Wednesday Bulletin

Dear Friend,

Thank you for adding your name to the thousands of pastors, Christians, and evangelical leaders from across the country who have signed the WeGetIt.org declaration! If a million Christians sign this statement, we can send an important message to our leaders that Biblical principles and factual evidence, not media hype about things like global warming, should guide our care for the environment and the poor.

Every week, the WeGetIt.org Wednesday Bulletin provides updates on the stewardship-related news of our day, and offers some practical ways to think Biblically about these issues. As you read, please be thinking of the people you know who would benefit from this information. Then, forward this message to your friends and encourage them to sign the declaration.

Hurricanes Caused by Global Warming? Not Likely

Now that Hurricane Dolly (July) and Tropical Storm Fay (current) have both made landfall, many people wonder again whether global warming, whether manmade or natural, might cause an increase in frequency or strength of hurricanes. The answer, according to most specialists in the field, is "No.”

Although warmer sea-surface temperature might increase the chances of a hurricane's formation, it is only one of many contributors, and global warming would increase some and decrease others. Some computer models indicate more or stronger hurricanes with warming; others, the reverse.
Climate history, however, indicates that hurricanes are more frequent and stronger in cooler than in warmer periods, according to S. Fred Singer and Dennis Avery's Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years (WeGetIt.org reading list, second item).

Beijing Bolsters Modest Air Quality Gains with
Fictitious Data, Strong-Arm Tactics

Media worldwide report air quality improvements achieved in Beijing for the Olympics. While they should not be entirely discounted, they are exaggerated--and how they were achieved raises questions.

Improvements were sought by closing scores of factories, stopping construction, and removing about 2 million vehicles from roads. Improvements were modest, with only few a days, caused mainly by rain, when particulate pollution--the most dangerous--met World Health Organization standards. Relocating measurement stations invalidated comparisons with past data, creating a fictitious drop. Independent measurements found pollution levels about three times government reports.

Lessons?

Negative: Perverse incentives generate fraudulent environmental claims. In rich countries, environmental advocates and government agencies, to justify their work, often exaggerate dangers (e.g., global warming claims, some resting on data invalidated by relocating measuring stations). In poor countries, governments often understate dangers for public relations, or overstate to attract aid from rich countries.

Positive: Environmental improvement can accompany economic development--Beijing's air seems cleaner than ten years ago. Free-market economies can achieve environmental and economic improvement together without China's strong-arm tactics. But environmental improvement achieved only by shutting down industries is likely temporary, as Beijing's will be when factories start up again. And air-cleansing rain demonstrates Earth's resiliency.
One last point: The cost of putting on this Olympics, whatever it is, must be raised by the lost value of over two months' factory shutdowns and construction stoppages--probably billions of dollars--not to mention inconvenience to citizens forbidden to drive every other day.

APA Backs Environmental Brainwashing

The American Psychological Association wants to promote eco-consciousness by making sure news stories about climate change ignore alternative perspectives.

USA Today reports that a presentation at the APA's annual meeting in Boston by Stanford psychologist John Krosnick, who believes "there is scientific consensus among experts that climate change is occurring," reports on an experiment in which he "found that adding 45 seconds of a skeptic to one news story caused 11% of Americans" not to believe in the "scientific consensus."

So "American Psychological Association leaders say they want to launch a national initiative specifically targeting behavior changes, including developing media messages that will help people reduce their carbon footprint and pay more attention to ways they can conserve."

Not only does the APA step outside its expertise in making judgments (a) that there is scientific consensus on climate change, (b) what it is, (c) that it is right, and (d) that it is scientifically possible and economically sensible to do something about climate change by reducing carbon emissions, but it also wants to ensure that Americans hear less, not more, evidence relevant to those decisions.

George Orwell, call your office!

Corrections from last week: The link to the Global Warming Test mentioned in last week’s Wednesday Bulletin is http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org/GWQuiz/Testindex.html. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Also, last week's Bulletin mistakenly reported that wind energy capacity in the US had risen to 19.5 megawatts, about 0.0006% of the 3.3 terawatts total US annual energy consumption. The first figure should have been 19.5 gigawatts, making wind capacity 0.6% of total US consumption. Actual wind energy production averages about 10-20% of capacity, making wind production about 0.06-0.12% of total consumption. We apologize for the mistake.

Remember, word of mouth is the most effective way to get the truth out. Help us reach one million signers by forwarding this email to your friends, and encouraging them to sign the WeGetIt.org declaration. Together, we can take a stand for truth and for the poor.

Gratefully,

-- The WeGetIt.org campaign team