18.8% of the increase from 1800 to 2000. According to the average of the five reporting agencies, the trend of average global temperatures since 1998 shows no increase and from 2002 through 2008 the trend shows a DECREASE of 1.8°C/century. This SEPARATION has been increasing at an average rate of about 2% per year since 2000. It corroborates the lack of connection between atmospheric carbon dioxide increase and average global temperature. The annual average global temperature anomalies and links to the five reporting agencies are given in one of my posts at http://www.celsias.com/article/global-deal-climate-changes-new-era/ . Another post there gives links to several others that refute AGW using different methodology. As the atmospheric carbon dioxide level continues to increase and the average global temperature doesn’t it is becoming more and more apparent that many Climate Scientists have made an egregious mistake and a whole lot of people have been misled.
The sun has been very quiet for over 31 months. It has not been this quiet this long since 1913. Seventy five of the last 88 days (as of Oct 6, 2009) have been sunspot free. Numerical data for the last 30 days are provided at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/latest/DSD.txt . SESC sunspot number is calculated the same way as Wolf number. The Little Ice Age and other periods of reduced average global temperature coincide with few sunspots. Sunspot changes appear to be a ‘catalyst’ for cloud changes and therefore have much greater influence on average earth temperature than total solar irradiance (TSI).
Ice coverage
Congratulations on some of the better scientific criticism I have seen from the sceptic camp. However I have some questions. Why did you only quote the measurements for the last 7 years ? What is the longer term trend, and how does the last 7 years fit in ? (Please don't make me accuse you of cherry picking data !)
Would the thickness of ice not perhaps be a better indicator of what changes are happening if a larger proportion of the ice is gradually thinning/refreezing faster due to lack of snow cover ?
What changes if any would you expect from the current Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation Cycles in the next couple of years ? (Any paradigm's strength can best be judged by its predictive ability.)
Climate change
The dorks at the Chamber of Commerce who wrote this, do they even have a High School diploma? Sounds like some 12 year old wrote it.
Adaptations???
"Overall, there is strong evidence that populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations."
Yeah, like the Halliburton Survivball for instance!
Ummmm, the Chamber evidently hasn't read the LEED scorecard, which awards points for measures which reduce the heat island effect, which is what happens when a combination of dark - and therefore highly heat absorbing - surfaces and concentrated air conditioner use creates a layer of incredibly hot air over an area which eventually cripples the air conditioners' capacity, leaving the people below feeling like they're in a crock pot.
You really are quite winded
You really are quite winded Dan the mechanical engineer. Really? Only thousands of hours over the last couple of years. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of scientists from many different areas of study who have dedicated their whole lives to the recording of global readings along with plant and animal reactions to these findings.
How can an educated individual such as your self not take into account ALL data that has been presented regarding ALL aspects of LIFE on this planet in response to the unnatural man-made chemicals that are pumped into our waterways, earth, and air on a daily basis?
There is knowledge and then there is wisdom. I sincerely hope that one day you will obtain wisdom to go along with that knowledge.
What's good for the goose must be GREAT for the gander!
[says the ostrich with his head in the sand] "Man, it sure is dark down here!"
Talk about isolationistic! They completely ignore the plight of BILLIONS of people in underdeveloped nations. Drought, famine... hello? Have these guys ever heard of Somalia, Darfur, atolls, or of India? Does anyone remember Ethoipia? Have they heard of desertification?
Yeah, it will be beneficial to Minnesotans, but where the vast majority of the population on the PLANET lives, it will be destructive: the equatorial zones (tropics) and anywhere close to water (coasts/rivers). I'm wondering if these guys know what glaciers do or what it would be like if your river dried up every summer and flooded every spring. Because global warming changes that shit too...
I find it ironic that the camp who dis'believes' in evolution says that we have made human 'adaptations' (that only the very richest in the world can use). Those are technological advances only available by a few and those advances rob Peter (electricity production) to pay Paul (carbon emissions). Connect the dots, USCOC.
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