Monday, June 24, 2013

Attack on "Carbon Pollution" an Attack on Human Life

A letter dubbed Moving on Climate Change was published in the 6/24/13 NJ Star-Ledger applauding New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez (D) for signing a letter to President Obama "calling on the president to set limits on carbon pollution from power plants." Frank Iannuzzi of Environment New Jersey concluded:


I applaud Menendez for speaking out, and I urge Obama to tackle global warming with the urgency it requires, most notably by setting strong limits on carbon pollution from new and existing power plants.

I left these comments:

Any restrictions on carbon (i.e., CO2) emissions that hamper energy production is grossly irresponsible. Fossil fuels power most of our electricity needs (not to mention transportation, central heating systems, and many other life-enhancing needs), and without fossil fuels our industrialization is doomed for the foreseeable future. Without industrialization, human beings will once again be at the full mercy of natural disasters (which have always happened, and always will).

Any discussion of fossil fuels should consider their benefits, and the consequences to man of ending their use (which is the environmentalists' ultimate goal). Fossil fuels have vastly improved the planet and made for a vastly better living environment. Even if we concede that man's use of fossil fuels is marginally warming the planet and increasing the severity of storms—a dubious assumption—so what? It should be remembered that without industrialization, which depends primarily on fossil fuels and will for the foreseeable future, life for humans is miserable, short, and deadly.

Rather than adding restrictions, we should be removing restrictions on fossil fuel production and use. A better approach is to adapt by building more and better protections against weather extremes, which fossil fuel-driven industrialization can and has enabled us to do.

Related Reading:

Obama Should Approve the Keystone Pipeline for Economic and Environmental Reasons

Why I Don't Trust the "Climate Consensus"

"Fracking's" Knee-Jerk Enemies






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