Britannia Radio

INVESTORS' BUSINESS DIARY  25.9.08
The Day The Earth Cooled
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Environment: The solar wind is slowing, but Al Gore is still spewing 
hot air. The Oscar winner is promoting civil disobedience to stop 
energy and economic growth as the first U.S. emissions cap-and-trade 
program begins.

Speaking before Bill Clinton's Global Initiative, junk science 
advocate Gore called on young people to take the law into their own 
hands because the climate, he claims, is a-changin'. He told the 
gathering in New York City that "the world has lost ground to the 
climate crisis" and the time for action is now.

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and 
looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we 
have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to 
prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon 
capture and sequestration," Gore said to loud applause.

His comments come two weeks after a British jury acquitted six 
Greenpeace activists accused of causing property damage at a power 
plant. The jury felt the "protest" was acceptable because the 
"protesters" feared the plant would contribute to global warming.
Luddites of the world, unite!

On the same day Gore spoke, scientists involved in NASA's Ulysses 
project reported that the intensity of the sun's solar wind was at 
its lowest point since the beginning of the space age - one more 
indication that the sun, the biggest source of energy affecting the 
Earth, is getting quiet.

The weaker solar wind appears to be due to changes in the sun's 
magnetic field, but the cause is unknown. Sunspots, which normally 
fluctuate in 11-year cycles, are at a virtual standstill. In August, 
the sun created no visible spots. The last time that happened: June 
1913.

The results of the Ulysses spacecraft's mission, according to Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory project scientist Ed Smith, show that "we are 
in a period of minimal activity that has stretched on longer than 
anyone anticipated."

The consequences for Earth are enormous. The lack of increased 
activity could signal the start of what is known as a Maunder 
Minimum, an event that occurs every couple of centuries and can last 
as long as a century. It leads to extended periods of severe cooling 
such as what happened during the Little Ice Age.

It may already be happening. The four major agencies tracking Earth's 
temperature, including NASA's Goddard Institute, report that the 
Earth cooled 0.7 degree Celsius in 2007, the fastest decline in the 
age of instrumentation, putting us back to where the Earth was in 1930.

The climate is changing, but not in the direction Al Gore thinks. As 
the Earth demonstrably cools under a weakening sun, a 10-state 
coalition on Thursday held the nation's first carbon allowance 
auction to deal with a warming trend that may have ended a decade ago.

They will impose a minor league version of the Lieberman-Warner 
economy-killing cap-and-trade rationing system in which emissions are 
limited by a progressively lowered cap. Emission permits are 
auctioned off by government, making it a cap-and-tax system. Permits 
can be traded or sold between companies like baseball cards.

The Lieberman-Warner bill would mandate emission cuts of 44% below 
2007 levels. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that it 
would cost as much as $3 trillion a year in lost GDP in an economy of 
roughly $14 trillion. It dwarfs the current financial crisis. But 
then, it's for a good cause - right, Al ?

The New York-based Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, launched 
Thursday, strives to freeze CO2 emissions through 2014 and then 
gradually reduce them to 10% below current levels by 2018. The states 
participating are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and 
Vermont.

Like its bigger cousin, it's a job- and growth-killing plan in a time 
of economic crisis. As the sun slows and the Earth cools, it'll mean 
higher energy prices during colder and snowier winters.

Al Gore's hippie legions may have to wear their winter coats.