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Les Misérables of Climate Drama

by Vijay Jayaraj

October 22, 2018

In the world-famous drama based on Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is released on parole from the Bagne of Toulon after serving nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread. Yes, for stealing a loaf of bread!

A jail term of 19 years seems like an excessive punishment for a piece of bread. It does invoke anger and sadness in many as they first see the play. But what about real-world situations that are more miserable?

Imagine if whole countries are branded as evil and cancerous for wanting to use natural resources from their own backyard for the betterment of their society!

Welcome to Les Misérables of Climate Change.

In the world of Climate Change, there are two major sections of people. Those who have power and money, and those who are still transitioning to a better life (mostly in developing countries).

For the latter, any improvement in their lives (to meet the basic standards of living that exist in developed countries) is dependent on the economic development of their nation’s economy.

Developing countries don’t have any new recipe for achieving the economic success and prosperity the developed West enjoys today. They all follow the same time-tested methodology: rapid economic growth through industrialization.

Indispensable to industrialization is energy. Vast amounts of energy. Cheap energy. Reliable energy.

And throughout the industrialized world, that abundant, affordable, reliable energy has come, and still comes, overwhelmingly from fossil fuels (especially coal).

The developing countries are now harnessing the same coal to meet the energy demands from their industries and homes. But climate alarmists—those who believe carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal are causing catastrophic global warming—want the developing countries to halt our use of coal.

Climate alarmists think a reduction in coal use will prevent dangerous warming. But there are two major problems with this widely popularized theory.

First, temperatures have not increased to levels that can be deemed dangerous. Today’s temperature levels are similar to those which our ancestors experienced during the 1st and 10thcenturies, known as the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period respectively.

The Modern Warm Period (18th century – present) began when the Little Ice Age ended in the 17th century. The current warming began when carbon dioxide emissions from human sources were very insignificant. Just like the previous two warming phases, the current phase, too, was caused by natural forces.

Second, the theory that carbon dioxide emissions accelerate warming is not true. Most recent evidence suggest that carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere has no direct relationship with temperature or temperature increase.

In the past 18 years, the rapid increase in carbon dioxide concentrations failed to cause a corresponding increase in warming, a fact that is attested even by staunch climate alarmists like Michael Mann.

Based on these established facts, it is pretty conclusive that (1) humans are not the primary drivers of the current warming; (2) carbon dioxide emissions do not significantly increase global temperatures; and (3) we cannot control the warming or cooling of earth’s atmosphere by reducing our emissions.

To ask developing countries to ban coal and force them to transition to the less efficient and more expensive renewable energy cannot be justified based on the available evidence regarding temperature changes.

Coal is responsible for providing more than 75 percent of energy for the everyday activity of more than 3 billion people in the developing world. To deprive them of coal is to destroy the very fabric of their industrial development and economic progress.

If the climate alarmists win the war on coal, the result will be prolonged poverty in the developing world every bit as intense as that depicted in Les Misérables. For billions of people, it will be a sentence far longer, and far worse, than what Jean Valjean suffered.

This article was originally published on Barbwire.

Featured Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Dated: October 22, 2018

Tagged With: Alarmism, Climate Change, Development, Environment, Les Miserables, Little Ice Age, Michael Mann, Modern Warm Period, Poverty
Filed Under: Bridging Humanity and the Environment, Climate & Energy, Economics, Poverty & Development

About Vijay Jayaraj

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, VA and writes frequently for the Cornwall Alliance. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK, and resides in India.

Comments

  1. Ryan Broadfoot says

    October 24, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    I trust the 90 researchers – organized by the United Nations, who reviewed over 6,000 scientific studies on the subject. In Sept 2018, the IPCC reported that carbon emissions are directly impacting global warming which is having serious negative consequences – i.e. flooding, increase in extreme weather events, drought, wildfires. Their recommendation: work together to take care of our planet. Sounds reasonable. Let’s join together as a global community to be good stewards of our planet.

    -don’t idle your car
    -use led lights in your house
    -eat less beef (getting a cow to the consumer uses vast amount of resources)
    -support a government that wants to be good stewards of our planet

    Reply
    • Vijay says

      November 3, 2018 at 8:44 am

      Hi Ryan,
      I worked for a United Nation’s Scientist who is a lead author of their IPCC Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change. I’ve also been a part of the Climatic Research Unit at UEA (UK) which produces the global surface temperature data for climate research. There are a vast majority of climate scientists who do NOT believe in the serious negative consequences that you mention in your comment. IPCC’s first four assessment reports show no direct relationship between climate change and extreme weather events. You can pull up hurricane data and wildfire data for the past 100 years. You will see no correlation between temperature and those events. Here are my rebuttal to your points
      – There is no consensus on climate change in the academics
      – Climate change is a complex issue. No one denies warming. They differ on the finer details of it, including the magnitude and causal factors
      – Carbon Dioxide emissions failed to cause dangerous warming in past 19 years
      – Carbon Dioxide failed to prevent the cooling between 1940-1970
      – Being good stewards of the planet means also helping the humans. Human needs and development cannot be sidetracked on basis of a department of science that is still at its infancy.

      Thanks for your comment. We all strive to be good stewards of the planet and that means caring for the poor too. I don’t own a car or have access to affordable beef. and my neighbors can’t afford basic lighting. A lot of policies originating from the desk IPCC and UN is hurting the poor in Asia, Africa and South America.

      Reply

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