Old King Coal

Unusually sane article on global warming in the Guardian's often loopy but usually entertaining CiF column. Daniel Gros writes that "the global dominance of industrial interests dependant on cheap energy sourced from coal means climate change is inevitable". Indeed. Climate change was inevitable even without coal because that's what climate does: it changes.

But "climate change" is actually the weasel term the global warmists scurried to adopt after global temperatures did not conform to their models over the past decade; so what he is saying is that with the USA refusing to take meaningful action against carbon dioxide emissions, and since neither China nor India were ever going to do so, the human contribution to global warming will continue to grow until the coal runs out.

He first suggests that the EU tried to "set an example" with its totally corrupt Emission Trading System, and then argues that it was in Europe's particular interest to do so. One or the other, babe. He concludes: 

A planet composed of nation-states that in turn are dominated by special interest groups does not seem capable of solving this problem. Unfortunately, there is enough cheap coal around to power ever-higher emissions for at least another century. The world will thus certainly become much warmer. The only uncertainty is how much warmer that will be.

Determined action at the global level will become possible only when climate change is no longer some scientific prediction, but a reality that people feel. But, at that point, it will be too late to reverse the impact of decades of excessive emissions. A world incapable of preventing climate change will have to live with it.

It's called amelioration, and intelligent ecologists have been pointing out for decades that it is not only more practical, but cheaper by an order of magnitude than the extravagant proposals for halting carbon emissions advocated by the one-world government fanatics like the disappointed author.

Not to mention that, according to the confident predictions of the leading eek!-o-freaks, nasty polluting humans have already pushed the world's atmosphere beyond the tipping point and climate catastrophe is now inevitable. That being the case, the policies they advocate are akin to re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic.