BOB HOYE, INSTITUTIONAL ADVISORS – WEBSITE:
www.institutionaladvisors.com
BOB HOYE
PUBLISHED BY INSTITUTIONAL ADVISORSJULY 28, 2009
Climate Change
"Gore's Hometown Nashville Breaks 1877 Cold Temp Record"
The headline is from a report by Associated Press that July 21 recorded the lowest low temperaturefor that date since 1877. The irony is exquisite.From time to time, we comment on the blatant promotion that the planet is "unhealthy" and can onlybe cured by enormous increases in taxation and regulation. Our January 2008 essay
"Intellectual Hysteria"
was prompted by the sudden increase in volcanic activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula.Although of moderate dimensions there were enough eruptions to conclude a moderate degree of global cooling.The point of the essay was that the mania about "Global Warming", which had morphed into"Climate Change", was another example of intellectuals getting excited about personal revelationsabout a disaster that needed remedy. One example brewed up in the 1860s when England's leadingeconomist, Stanley Jevons, had visions that civilization as they enjoyed it then would end as theprimary source of energy – coal – would run out. Modern culture was to blame."Peak Oil" has been the equivalent of Jevon's
The Coal Question,
published in 1865.The hysteria about massive energy shortages in 2008 was similar to those that crested with crude oilprices in the 1970s. The main difference was that energy crisis was accompanied by the maniaabout "Global Cooling".If anything since early 2008, the hysteria has increased. On June 28, Nobel economist, PaulKrugman, wrote
"And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn't help thinking I was watching treason – treason against the planet"
. Krugman, a leading economist, seems ascaught up with intellectual hysteria as Jevons was in 1865. It is hoped that his next whim is not todesign airplanes, or elevators.There has been a series of unusual weather reports:May 31:
"Frost advisory for New York State"
– Lowest temperatures for that date since 1966.June 6:
"Snow falls in Western North Dakota, not seen in June in 60 years."
"Saturday's high temp in Green Bay was 52. That set the record for the lowest high on June 6. Previous was 53 in 1935."
June 15:
"So far, June's chill is one for the record – coldest since records began 50 years ago."
That wasat Chicago's airport.
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