On Global Warming

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:13:51 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Cato Craft at Strike the Root - even if you accept that global warming is happening and that human action is responsible, we'd still be better off with a free-market solution than with allowing governments to attempt to force a solution. [root]

A recent U.S. Government report on global warming [PDF] predicts the usual rising sea levels, coastal inundation, desertification of the heartland, and all those other things that the media is keying on, but also predicts a longer growing season in more Northern climes (such as the Canadian wheat belt) and cheaper and more abundant food production in areas that are now marginally productive.

A snippet from the report:

Effects of climate variability and change on US agriculture will depend critically on changes in agricultural productivity elsewhere, which can shift international patterns of food supply and demand. Climate-induced changes in water resources available for power generation, transportation, cities and agriculture are likely to raise potentially delicate diplomatic issues with both Canada and Mexico.

Note that the issue isn't that mankind won't have food, water and power. The issue is that it may be coming from somewhere else. The point here is that global warming is not a harbinger of death and destruction to the human race. But it may be the harbinger of destruction to certain governments' ability to confiscate wealth from within its borders.

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