https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Opinion / Latest Opinions RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

No scientific basis to climate change scare

No scientific basis to climate change scare

25th November 2015

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

“Belief that mankind is changing the climate in a dangerous way has become a ruling ideology of today,” writes Andrew Kenny, an engineer and energy expert, in the latest issue of @Liberty, the policy bulletin of the IRR.

This ideology provides enormous amounts of money for an army of scientists, activists, journalists and politicians around the world. But it has no basis in science.

Advertisement

It is true that mankind, mainly by burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), has increased CO2 in the air from about 280 ppm in the 19th century to about 400 ppm. But it is not true that this presents a danger to the world.

Writes Kenny: “On the contrary, this increase is doing a power of good for the plants upon which we depend. In the past, they were used to CO2 above 1 000 ppm and were starving at 280 ppm. They are responding gratefully to the increase and so ‘greening’ the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara.”

Advertisement

During the Mediaeval Warm Period a thousand years ago, temperatures worldwide were rather higher than now while CO2 was lower. This warm period was not exceptional, as there were even warmer periods before it. All were natural and were probably caused by changes in solar activity. There is no reason to believe the slight warming of the 20th Century, about 0.7°C, was not natural too.

Kenny adds: “The climate changes all the time and extreme weather events happen all the time. There has been no increase in climate extremes in the last 50 years, and there is no scientific reason why rising CO2 should cause such an increase.
“South Africa is currently suffering a serious drought. Unfortunately they are perennial in the history of our dry country. The world is now experiencing El Niño, an important but natural climatic event that warms the eastern Pacific Ocean, and can cause drought in South Africa.

“Next week in Paris is COP21, a climate conference where people with little knowledge of science will try to force us to emit less CO2. If they succeed it will be bad for the planet and disastrous for poor countries, which will be denied the fossil fuels that helped make the West rich.

“Let us hope they fail, as COP has failed in the past. But, make no mistake, if they succeed, the consequences could be dire.

“Certainly, South African policymakers should steer clear of ideas such as carbon taxes, which will increase the costs of investment and reduce economic growth. Such interventions will harm the country’s capacity to alleviate poverty and create jobs without bringing any benefits to the environment.”

Submitted by the IRR

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now