PRAGUE - Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Wednesday that fighting global warming has turned into a 'religion' that replaced the ideology of communism and threatens to clip basic freedoms. The right-wing president, a free-market champion, wrote to the U.S. Congress that adopting tough environmental policies to fight climate change would have destructive impact on national economies. 'Communism has been replaced by the threat of an ambitious environmentalism,' Klaus wrote in response to questions from the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce. The U.S. House Subcommittee for Energy and Air Quality was due to hold a hearing on climate on Wednesday with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, who sees global warming as a key challenge, and Danish sceptic Bjorn Lomborg, who says governments should focus on fight disease and hunger instead.
The right-wing president, a free-market champion, wrote to the U.S. Congress that adopting tough environmental policies to fight climate change would have destructive impact on national economies.
'Communism has been replaced by the threat of an ambitious environmentalism,' Klaus wrote in response to questions from the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The U.S. House Subcommittee for Energy and Air Quality was due to hold a hearing on climate on Wednesday with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, who sees global warming as a key challenge, and Danish sceptic Bjorn Lomborg, who says governments should focus on fight disease and hunger instead.
I'm amazed he thinks global warming itself won't do anything to economies. "Short-sighted" is an understatement with him....
Has Klaus been sentient for the past few summers? May I brag? I'm used to hot, hot, weather-- growing up in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, a few days of 112 F (44 C) with broken air conditioning wasn't unusual-- but even I can see something's very wrong now. But he probably won't see anything wrong until it's too late to do anything.
Klaus wrote that it was futile to fight against phenomena like higher solar activity or the change of ocean currents, and called for avoiding wasting taxpayers money on what he called doubtful projects.
So he's a CO2 denier - it's all down to solar activity etc.
I don't get why he was questioned by the House Committee. Perhaps the committee just sends questionnaires out all over the place, in which case I want to know why I didn't get one. But no doubt Klaus is a world-renowned expert. Or just the president of a submissive US vassal? When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
Naive question of the day: I wonder, if leaders and industry heads were presented with a model of what would happen to their industries within 10 years if global warming is not checked, would that change their minds? Has anyone pointed out to them that more natural disasters=wrecked economies and/or crops=higher food prices=less money to spend on the power bill or airplane tickets....
Don't tell me, it's already been tried, and they just laughed.
...if leaders and industry heads were presented with a model of what would happen to their industries within 10 years if global warming is not checked...
I just got this response from the Coalition of Industry Leaders (COIL):
"I am sure you mean well by thinking 10 years out, but there are too many unknowns, including the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Meanwhile, we have a responsibility to the stockholders who may want to sell next quarter while the capital gains taxes are low." Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
And then I have really darker moods...
On a bright side, MF Dnes (highest circulation local newspaper) wrote that his responses were late and weren't included into the official materials of the hearings. His name didn't sound even once, according to the newspaper.
'No government action can stop the world and nature from changing. Therefore, I disagree with plans such as the Kyoto Protocol or similar initiatives, which set arbitrary targets requiring enormous costs without realistic prospects for the success of these measures,' he said.
Big, big sigh... No government action can stop nature from changing? Please stop ignoring past oh, 6.000 years. At minimum.
This made me sit up and wonder how the rest of the political parties within the EU nations have formulated their climate change policies.
