Thank G-d for Lord Lawson!

Last night I had the pleasure of watching Lord Lawson on “Newsnight” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm) dare to question the premise of global warming / climate change advanced by the Environmental / Green Lobby. I have never needed any convincing on this as I have always been unashamedly incredulous of this whole environmental scaremongering.

For far too long we have collectively allowed that “cosy liberal consensus” to monopolize this debate with innuendo and supposition, substituting where empirical evidence should be offered. Lord Lawson was right to expose the holes as he did last night on the environment lobbies most egregious claims, and boy are they are plenty!

Make no mistake about it; the green lobby is nothing more than socialism repackaged. They are quite adept at “throwing mud” on any of us if we dare question their premise. Well I for one believe it’s time we were able to have a grown up and frank debate on this topic. We can not afford to leave an issue as important as this in the hands of the liberal elite.

Ahhh! But we have science on our side, I can hear them all shout. The fact is, they have never had science on their side. “Voodoo” science does not count. This trick of limited data points extrapolated with contempt, is about as empirical as taking a humpback whale out of the sea; placing it in a fish tank and then concluding, that what is observed in such a limited scope is what we can conclude happens in nature.

Just to be clear here, my understanding of empirical is: provable or verifiable by experiment. For all the talk about the earth being “two minuets to midnight”, we have seen nothing but extrapolation and computational modelling. Great tools they are, but I have to tell you as a former financial engineer, computational modelling as well as interpolation / extrapolation are only part of the necessary tools meant to argument the scientific toolbox, not replace it. In other words, context is always necessary, and results are NOT prophecy scribed in stone.

And on that topic of the “science” of the environmental debate, to my knowledge based on the information I have read the earth is not warming, its’ actually cooling. Taking 2002 as my reference point the earth’s temperature has pretty much reached a juncture of little or no growth, ergo the argument advanced by the environmental lobby that CO₂ emissions is driving temperature flies in the face of facts. The fact is, CO₂ is increasing yet temperatures are plateauing, and no, you don’t have to take my word for it, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has acknowledge this very observation!

There seems to be a whole industry created solely for the purpose of inculcating us the consumer, that we should carry the baggage of global guilt as a consequence of humankind’s progress. This is a recipe for disaster, and would affect the majority world countries worst, the very same people the green lobby, cries is their Raison d'être.

Repetitive yes, but in closing I must state as a matter of fact the following – In light of decades spent churning out computer models, there remains no empirical evidence that anthropogenic CO₂ production is causing global warming. The caveat here is, if you except that the earth is warming in the first place. If you do go on to except that premise that yes in fact the earth is warming, calculating the contributions from a thawing earth as a result of the last ice age, itself the consequence of changes in solar heat following changes in the earth's elliptic orbit and in its tilt, can never be answered with certainty.

This nonsense of the “precautionary principal” if followed to it “illogical” but logical ends has no boundaries. After all the next time you get in the bathtub, walk down the stairs, leave your home, you risk death. Yet if we adhere to the environmental lobby’s premise, we should as a matter of caution cease these activities – crazy? My point and sentiments in a nutshell!

Environmentalist, Greens & Co unmasked

One can’t help but notice the lengths that Environmentalist, Greens & Co (aka the Green Lobby) will go to, in their attempts to dish out “global guilt” with those of us who cherish freedom and choice, verses their “the end of the world is neigh” mentality.

In the United Kingdom, the target “de jour” is plastic bags, bottled water and air travel. Marks and Spencer plc, in its wisdom has decided that they intend to charge shoppers 0.5 pence for shopping bags in an effort to reduce consumption. Call me a cynic, but with the copious amounts of cellophane wrapping that come on just about anything you can by from M&S, I doubt very much if this nothing more than a public relations stunt. I suspect that with their propensity to wrap any and everything, they would wrap us poor shoppers in cellophane if they could get away with it.

It is one thing for a private enterprise such as M&S to pursue a commercial strategy built on the theory of the environmental / green lobby scare tactics; after all, they are in the business of making money! Where I draw the line, and firmly – Is the governments attempts to legislate in such areas. I knew it would not take long for New Labour to jump on this bandwagon, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown certainly did not disappoint, when he stated that he intends to pass legislation on this matter.

Least you be mistaken, it’s not just shopping bags! Shopping bags represent merely the thin edge of a very big wedge. Air travel and food is another one of those targets. Yes, I said food - Apparently, we are meant to feel guilty, that is those of us who like the fact that we currently have the choice to buy fruits and vegetable out of season and even treat ourselves to exotic fruits. The rationale for this is that, because these fruits and vegetables must be transported via air or road producing CO₂ , this should be banned.

Environmentalist Green & Co, lobby incessantly to government arguing such unsustainable arguments that our right to travel should no longer be a right, because it is intrinsically bad. What make this argument so ridiculous is the fact that cargo, which is a by-product of air travel, is the only way third world producers can get their goods to the market in a timely manner. I make this point, because this same lobby argues and uses emotive language about how we should be doing so much more to help the Third World, yet by their very opaque arguments, they wish to curtail the very activity that stands a chance of helping to alleviate poverty.

What I find most egregious in all of this is the fact that the green lobby et alia, has been for far too long, unchallenged in their tactics and theories. They seek to monopolize any debate that can be held on this whole global warming theory. G-D forgive you, should you ever have any course to disagree. Irrespective of the propaganda, there are those of us whom fundamentally disagree. Just because it is the words of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and others, does not take away the fact that it is propaganda none the less! Hell has no furry like an environmentalist scorned.

Balk all you want, I know I’m right, and why? Simple – if the argument has been won by the naysayers (Environmental Green & Co), they would not have to engage in tactics such as co-opting the government to do their dirty work. Instead they would make their argument to us the people, and let us decide if we share their premises – I suspect we already know the answer to this question – No. People saying they agree surely can’t count, its only actions that mater. After all in the case of shopping bags, we do have a choice. No one forces the consumer to take the shopping bag, or to travel for that matter. The mere fact that most of us are consumers speaks volumes. Let’s face it, most of us like the progress we have made as a civilization. We have no intention of living a lifestyle that is highly reminiscent of the stone ages.

I argue its time we found our collective voices. We are not in the pocket of big oil, just because we like the right to drive. We don’t own shares in Airlines because we like to travel. I say to the greens and their allies “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further”. This cosy liberal elite consensus must be brought to a swift end before we find ourselves in grave danger. Just imagine if you will where we would be if we listen to the naysayers, when they argued the world was flat.