This is from
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/128541563.html. See page
2 of 3 for the geoengineering bit.
Who needs enemies when you've got friends (of geoengineering) like this?
Cheers,
John
[quote]
Climate change offers us an opportunity
August 28, 2011
Jim Geraghty
(Jim Geraghty is a contributing editor at National Review magazine and
regularly appears on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News)
Our current blazingly hot summer is spurring another go-round of
exhausted arguments about climate change, whether it is "real" and "is
it man-made?"
Ideally, the national discussion would move past those questions.
Whether the phenomenon is exaggerated or whatever the cause, the
uncomfortable fact is that very few climate scientists believe that the
process is significantly reversible, and certainly not by unilateral
U.S. action. As the Heartland Institute's James Taylor noted in Forbes,
data released by the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year
indicate that even if the United States and the entire Western
Hemisphere immediately and completely eliminated all carbon dioxide
emissions, the growth in Chinese emissions alone would likely render
this action moot within a decade.
Anyone who suggests that the climate will go back to "normal" - whatever
that is - if Congress passes a certain bill or if you drive a different
car is trying to sell you something. The current debate is mostly an
excuse for those who make certain consumer choices (Priuses, reusable
shopping bags, buying "carbon offsets") to talk about how much more
responsible and sensitive they are than others, and for those who choose
differently to urge them to put a sock in it.
As President Obama and his aspiring replacements grapple with how to
handle this emotional issue, they have left one avenue largely
unexplored: the often-ignored fact that climate change will help the
U.S. economy in several ways and enhance, not diminish, the United
States' geopolitical power.
The notion of climate change as an opportunity goes beyond the
administration's tiresome refrain of "green jobs," an approach that has
largely failed in Spain. (Researchers at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
concluded in 2009 that for every four "green jobs" created by government
spending in "green energy," the government could have created 11 through
traditional infrastructure investments. They argued that every "green
job" created by these programs costs 2.2 jobs elsewhere.)
Despite the doomsday talk, global warming will be a net economic benefit
to the United States, in at least the short term and probably for
several decades. Really.
Back in 2008, Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence
Council, briefed the House Select Committee on Intelligence about the
national security implications of climate change and noted, "net cereal
crop yields likely will increase by 5 to 20 percent, for example, and
most studies suggest the United States as a whole will enjoy modest
economic benefits over the next few decades largely due to the increased
crop yields." He added, "The growing season has lengthened an average of
two days per decade since 1950 in Canada and the contiguous United States."
In fact, the United States and its allies will be best situated to adapt
to a changing climate, while many potentially threatening states will
find themselves in much more dire circumstances. "Most developed nations
and countries with rapidly emerging economies are likely to fare better
than those in the poorer, developing world, largely because of a greater
coping capacity," Fingar said. "Most U.S. allies will experience
negative impacts but also have the means to cope."
Besides a longer growing season, Americans will see economic benefits
from the opening of the Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the
Pacific and Atlantic running north of Alaska and Canada. Rising
temperatures will thaw out the frozen course and offer a much faster and
cheaper method for transoceanic shipping - saving perhaps $1 million per
trip.
Adm. Gary Roughead, the U.S. Navy's chief of naval operations, calls the
phenomenon "the opening of the Fifth Ocean" and foresees it being a
"profitable sea route" in a matter of two decades. With this thawing
will come access to a treasure trove of resources - from nearly a
quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves, to large
deposits of rare earth minerals that power everything electronic, to
perhaps the oil of the 21st century: fresh water supplies in the form of
polar ice.
But if you want to contemplate economic opportunity on the grandest
scale, consider "geoengineering," essentially deliberate climate change.
The science is complicated, but the goal is simple: either removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or reflecting solar radiation. These
approaches require a grand scale, be it seeding or spraying clouds,
building space-based solar shields or mirrors, or injection of fine iron
particles into the oceans so as to stimulate phytoplankton growth.
Of course, every technique comes with potential risks. But the harmful
effects of climate change outside the United States may force the hands
of governments, NGOs, and businesses. Enacting any of these ideas means
an effort on an enormous, global scale - creating many jobs in the
process, provided the United States dives ahead with research and
development in these techniques.
Americans are a largely optimistic people who easily tune out doomsaying
and austerity (witness the debate over the debt). But we're quick to
spot opportunities and have pride and continuing faith in our own
ability to achieve technical marvels such as the moon landing. Rather
than our doom, climate change could be the centerpiece of ensuring a
second consecutive American Century.
The right presidential candidate could cut through the Gordian Knot of
the current climate-change debate with a message of opportunity and
confidence that America is uniquely positioned to adapt to and prosper
in a shifting environment. This candidate might even say . . . "Yes, we
can."
[end quote]
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