[Dean's World] Dean: Another Global Warming Dissenter

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Posted by Dean:
Another Global Warming Dissenter
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157067691.shtml


   Quoted:

     DEAR CHAIRMAN POMBO: It was a pleasure participating in your 13 May
     2003 hearing regarding the Kyoto Protocol. As you requested, I am
     happy to provide this letter to clarify and expand on your question
     during the hearing about how my experiences working and living in
     Africa affect my insights into the issue of global warming.

     After graduating from college in 1973 I applied for service as a
     missionary to Kenya. I was appointed to a position as ââScience
     Masterââ at the Baptist High School in Nyeri, meaning I taught the
     physics and chemistry courses to African students from mostly rural
     areas. Baptist High was a boarding school, so many of our students
     came from homes several miles away. On weekends I would travel to
     the surrounding small villages to meet the studentsâ families and
     speak in their churches. Nyeri was a small, upcountry town about 90
     miles north of Nairobi. Most of the people in this area lived on
     small ââshambasââ, 3 to 5 acre farms on which maize and other foods
     were grown. At 6000+ feet elevation, some days and most nights were
     quite cool, requiring energy for warmth as well as cooking and
     light. There was no electricity in these rural homes.

     With only 3 to 5 acres on the family shamba, every square inch was
     utilized for food production and living space, so the search for
     fuel was a daily chore for the women and young girls. I would see
     them daily set out to the edge of the nearest forest, usually
     several miles away, to cut down wet, green trees, chop the branches
     into suitable lengths, tie them into 80 pound bundles and load them
     on their backs for the trek home. Many of these women were either
     pregnant or carrying small babies in blankets tied in front of
     them. They would bend forward almost 90 degrees so as to balance
     the wood and maintain forward momentum without falling. Older women
     developed a characteristic sway-back from years of burden bearing
     as they hauled not only wood, but food to and from the markets and
     water from a creek to the home.

     The typical home was a mud-walled, thatched-roof structure. Smoke
     from the cooking fire fueled by undried wood was especially
     irritating to breathe as one entered the home. The fine particles
     and toxic emissions from these in-house, open fires assured serious
     lung and eye diseases for a lifetime. And, keeping such fires
     fueled and burning required a major amount of time, preventing the
     people from engaging in other less environmentally damaging
     pursuits.

     When the Arab Oil Embargo hit in October 1973, the price of fuel
     rose dramatically. Oilâs scarcity caused petrol (gasoline) stations
     to close on weekends. What little advanced infrastructure already
     in place that depended on oil was rendered intermittent or
     ineffective.

     For example, taxi prices increased so that the typical African
     could not afford the desperately needed trip to the town hospital;
     rumors spread that driving with the headlights on wasted fuel, so
     night automobile accidents soared; electric power to the few
     essential institutions which needed it often failed. To people
     already living on the edge of existence, any perturbation in energy
     costs was enough to cause significant distress.

     The poorest people suffered the most with the rising energy costs
     as what little dependency they had was now out of reach. Iâve
     always believed that establishing a series of coal-fired power
     plants in countries such as Kenya (with simple electrification to
     the villages) would be the best advancement for the African people
     and the African environment. An electric light bulb, a microwave
     oven and a small heater in each home would make a dramatic
     difference in the overall standard of living. No longer would a
     major portion of time be spent on gathering inefficient and toxic
     fuel. The serious health problems of hauling heavy loads and lung
     poisoning would be much reduced. Women would be freed to engage in
     activities of greater productivity and advancement. Light on demand
     would allow for more learning to take place and other activities to
     be completed. Electricity would also foster a more efficient
     transfer of important information from radio or television. And
     finally, the preservation of some of the most beautiful and diverse
     habitats on the planet would be possible if wood were eliminated as
     a source of energy.

     Providing energy from sources other than biomass (wood and dung),
     such as coal-produced electricity, would bring longer and better
     lives to the people of the developing world and greater opportunity
     for the preservation of their natural ecosystems. Let me assure
     you, not withstanding the views of extreme environmentalists, that
     Africans do indeed want a higher standard of living. They want to
     live longer and healthier with less burden bearing and with more
     opportunities to advance. New sources of affordable, accessible
     energy would set them down the road of achieving such aspirations.

     These experiences made it clear to me that affordable, accessible
     energy was desperately needed in African countries. But the energy
     issue is relevant here too. My wife, Babs, is the President of the
     Board of Directors of the Madison County Christian Womenâs Job
     Corps. This privately-funded, voluntarily-directed organization
     seeks to train women to obtain the type of job skills needed today.

     Most of the women, often single parents, are in financial crisis.
     Increasing the cost of energy for these women would
     disproportionately restrict their ability to provide for themselves
     and their families. As in Africa, ideas for limiting energy use, as
     embodied in the Kyoto protocol, create the greatest hardships for
     the poorest among us. As I mentioned in the Hearing, enacting any
     of these noblesounding initiatives to deal with climate change
     through increased energy costs, might make a wealthy urbanite or
     politician feel good about themselves, but they would not improve
     the environment and would most certainly degrade the lives of those
     who need help now. I appreciate the opportunity to respond with
     further explanation of my experiences in Africa and my views on
     energy availability.

     Sincerely, JOHN R. CHRISTY, Director, Earth System Science Center,
     Professor, Atmospheric Science, Alabama State Climatologist.

   Dr. John R. Christy is [1]another Global Warming/Kyoto Treaty skeptic.
   His above essay was entered into the congressional record in 2003.

   Should he be heard, do you think? Or is he just another anti-science
   luddite?

   That would be [2]this Chairman Pombo, by the way.

References

   1. http://www.atmos.uah.edu/atmos/christy.html
   2. http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/chairman/biography.htm