in the trenches/climate

 

4. Voices

"The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate."

---IPCC Working Group I, Summary for Policymakers: The Science of Climate Change, 1995

"In fact, the actual observation of climate patterns reveals no scientifically significant contribution to global warming by human-produced greenhouse gases."

---- Patrick Michaels, 1997

"Finally, we must work to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. These gases released by cars and power plants and burning forests affect our health and our climate. They are literally warming our planet. If they continue unabated, the consequences will be nothing short of devastating for the children here in this audience and their children. New weather patterns, lost species, the spread of infectious diseases, damaged economies, rising sea levels if present trends continue, there is a real risk that sometime in the next century, parts of this very park we are here in today could disappear, submerged by a rising ocean. That is why today, from this remarkable place, I call upon the community of nations to agree to legally binding commitments to fight climate change. We must stand together against the threat of global warming. A greenhouse may be a good place to raise plants; it is no place to nurture our children. And we can avoid dangerous global warming if we begin today and if we begin together."

------- Bill Clinton, Queensland, Australia, 1996

"The link between economic growth and energy use is clear the world over. Higher economic activity -- higher energy use. Higher standards of living -- higher energy use. And that raises a logical question as to what we should do... as we address the issue that perhaps poses the greatest long-term threat to our industry -- so-called global climate change. .. In July, the U.S.administration, without full public discussion and debate, made a proposal that surprised almost everyone. It proposed a binding agreement requiring only developed nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the year 2000. It committed the United States to such an agreement. If implemented, such a policy could inflict severe economic damage, affecting lifestyles and pocketbooks around the world. ..Proponents of the global warming theory say that higher levels of greenhouse gases - especially carbondioxide -- are causing world temperatures to rise and that burning fossil fuels is the reason. But scientific evidence remains inconclusive as to whether human activities affect global climate change.

------- Lee R. Raymond, Chairman, Exxon Corporation, Chairman, American Petroleum Institute, 1996.

"No serious economist has come to the conclusion that one should do nothing. The idea of waiting around until everything is resolved in this particular case means doing something that's much more costly."

----- William Nordhaus, Yale University, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, March 10, 1997.

"We're looking at the loss of hundreds of thousands of US industrial jobs, and for no meaningful impact on global warming. America can, and we must, do better."

----- Cecil Roberts, President, United Mine Workers of America, 1997

"As economists we believe that global climate change carries with it significant environmental, economic, social, and geopolitical risks, and that preventive steps are justified. Economic studies have found that there are many potential policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions for which the total benefits outweigh the total costs. For the United States in particular, sound economic analysis shows that there are policy options that would slow climate change without harming American living standards and these measures may in fact improve U.S productivity in the longerrun."

----- Letter signed by over 2000 economists, including six Nobel laureates, 1997.

"The Geneva Ministerial Declaration demonstrated to the world that we have left the climate science skeptics behind. There is now, however, a new group of naysayers, a group which continuously tells us that a global treaty to stem climate change could have unbearable economic and competitiveness consequences.This group, however, seems to only be telling one side of the story. Mitigating climate change will not bankrupt economies, but rather brings with it innovation, new technologies and new jobs in a time when they are greatly needed. Mitigating climate change will not curb economic growth but rather, as a group of 2100 economists stated this month in the United States, may 'improvelong-term economic productivity'."

---- German Environment Minister Angela Merkel, 1997.

"Global agriculture would thrive in a greenhouse warming regime. Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means more "food" for growing plants. More rain and warmer nights, fewer frosts and a longer growing season, all provide additional benefits. The much-publicized spread of tropical diseases is largely a sham. So whom should we believe? The computer calculations about climate changes or the empirical record of atmospheric observations? I think the atmosphere is more trustworthy, and that the theories still need a lot of work. The underlying goals of those pushing for a mandatory implementation of the climate treaty appear to be global de-industrialization and redistribution of wealth at the expense of economic growth - and never mind the climate science!"

---- Fred Singer, "Scrap the climate treaty," Journal of Commerce, March 6, 1997

"The insurance business is first in line to be affected by climate change. It is clear that global warming could bankrupt the industry."

----- Franklin Nutter, President, Reinsurance Association of America, 1994

" Even a modest 0.9 degree Fahrenheit increase in average global temperature by the year 2010 could produce a 20 day extension ofthe hurricane season, a 33% jump in hurricane landfalls in the U.S., an increase in the severity of the storms and a 30% annual rise in U.S. catastrophic losses from storms."

---- From a study by The Travelers Corporation, 1994

"We will continue to play with passion our reluctant role as Earth's early warning system, to continue to raise the alarm, and to raise the heat, on this process."

---- Ambassador H.E. Tuilloma Neroni Slade of Samoa, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, 1995.

 

More on Climate:
Table of Contents | Twelve Hundred Words or Less... | Web Resources
Activist Groups | Voices | New in the Literature | Hotspots
History of Climate Negotiations | Glossary of Negotiator Terms | On the Other Hand...
Policy Options | Technological Breakthroughs? | Want to Get Involved?
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