CONSENSUS WATCH - 4/20/2009

An ongoing series dedicated to vigorously monitoring emerging threats to The Consensus that global warming is real, caused by humans, and must be addressed immediately. Because without consensus, viable theories could emerge challenging the reigning orthodoxy resulting in chaos, confusion and unrest.

A new promotional campaign, “Carbon Caps = Hard Hats,” began blanketing the airwaves and print media this past weekend, headlined by the colorful mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, John Fetterman.

As the mayor explains, the economics are “simple.”  All you have to do to create lots of high-paying jobs is to have the government mandate that cheap, efficient forms of energy be made as expensive to produce as far more costly, inefficient forms of energy.

“Take the wind turbine,” Fetterman point out. “A typical wind turbine has 8,000 parts and is made of 250 tons of steel. Somebody’s got to make that steel, fabricate those parts, assemble those parts, deliver the assembled turbine to a wind farm, erect the turbine and manage the wind farm. That’s a lot of jobs.”

Even more so when you take into account that wind turbines barely produce a quarter the amount of energy they’re rated for.  Why, that’s four times as many jobs that would be created than with efficient forms of energy!

However, Fetterman warns that “A Carbon Cap is not popular with everybody. The usual suspects, like some in Big Oil, will drag out the same old tired scare tactics,” such as the same old tired scare tactic of performing a detailed economic study and finding that in Spain’s experience with similar green initiatives, for every single “green” job created, 2.2 jobs are destroyed elsewhere in the economy.  But that study does not take into account other factors, such as the really cool, high-resolution black & white photos the carbon cap folks have on their web site.

You can take your so-called “observational data” and “verifiable hypotheses.” We’ll take gritty monochromatic post-modern realism meant to evoke an emotional response over that any day.

Still not convinced?  Well, it’s not just about jobs.  The principle sponsor of Carbon Caps = Hard Hats, the Environmental Defense Fund, believes carbon caps are essential if we are to reduce emissions of one of the most deadly, and also naturally abundant, gases known to man: Carbon dioxide. 

While green initiatives such as inefficient wind turbines may not actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions and might even increase them, that misses one of the most important arguments the Carbon Caps = Hard Hats campaign is trying to make: John Fetterman, is  really colorful! He went to Harvard.  He has tattoos! Sometimes he spells “Bradock,” “Bradocc.”  Is that awesome or what?

So, let’s review the arguments for and against carbon caps:

Against:

1) Encourages expensive and inefficient forms of energy production.
2) Is a net destroyer of jobs.
3) Doesn’t actually cap carbon.

For:

1) Gritty high-contrast black & white photography.
2) Tattoos
3) More overall awesomeness.

Chalk another one up for The Consensus.

J.

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