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A Habitable World?

Submitted by Bill Griffiths, Jul 16, 2007 17:00

Writing you Mark, just because I so enjoy, admire and appreciate your work ... don't really expect you to respond to my speculation but hopefully anticipate that among your legion of "Steynophiles" someone may have some answers ... as a baseline I am assuming the verity that only one percent of the greenhouse gas emissions are carbon-dioxide related and only a tenth of a percentage of same are human sourced ....(corrections invited only if I am way off the mark) ...

Now the speculation ... every year Americans ... and perhaps Canadians .... and probably harder to measure ... World-Wide .... are exposed to to endless reports of forest fires ... 80,000 acres ... 160.000 acres .... 3 days ... 2 weeks before contaiment is achieved .... pure, unadulterated fossile burning, gazillions of carbon-dioxide going up in the air and poor little two-legged homo-sapiens hadn't a damm thing to do about it except shutting it off (spare me the occasional nut-case arsonist who may be the exception) ...

Here is the question ... can any one come up with a reasonably scientifific estimate of how much carbon-dioxide is generated each year by this occurrence alone ... and then can that percentage be compared with whatever reduction in greehouse gas emissions can be reasonably scientifically estimated by the use of ethanol, windmill, solar, all other alternative energy sources, all cap and trade taxations, raising cafe stendards to 37 MPG ... in short, the whole of reductions promised by the most optimistic of my pro-eco compatriots .... After all ... since human-sourced emissions only represnt a tenth of one percent of the whole, comparing this number with that generated by forest fires alone might be an interesting eye-opener ... then we could add volcanic eruptions, cow flatulence and whatever else to the mix ... and then raise the truly apocryphal question ... who said carbon-dioxide emissions have anything at at all to do with Global Warming or it's more interestng latter day euphimism, Climate Change ??

One more thought that you and your readers might care to comment on ... have you ever noticed that the GW/CC apostasists are generous in their estimates of the cataclysmic costs that will surely ensue should we not implement their corrective actions but are parsimoniously reluctant to estimate how much those corrective actions will cost ... not to mention how our system of governance will be radically altered?

Thanks, in advance for listening Mark ... don't know how you keep doing the brilliant job you do in the face of the incisive commentary you make ... I for one felt pretty good when I decided to write to you ... but now feel kinda "down" ... how do you keep going .... but, for all of your fans out here, keep on going! ... BillG.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
If you think that people of certain countries will have no impact on climate change, think again. The true heart... [MORE]	Glenn	Aug 2, 2007 17:49
Uh oh, we are besieged by ruinous demographic decline! There's only 6 and a half billion of us left!! Quick,... [MORE]	Jeffrey Kroll	Jul 17, 2007 16:07
Mark, You talk sense while making me laugh, and we will need lots of logic and laughter to combat the... [MORE]	Bill Brunhofer	Jul 17, 2007 13:33
Al Gore new band for the next dead earth concert [MORE]	Karen	Jul 17, 2007 08:19
Whereas I enjoy watching the spectacle of the left's latest folly, "global changing" and the chanting of so many wise... [MORE]	John Reeves	Jul 17, 2007 00:45
There is only one thing I can say about Live Aid and those around the world who want to "save"... [MORE]	Mario	Jul 16, 2007 21:14
Men need not leave it up to women, equipped as they are with contraceptive pills, IUDs, and the addresses of... [MORE]	Kralizec	Jul 16, 2007 19:31
Apparently, the population of the developed world isn't shrinking fast enough to suit the intellectual elite'; they wanted Zero Population... [MORE]	eon	Jul 16, 2007 17:27
Writing you Mark, just because I so enjoy, admire and appreciate your work ... don't really expect you to respond...	Bill Griffiths	Jul 16, 2007 17:00
Good thing that the world plant community hasn't yet figured out how to hire an attorney to stop the "anti-CO2... [MORE]	owen leach	Jul 16, 2007 16:36
Nigeria and Yemen are not included in their equation because population reduction and saving the environment are not the point.... [MORE]	Assistant Village Idiot	Jul 16, 2007 16:26
Always refreshing to read a Steyn review, especially if it's musically as well as politically involved.... kind of a confluence... [MORE]	Eugene Wager	Jul 16, 2007 14:57
Mark, you keep harping on about 'replacement level' reproduction being so important. The implication being that every country in the... [MORE]	joe hitchens	Jul 16, 2007 14:32
Hi Mr. Hitchens; You are wrong demographics have had no impact on the survival of countries. During the late 19th century... [MORE]	Ruy Diaz	Jul 16, 2007 16:21
"......what you are saying is nonsense. Trying to persuade people...." I guess I missed that, I'll have to re-read it [MORE]	Blandly Urbane	Jul 16, 2007 17:00
Joe, you're completely missing the point. Mark isn't suggesting that the worlds population as a whole is going to drop... [MORE]	Sam B	Jul 16, 2007 17:43
Joe: Mark's numbers don't lie. A larger percentage of Europeans will disappear this century than any other, including the centuries... [MORE]	steyn fan	Jul 16, 2007 18:40
Just think - some nuts want to have Al Gore for President - can you imagine the White House all... [MORE]	James	Jul 17, 2007 01:10
Joe, this is not about optimality. Here is some arithmetic: The world has, say, 6 billion people. Assume that the... [MORE]	supermartingale	Jul 17, 2007 02:55
Joe: You take Mark to task for going on and on about sustainable reproduction rates for nations. After all, you... [MORE]	Rick Gibson	Jul 17, 2007 04:10
If you had read America Alone as I have, you would understand that replacement level of population has nothing to... [MORE]	Andrew K	Jul 17, 2007 04:58
I do hope the good professor follows his own dictum off putting future generations into his own hands. And washes... [MORE]	Wolf Terner	Jul 16, 2007 14:00
Rock musicians are all deaf and their audiences are little better. So should we be talking about a carbon earprint?... [MORE]	richard sutherland	Jul 16, 2007 12:28
I would invite all liberals to stop having any children at all. My conservative friends and I will be happy... [MORE]	Sue	Jul 16, 2007 11:50
Few years back, Bill Bryson, another American who's world famous but for things other than stiff neck and lack of... [MORE]	Boris Ben	Jul 16, 2007 11:47
If people in the UK have 1 less child it will mean they will bring in one more immigrant so... [MORE]	marginalizedactiondinosaur.net	Jul 16, 2007 09:47

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