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A hot summer doesn't mean
we're doomed
Lorrie Goldstein
The
London Free Press
Monday, June 9, 2008
News flash: Environment Canada is predicting a hotter-than-average
summer.
Please try to remain calm.
Back in the good old days, before global warming hysteria took
hold, Canadians pretty much had the seasons figured out -- summers
hot, winters cold, fall and spring variable.
Alas, not any more.
You can bet that climate hysterics, having been relatively silent
during our just-
completed colder and snowier than normal winter, will be out
in full force as the mercury rises, preaching apocalyptic doom
in the name of Al Gore and carbon taxes.
(Article continues below)
Relax. Weather isn't climate. One hotter than normal summer,
or colder than normal winter, says nothing about climate change.
Hysteria aside, just about everyone agrees the Earth has been
in a long and gradual period of warming for many years.
As Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips notes,
19 of the past 25 Canadian summers have had higher-than-average
temperatures.
Most climate scientists believe man-made greenhouse gas emissions
from the burning of fossil fuels are contributing to an abnormal
rise in global temperatures.
But there's much we don't know and many natural factors affect
climate as well -- the sun, the natural greenhouse effect, which
keeps us from freezing to death, ocean currents, clouds, the tilt
and orbit of the Earth.
Regardless, conserving energy and finding ways to wean ourselves
off fossil fuels is sound public policy. It's good for the environment,
global security and, as today's skyrocketing energy prices indicate,
the status quo isn't an option.
That said, it would be foolish and dangerous to tear our country
apart by recklessly punishing, say, Alberta for developing the
oilsands, which are contributing to our nation's wealth. One National
Energy Program was enough.
Rather, we must approach the issue of global warming with good
judgment and common sense and not be panicked into reckless decisions
by the doomsayers.
Oh . . . and have a nice summer.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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