Bastardi on Global Warming

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy admitted; that the steps the president is taking would reduce future mean temperatures by only .01 degree Celsius. Meteorologist Joe Bastardi wonders why Mr. Obama is going to essentially destroy the coal industry for .01 degree. Bastardi points out that the real hockey stick graph isn't about temperatures, it's about global progress, wealth, and life expectancy:

As the president reveals his plan to reduce greenhouse gases to save us from an apocalyptic atmosphere, I wish to remind people of three things:

1.) The true hockey stick of the fossil fuel era: Global progress in total population, personal wealth and life expectancy.

This is truly amazing. To show how fossil fuels played a roll in expanding the global pie, there are many more people alive today living longer and enjoying a higher GDP. One has to wonder if someone against fossil fuels is simply anti-progress. Ironic since many in the camp of anthropogenic global warming like to label themselves “progressive.” They’re certainly anti-statistic given something like this staring them in the face.

By reducing carbon emissions by 30% many coal plants will be effectively put out of business. Electricity production will drop and prices will skyrocket (to use Mr. Obama's own word from 2008). Contrary to what he says, energy will not be cheaper. Energy, and therefore everything we buy, will be more expensive, and the people who will be hurt most by this will be the poor.

Bastardi also puts up a graph that graphs temperature vs CO2 over geologic time and finds no correlation at all:

2.) The geological time scale of temperatures versus CO2.

As much as I struggle, I can’t see the linkage. Maybe it’s like one of those books where you have to stare at it and cross your eyes to see the picture.

What's also puzzling is why scientists, usually some of the most skeptical, difficult to convince people in the culture, are so sure that we're headed for eco-catastrophe. This is not to say that we're not - I'm hardly qualified to say that - we may be, but if so, it would be helpful to see some unambiguous evidence that increasing CO2 correlates in a straightforward fashion to global temperature increases before we go ahead and destroy an industry, put people out of work, and make life tougher for the poor and middle class than it already is.

The third item Bastardi discusses is McCarthy's admission that the steps the EPA is taking would only prevent .01 degrees of warming, but that we should do it anyway, despite the enormous costs, as an example to the world. What, though, is it an example of?

There's another piece on scientific criticism of the EPA rule here.