I am a non-technical man, with very little scientific background. Probably because I am surrounded by scientists, I started picking up an interest in S&T. Environment and especially, Global Warming, has been one of my concerns and so have taken an interest to read articles about Ecology and have even posted some info in this blog. But a recent article entitled, “Challenging the basis of Kyoto Protocol” by Vladimir Radyuhin in The Hindu, July 10, 2008, has been shattering.
Whether we have all been taken for a ride by vested interests, the question arises naturally. Articles like this make you lose faith in the so-called expert opinions. If you are like me, you may also find this article disturbing. I have tried to put it in as simple language as possible, point-by-point, for the benefit lay people like me:
1. Russian scientists reject the very idea that carbon dioxide may be responsible for global warming. They say it is without scientific basis and the Kyoto theorists put the cart before the horse as global warming triggers higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, not the other way round.
2. Water vapours are a far more potent factor in creating the greenhouse effect as their concentration in the atmosphere is 5 to 10 times higher than that of CO2. Even if all CO2 were removed from the earth atmosphere, global climate would not become any cooler.
3. Global climate depends predominantly on natural factors, such as solar activity, precession(wobbling) of the Earth’s axis, changes in ocean currents, fluctuations in saltiness of ocean surface water, and some other factors, whereas industrial emissions do not play any significant role.
4. When four years ago, the Russian Academy of Sciences advised Putin to reject the Kyoto Protocol as having no scientific foundation, he reportedly ignored the advice purely for political reasons: Moscow traded its approval of the Kyoto Protocol for the Ruopean Union’s support for Russia’s bid to join WTO. Russian endorsement was critical, as without it the Kyoto Protocol would have fallen through due to a shortage of signatories.
5. The Kyoto Protocol is a huge waste of money. The Earth’s atmosphere has built-in regulatory mechanisms that moderate climate changes. When temperatures rise, ocean water evaporation increases, denser clouds stop solar rays and surface temperatures decline.
6. Academician Kapitsa denounced the Kyoto Protocol as “the biggest ever scientific fraud.” The pact was lobbied by European politicians and industrialists, in order to improve the competitiveness of European products and slow down economic growth in emerging economies.
7. A large number of critical documents submitted at the 1995 UN conference in Madrid vanished without a trace. As a result, the discussion was one-sided and heavily biased, and the UN declared global warming to be a scientific fact.
8. It shifts the emphasis away from genuine ecological problems, such as industrial, air and water pollution, to the wasteful fight against harmless gases.
9. Ecological treaties should seek to curb emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals and other highly-toxic pollutants instead of targeting carbon dioxide, which is a non-toxic gas whose impact on global warming has not been proved.
10. Russian researchers cite the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which called for phasing out Freon-12 as a preferred refrigerant. It has since been proved that chlorine-containing Freon-12 destroys ozone only in laboratory conditions whereas in the atmosphere, it interacts with hydrogen and falls back to Earth as acid rain before it can harm ozone. The Montreal Protocol brought billions of dollars in profits for U.S. DuPont, which held global patent rights for Freon-134, an alternative refrigerant that does not interact with ozone. “Within 10 years of the Montreal Protocol the output of refrigeration compressors in the U.S. increased by 60 per cent, whereas in Europe it declined by a similar proportion. In Russia, which accounted for a quarter of the global market of refrigerants, the industry ground to a complete stop
11. The ultimate irony of the Montreal Protocol is that the new refrigerant is the most potent among greenhouse gases blacklisted under the Kyoto Protocol, and moreover is explosion-prone. The Freon bubble burst when, in 1989, the ozone layer suddenly jumped to the pre-Montreal Protocol level and has since continued to rise. Russian critics of the Kyoto Protocol are convinced that the greenhouse gases bubble will likewise prove short-lived.
12. Russian scientists say global warming and global cooling are cyclic (60 year cycle) and one does not have worry about, as nature has built-in correcting mechanism in itself. They cite how global cooling warnings were made in the 1970s.
Further, I was taught at school that carbon dioxide is essential for the survival of plants as they take it for their growth and give out oxygen which is essential for the existence of human beings.
I repeat I am after all a non-technical man and hence would appreciate receiving your comments/views on the above.
For the full article, “Challenging the basis of Kyoto Protocol” by Vladimir Radyuhin in The Hindu, July 10, 2008:
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