Don't Hold Your Breath

“You’re either with us or against us.”

Is this philosophy that of George W. Bush and his fellow supporters of the PATRIOT Act, or that of the human-beings-must-be-behind-global-temperature-increases-and-must-pay-dearly crowd? You can decide for yourself, but while you’re evaluating your level of right-wing or left-wing patriotism, you can add this piece of news to your next Happy Meal:

The [Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] released early this year, would give the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas for not only greenhouse gas from manmade sources like transportation and industry, but also “stationary” sources which would include livestock.

The New York Farm Bureau assigned a price tag to the cost of greenhouse gas regulation by the EPA in a release last month.

“The tax for dairy cows could be $175 per cow, and $87.50 per head of beef cattle. The tax on hogs would upwards of $20 per hog,” the release said. “Any operation with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs would have to obtain permits.”

The theory behind this is simple: When cows fart, they release methane. Methane is listed as a greenhouse gas. To thwart global warming, cows must be heavily taxed.

Um...wait a minute. What’s another widespread greenhouse gas? Did you say “carbon dioxide”? If you did, you’re correct. What gives off carbon dioxide every second? Did you answer “human beings when they exhale”? If you did, you’re correct.

So if we can have a push to heavily tax cows because they fart methane, why couldn’t we easily make the argument that all humans must be heavily taxed with an “exhalation tax” because they breathe out carbon dioxide? Hmm...I think that we could. I think that I just did.

In 2006 I saw a show on the Discovery Channel entitled Global Warming: What You Need to Know. In it, one scientist was asked how he would respond to those who question humans’ involvement in the Earth’s increasing temperatures. His response? He explained that there wasn’t enough time to find a link between human activity and temperature increases.

Really? A scientist not wanting to find a major scientific link?

While you’re trying to figure out how much you might end up paying if an “exhalation tax” is enacted, consider this excerpt from PBS’s NOVA Online (yes, PBS—the network that is routinely called liberal, left-wing, communist, and socialist):

Between 52 and 57 million years ago, the Earth was relatively warm. Tropical conditions actually extended all the way into the mid-latitudes (around northern Spain or the central United States for example), polar regions experienced temperate climates, and the difference in temperature between the equator and pole was much smaller than it is today. Indeed it was so warm that trees grew in both the Arctic and Antarctic, and alligators lived in Ellesmere Island at 78 degrees North.

But this warm period, called the Eocene, was followed by a long cooling trend. Between 52 and 36 million years ago, ice caps developed in East Antarctica, reaching down to sea level in some places. Close to Antarctica, the temperature of the water near the surface dropped to between 5 and 8 degrees Celsius. Between 36 and 20 million years ago the earth experienced the first of three major cooling steps. At this time a continental-scale temperate ice sheet emerged in East Antarctica. Meanwhile, in North America, the mean annual air temperature dropped by approximately 12 degrees Celsius.

Between 20 and 16 million years ago, there was a brief respite from the big chill, but this was followed by a second major cooling period so intense that by 7 million years ago southeastern Greenland was completely covered with glaciers, and by 5-6 million years ago, the glaciers were creeping into Scandinavia and the northern Pacific region. The Earth was once more released from the grip of the big chill between 5 and 3 million years ago, when the sea was much warmer around North America and the Antarctic than it is today. Warm-weather plants grew in Northern Europe where today they cannot survive, and trees grew in Iceland, Greenland, and Canada as far north as 82 degrees North.

We are still in the midst of the third major cooling period that began around 3 million years ago, and its effect can be seen around the world, perhaps even in the development of our own species. Around 2 and a half million years ago, tundra-like conditions took over north-central Europe. Soon thereafter, the once-humid environment of Central China was replaced by harsh continental steppe. And in sub-Saharan Africa, arid and open grasslands expanded, replacing more wooded, wetter environments. Many paleontologists believe that this environmental change is linked to the evolution of humankind.

So, if trees were growing in what is now the Arctic and Antarctic, and alligators (which live in warm climates) were found to have lived at 78° North 55 million years ago, does that mean that humans played a role in the warm temperature? I guess that there’s not enough time to find a link.

I’ll conclude with this quote, which is bandied about by many people nowadays, and which might describe my aforementioned view on the current global “crisis”:

“Dissent is patriotic.”

We might have to update this to say “Dissent is patriotic—as long as you don’t disagree with me.”

References

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). United States Environmental Protection Agency. 30 July 2008. Vol. 73, No. 147, p. 44354-44520.

Hopwood, Nick, and Jordan Cohen. “Greenhouse Gases and Society.” University of Michigan.

Maasch, Kirk A. “The Big Chill.” NOVA Online.

Poor, Jeff. “EPA ‘Cow Tax’ Could Charge $175 per Dairy Cow to Curb Greenhouse Gases.” Business & Media Institute. 5 Jan. 2009.

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