Express: Climate Change Is A Fraud To Raise Taxes

CLAPTON

JP45 wrote: »

There was an excellent article in last weekend's Sunday Times by Bryan Appleyard in which he set out the evidence and arguments that had finally convinced him to drop his resistance to the idea of global warming.

Below are a just couple of extracts but it really is worth reading the full article at:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6931598.ece

The climate is warming. It is almost certain this is caused by emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. Nobody has come up with an alternative explanation that stands up. If the present warming trend continues, nasty things will probably start happening to humans within the next century, possibly the next decade. Something must be done. If nothing is done, then the benign climatic conditions that have sustained human civilisation for 10,000 years are in danger of collapse to be replaced by… well, write your own disaster movie.

You will note that there is some wiggle room in these statements. It is “almost certain” that humans are responsible; nasty things will “probably” happen. That is because all science can ever be is the best guess of the best minds. Also, the climate is a complex system, meaning it can behave in ways that are opaque beyond our most sophisticated calculations. But, as I have often been told, those statements are as true as any scientific statements can be, and nobody — I repeat, nobody — has been able to refute this. In short, to deny any of these statements is to put yourself beyond the bounds of rational discourse.....

......Enter Bjorn Lomborg. Lomborg is not a denier, but he is a denialist hero, because he gave them their one really strong argument for doing nothing or next to nothing. Global warming is happening, he says, and it’s a problem, but it’s not a BIG problem and certainly not so big that we have to ditch our way of life. The reason this is a strong argument is that it doesn’t make the mistake of denying the science — futile, as Lomborg knows and as I hope you do by now — it just says that the outcome may not be that bad. Scientists can’t say he’s wrong because the future of a complex system — climate combined with human civilisation — is inherently unpredictable.

It’s all a question of probability and risk. Rapley once put it to me this way. You are putting your daughter on a plane. The pilot tells you there is a 1-in-100 chance it will crash. You, if you have any sense, take your daughter off the plane. Why? Because the potential loss is so great that 1 in 100 is unacceptable. So it is with global warming — except the down side probability is a good deal higher than 1 in 100.

.

given the enormous risk of catastrophic harm... 100s of millions dying, destruction of the planet, etc

has be decided to

-stop using his car
-stop using electricity
-stop using gas
-never fly again
-become a vegaterian
-only eat home grown veg
-only use public transport except in a true (life threathening ) emergency
-buy a bike and use it to go every where

well I would guess not: just as all those people going to Copenhagen won't be cycling there either


so he is a true believer but not really enought to change his lifestyle

the_ash_and_the_oak

I believe in global warming I just prefer having the heating on to Micronesian children's environment imo

CLAPTON

the_ash_and_the_oak wrote: »

I believe in global warming I just prefer having the heating on to Micronesian children's environment imo

my dear fellow; we're talking about polar bears here too

ThrowingStonesAtYou

JP45 wrote: »

It’s all a question of probability and risk. Rapley once put it to me this way. You are putting your daughter on a plane. The pilot tells you there is a 1-in-100 chance it will crash. You, if you have any sense, take your daughter off the plane. Why? Because the potential loss is so great that 1 in 100 is unacceptable. So it is with global warming — except the down side probability is a good deal higher than 1 in 100.

.

Oh yeah by the way, if you don't all let me have all your money and shag your wives/girlfriends your knobs will rot and fall off and you will die a horrible death.

There's only 1 in a million chance I'm right, but the potential loss is so great it's unacceptable right?

Asheron

Climate change is Fraud they want to Tax us more, They want to Tax you for Breathing!

Asheron

P.s

Polar Bears can Swim............ It's true!

8 out of 10 people think Polar Bears cannot swim, and die when the ice melts

ahahaha

Asheron

If you want 1 Child Policy, 50 % increase in Tax, Carbon Credits, then go along with the biggest scam in History!

kabayiri

I can't reconcile the need to act on Climate Change with the growth ambitions of all the worlds major economies.

Alistair D is predicting a return to growth next year yeah? Won't that mean more air travel, more consumption and demand for goods ?

How does that work then?

We are better off putting money into technology development to counter warming.

On this, can I be the first to suggest making a big mirror in space using tin foil to cut down on street lighting? (ok, so I stole the idea from a Bond movie)

Asheron

The Earth is Cooling............ Fact

It's all about the Solar Sun Rays and Sun Spots, it is a natural cycle

Fridge2

Whether or not we are contributing to climate change (and the jury is very much out on this one), it does indeed make sense to be less profligate with the planets resources, and I don't think many would argue against that.

However, what really annoys me is that an opportuntiy is being seized by our Govts to wring more taxes out of us. If the problem is over-consumption, then surely a sea-change in the way we are taxed is the answer? Appeal to peoples self-interest, as all this "save the planet" hogwash is really not going to penetrate peoples lives on a day-to-day-basis.

With that in mind, abolish income tax and replace it with a consumption tax (on non-essentials of course). That way, people keep more of the money they earn, and it also introduces a direct correlation between consumption and taxation. This in itself will encourage more people to be less wasteful, and even more "green".

Couple this with getting rid of fractional reserve banking and reintroducing Sound Money, and we could have the seeds of recovery very quickly.

It will also have the benefit of ensuring the economic Left do not get any power (which would be a disaster).

However, seeing as this would take away a lot of power (and vastly reduce the size) of Government we will never see it, as at the end of the day, this is about power and control, not the well-being and prosperity of citizens.