New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman “feels despair” over the fate of the planet due to climate change. (h/t Christine Hall @ Competitive Enterprise Institute(CEI)) Has he bothered reading the news lately? Mr. Krugman does not answer his critics in his column. Instead, he continues to excoriate private industry, ignore record snow falls, ignore cooler temperatures, and champion former vice president Al Gore.
“Now, at this point I have to make the obligatory disclaimer that no individual weather event can be attributed to global warming. The point, however, is that climate change will make events like that Australian dust storm much more common.
In a rational world, then, the looming climate disaster would be our dominant political and policy concern. But it manifestly isn’t. Why not?
Part of the answer is that it’s hard to keep peoples’ attention focused. Weather fluctuates — New Yorkers may recall the heat wave that pushed the thermometer above 90 in April — and even at a global level, this is enough to cause substantial year-to-year wobbles in average temperature. As a result, any year with record heat is normally followed by a number of cooler years: According to Britain’s Met Office, 1998 was the hottest year so far, although NASA — which arguably has better data — says it was 2005. And it’s all too easy to reach the false conclusion that the danger is past.
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But the larger reason we’re ignoring climate change is that Al Gore was right: This truth is just too inconvenient. Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole. But it would shuffle the economic deck, hurting some powerful vested interests even as it created new economic opportunities. And the industries of the past have armies of lobbyists in place right now; the industries of the future don’t.”
Remember this headline and excerpt in 2003? Warming reducing snowfall at ski resorts
BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 3 (UPI) — “The hard-pressed American ski resort industry could be facing a serious problem in coming years if European researchers are correct: less snow because of global climate change.
At a conference on sport and environment this week in Turin, Italy, University of Zurich tourism expert Rolf Burki and colleagues predicted the amount of snow falling at low-elevation European ski areas will become increasingly unpredictable and unreliable over the coming decades, because of global warming.”
Compare the article excerpt above to this more recent headline and excerpt from Mr. Krugman’s own New York Times from March of 2009.
Snow and Tight Economy Aid Eastern Ski Resorts
LINCOLN, N.H. — “The economy may be in the doldrums, but New England ski resorts are having a great year, buoyed by plenty of snow and proximity to major metropolitan areas.
“With the financial crunch, I think we’re actually benefiting in that people aren’t going on longer vacations or getting on an airplane,” said Karl Stone, a spokesman for Ski New Hampshire, which represents the state’s ski areas. “Because the snow has been so good, people are saying, ‘Why should I fly out West when we just got 17 inches of snow in New Hampshire.’
Most ski areas in the East are reporting near-record skier visits and hotel bookings well above average. But in the West, many resorts are reporting a drop in visitors.
Snowfall in the Northeast was above average this year, including a large storm in early March, conditions that historically drive up skier traffic.”
Mr. Krugman’s despair may be more related to mother nature not following the global warming alarmist political parade. So cheer up and enjoy a few good runs this year at America’s ski resorts.
