Climate skeptics – those who do not believe that global warming is a crisis justifying a blank check response – have always had the soundest arguments in this debate. These arguments are getting sounder still as the planetary warming has stalled out for most or all of the past decade, and as new findings cast further doubt on what was once claimed to be “settled science.” And the policy argument that the risks of global warming, however great or small, should be balanced against the risks of costly global warming policy, has likewise been the best way to frame the debate – certainly better than one-sided panicky responses likely to do far more economic harm than environmental good, such as the Waxman-Markey bill.
Yet, outside of written publications, the proponents of this realistic approach to global warming have been overshadowed by the hype and hyperbole of the alarmist crowd, especially things like Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” This documentary won an Academy Award in 2007. Whopping factual accuracy aside, its apocalyptic message was certainly compelling and watchable for a general audience. In fact, it was the factual inaccuracies that left audiences with a strong misunderstanding of the “realities” of global warming.
But the climate realists are closing the gap, and one recently released and another soon-to-be-released video are well worth a look. Policy Peril: Why Global Policies Are More Dangerous than Global Warming Itself, produced by Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, offers a rational approach to the issue, one that sees the consequences of global warming policies as a cure worse than the disease. It can be seen at here.
Also casting doubt on the seriousness of global warming while highlighting the destructive potential of bad global warming policy is the Cascade Policy Institute’s Climate Chains, a trailer for which is available here. As we move to a potential Senate debate on a cap and trade bill, both of these videos should help educate a public that has not seen nearly enough of this rational approach to global warming policy.
