Fossil Fuels Didn’t Cause The Flooding

We have weathered the storm. Hopefully, nobody reading this sustained flooding damage to homes or other property. We had days of heavy rains and even had flooding related to a high tide and nearly full moon.
Our daily newspaper attributed the increased frequency of flooding to rising sea levels and climate change. I want to debunk that theory by sharing some scientific facts.
Throughout recorded history (and presumably earlier), the earth’s climate has gone through cyclical changes. The Vikings farmed Greenland during the Medieval Warming Period (850-1250) without any coal-fired power plants or SUVs. Subsequently, the Little Ice Age (1300-1850) covered Greenland with glaciers and caused widespread famine in Europe. We have been in a mild warming period ever since.
Dr. Willie Soon, a solar physicist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has done research indicating that variations in climate are directly related to solar cycles and, more specifically, fluctuations in sunspot activity.
The rise in sea levels has been steady but modest during the current warming period. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the mean sea level in Charleston harbor has risen an average of 3.16 mm per year over the past century. There are more than 300 mm in a foot.
There’s also evidence that the current warming trend is leveling off. Global mean surface temperatures have been virtually unchanged for the past 18 years. Satellite imagery shows that the Antarctic ice sheet has returned to 1979 levels. Arctic ice has been increasing since 2013.
It’s highly unlikely that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels has anything to do with global temperatures. First a note that CO2 is not carbon, which is a black solid found in soot and dangerous to human health. CO2 is a colorless, odorless gas which causes no damage to health and is a naturally-occurring compound vital to plant growth.
CO2 makes up only 0.04 percent of our atmosphere. Human activity is estimated to contribute only 3% to that tiny concentration. Restricting American CO2 emissions (while not imposing similar restrictions on China and India) will have no measurable impact on global CO2 levels.
Let’s talk about the great success America has had in curbing real pollutant levels. Since 1970, American emissions of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates (soot) and lead have declined 69%. At the same time, vehicular miles traveled have increased by 172 percent.
Another environmental victory has been a 33% decline in ground-level ozone (smog) since 1980. In the Charleston area, we have not had a smog alert in more than a decade, caused by a fire in the Francis Marion National Forest. More new, cleaner-burning cars on the road and better fuels have solved the smog problem in most of the country.
Contrast America with China, which hasn’t made the investment in car technology, cleaner fuels and factories. Remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when athletes and spectators hadzzz to wear filter masks due to extreme smog? We don’t even see that in Los Angeles, which has the largest smog problem in America.
My wife and I believe in conservation and being good stewards of the environment. We backfitted our 1960s home with double-paned windows and had a solar attic fan installed. We set our thermostat high in the summer and low in the winter. We try not to waste any resources.
One of my over-arching principles is increasing prosperity, which can be achieved by allowing people to keep more of their earnings through less government spending and lower taxation. Improving our education system through expanded school choice options also contributes to prosperity by increasing the future earnings potential of our students.
Prosperity can also be enhanced by lowering the cost of living. Environmental regulations which restrict CO2 will increase the cost of electricity and motor fuels, which has the most adverse impact on small businesses and low-income households. Let’s adopt a common-sense approach to environmental regulations and not lower the American standard of living.
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.