IPCC: Global Warming Net Benefit to Humanity

By: George Noga – November 15, 2013
       On September 27, 2013 the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) released a 30-page Summary for Policymakers (“SPM”) purporting to cover the full 2,000+ page report which will not be released until January 2014. Earlier this year I plowed through a leaked draft of the 2,000 pages which, to use Churchillian construction, “by its very length defends itself against the risk of being read“.
“Warming has been and is a benefit to mankind and our planet and will continue to be a positive force until the beginning of the 22nd century.”
     The blockbuster consensus in the full IPCC report is that global warming has been a net benefit to humanity, is currently a boon to mankind and will continue to provide net benefits until perhaps early in the next century. The report lists several benefits which include:
  1. In the 20th century warming increased human welfare by over 1% of global economic output. The benefit increases to about 1.5% between now and 2050. After 2080 there remains a better than even chance that warming will remain a net benefit to mankind.

  2. Deaths due to cold weather outstrip ill effects from warm weather – by a factor of 10.

  3. Warming produces better agricultural yields, lowers energy costs, causes fewer droughts, results in more rainfall, enhances forest growth, does not cause extreme weather and even fosters increased biodiversity. Moreover, it primarily benefits the poorest among us.

  4. The greatest benefit to humanity comes not from higher temperatures but from more carbon dioxide which promotes plant growth and food production.
  5. Don’t forget the record number of polar bears who are thriving on the broken ice.

  6. The report also states all the computer models are broken and invalid; there has been no observed warming for nearly 20 years; and future temperature rises will be minimal.

Media Reaction: Ignore Good News; Cherry-pick Bad News

      Given this sanguine news from the IPCC, the same folks who originally created the global warming panic, what have the media reported? Have you seen anywhere  that warming is a veritable blessing for mankind and the overall effect of warming will be positive for many future generations for man and planet? Instead, you see execrable and jejune reporting such as:
  • Scientists are more sure than ever about man’s role in causing warming. This is a canard. The confidence level (totally subjective) increased 5.6% (from 90% to 95%). This is akin to reporting a gaggle of appointed apparatchiks from NRA are now 5% surer than they once were that gun ownership is a benefit based on studies by several gun manufacturers.

  • Regurgitating stories about the shrinking arctic icecap and melting Greenland ice. I have never read anything in the statist sychophant media that the Antarctic icecap – which is 10 times the size of the Arctic icecap – has been expanding and more than offsets the much lesser decrease in the Arctic icecap. More to the point, isn’t warming in Greenland a good thing? That is why Vikings settled Greenland in the first place during earlier warmings.

  • Attempting to explain away the lack of warming by reporting the heat is being trapped deep in the oceans – something that can’t be proven or disproven. This is pure witchcraft.
     The SPM was not prepared by scientists but by partisan, appointed UN bureaucrats who have a strong vested interest in promoting global warming panic. The 30-page SPM contradicts some parts of the full report. That likely explains why the SPM was released in September and the full report not until January – so that it can be reverse engineered to comport with the SPM.
Bottom line: It no longer really matters to what extent, if any, warming is manmade inasmuch as it is a godsend to both man and planet – and this from the same folks who brought about the panic in the first place.

Memo to readers:  Part two (next week) of this posting explains how and why so many people (many of good will) were so wrong for so long about manmade global warming and why even today a great many still choose to cling to superstition, myth, religion and outright falsehoods.