1. Intellectual honesty requires that the issue be referred to as “Global Warming” and not “Climate Change”. The theory is that human-generated CO2 is causing the world to warm up, not that humans are causing the climate to change. The climate is always changing. It was changing long before humans existed and will be changing long after humans become extinct.
2. Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is a hot/emotional topic because it is perceived as a potential excuse for more government intervention in the economy, that is, for a more powerful government.
3. Due to the above point, the more libertarian-minded a person the more likely that he will disbelieve the AGW theory and be on the lookout for evidence that refutes or is inconsistent with the theory, whereas the stronger a person’s belief in a big role for government the more likely that he will be a proponent of the AGW theory and on the lookout for evidence that supports the theory.
4. It should be a question for science, not politics, and the science is definitely not settled. There are very knowledgeable people on both sides of the debate, the models that link global temperature to prior changes in the amount atmospheric CO2 have generally not worked, and in any case the science is never settled (it is constantly evolving).
5. The real issue is pollution, not global warming or climate change. Pollution is a serious problem in many parts of the world.
6. Pollution is a property rights issue, or at least it should be. In countries where there is no or minimal respect for private property rights and particularly in countries with very powerful or all-powerful governments, pollution tends to be a bigger problem and the frequency of ecological disasters tends to be greater.
7. In a free country, the amount of pollution that was deemed acceptable would be determined by the law courts, not government regulation. It’s likely that the amount deemed acceptable when dealt with as a property rights issue by the law courts would generally be less than the amount allowed by current government regulations.
8. It is often the case that one side in the debate labels the other side in ways that are designed to make the other side look bad. For example, referring to AGW skeptics as “deniers” or “denialists” and AGW advocates as “alarmists” or “hysterics”. This is a form of ad hominem attack. A person who uses the aforementioned words to describe the other side may as well hold up a sign that reads “I’m not looking at the issue objectively”.
9. Characterising the issue as believers versus non-believers in climate change is a deliberate attempt to mislead (it’s a type of “straw man” argument) because there is no debate as to whether or not the climate is changing. Everyone with a modicum of general knowledge knows that the climate has always been changing and will always change. The issue under debate is the effect of man on the climate.
10. A scientist making an honest and rigorous attempt to determine the effect of man on climate must necessarily analyse the other influences on climate, chief among them being the sun. Furthermore, he must deal with questions like: Given that the Earth’s climate has always been cycling, with long periods of cooling followed by long periods of warming, and that the Earth was warmer during pre-industrialisation periods when human activity could not have had any effect whatsoever on climate, why should the latest warming cycle be attributed primarily to human activity?
11. Even if we assume that Global Warming is still happening, that it is a problem to be reckoned with and that it is caused by Man, the claim that the best solution is for the government to become more involved in policing economic activity is, at best, the triumph of hope and naïveté over experience, logic and good economic theory. If history has taught us anything it is that when the government tries to fix a problem by getting more involved in the economy it either causes the original problem to become worse or creates an even bigger problem elsewhere.
12. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. (Thomas Jefferson)
About Steven Saville
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