A GW/CC Sidebar - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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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