G. Russell Evans
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.)
Wednesday, June 12, 2002

But people probably don't know that it also could be an exercise in futility, because it just won't make much difference even after all the gyrations.

Implementation of the Kyoto restrictions would be bad news for the world:

1. According to scientific facts known today, the actual averted warming would be inconsequential.

2. U.S. industry would be hobbled and the economy would be at risk.

3. A struggling U.S. economy would mean fewer grants to poor countries.

Blame America!

U.S. rejection of this highly touted, Al Gore-sponsored Protocol has become one more reason for our allies to blame America. Indeed, Kyoto and global warming were not even on the agenda for the European environment ministers confab in Banff, Alberta, in mid-April – but nevertheless, these topics virtually dominated every session, with the Americanos cast as the bad guys.

Our allies appear envious when our president acts to put America first – which he did by rejecting the Kyoto resolutions. The multi-nation European Union (EU) wants Europe first, understandably, but what is not understandable is their second-guessing and nitpicking of America's handling of the war on terror, after they united in bloc with the U.S. right after the Sept. 11 massacres.

Is it possible that they secretly want the Colossus of the North to crumble and fall so the European Union can become the world's super Colossus?

Group of Eight

At the Canadian meeting, we see the Group of Eight environment ministers slamming the U.S. for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol and its restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions – Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Russia, plus the United Nations, of course. They called the U.S. position "political maneuvers to preserve the energy-burning American lifestyle."

The EU environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, called the U.S. position to stand outside the Kyoto Protocol "a basic problem [that] makes the Protocol weaker."

The U.S. representative at that conference was Christine Todd Whitman, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator. Unfortunately, she had very little rebuttal, according to reports. She did say that the Bush position "is not changing."

Global Warming Minuscule

Why didn't our EPA director have with her some top-notch expert, like Dr. Sallie Baliunas, astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics? Dr. Baliunas could have stunned these ministers with charts and data to prove a minuscule 0.06 degree Celsius temperature decrease over the next half-century with full implementation of the Kyoto requirements.

Instead, Mrs. Whitman took it on the chin – when she could have met every put-down with overwhelming evidence that Kyoto is no bargain.

Dr. Baliunas has many impressive credentials and honors, including chair of the Science Advisory Board of the George C. Marshall Institute.

Her assets, research and computer expertise make her an outstanding and respected authority in her field. In her computer simulations of climate, she uses data from various sources, including the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Cut 25 Percent

To meet Kyoto standards of carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2012, the U.S. would have to cut its energy use by about 25 percent, with the subsequent cost to the economy of almost $400 billion per year.

Increasing the number of nuclear plants and reducing the number of coal-burning plants could help meet the Kyoto standards, but no nuclear plants have been built in the U.S. in over 20 years, owing mainly to political influence.

As for windmills and solar power, the amount of energy would be relatively minute and its production intermittent. For example, to replace a 1,000-megawatt coal plant with a windmill farm would require 400 square miles of isolated land on which to place 2,000 windmills – all depending on a steady, stiff breeze.

The Facts

Dr. Baliunas reports the following facts about global warming, based on the best scientific research available today:

• The content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing as we use more coal, oil and natural gas.

• These greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation and thereby retain energy on Earth that would otherwise escape into space.

• Surface temperatures warm as the result of the small amount of energy arising from doubling the atmosphere's content of carbon dioxide.

• The main greenhouse effect, however, is a natural phenomenon caused by clouds and water vapor.

• Finally, the Earth's average increase in temperature would be only 1 degree Celsius for a doubling of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content – a meager warming for such a profound increase in greenhouse gases and well within the range of natural variability.

Dr. Baliunas' conclusions debunk the Kyoto Protocol and the fears and accusations of Europe's environment ministers, as follows:

• No global catastrophic warming is upon us – any warming will be minuscule.

• Human health and lifestyle have improved with the use of fossil fuels, and the resulting economy also has brought environmental improvements beneficial to health.

• Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is needed by plants.

• Manmade global warming is relatively minor and slow to develop, thereby allowing time for better defining its effects and for developing cost-effective responses, if needed.

The rapid cuts in carbon dioxide mandated by the Kyoto Protocol are not justified, according to the best available scientific research, conscientiously reported by Dr. Baliunas.

If EPA chief Whitman had been armed with the Baliunas report, she would not have needed to make the concessions she did, namely, that the U.S. would cut greenhouse gases by 18 percent by the year 2017. Perhaps such reaction is good diplomacy, but why pussyfoot?

Protesters at the Canadian meeting, dressed as endangered owls, and the environment ministers need to do their homework on global warming.

Meanwhile, we can thank President Bush for doing his homework and taking a timely and determined stand against these drastic demands of the internationals.

Benjamin Disraeli, Britain's prime minister (1868, l874-l880), said: "Nations have no friends, only interests."

Capt. Evans is a columnist and the author of five books, including "Death Knell of the Panama Canal," a study of the Chinese takeover of the canal. Click here to read his short biography.

Capt. Evans' columns are distributed by the Americanism Educational League of Buena Park, Calif. He lives in Norfolk, Va.

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