Futility and self-defeat

Vincent J. Curtis

9 Jan 24

RE: How your vacation abroad hurts the planet. Op-ed by Alberta Koehl. The Hamilton Spectator 9 Jan 24.

Environmental lawyer Albert Koehl presents another demand for sacrifice to “save the planet!” His demand is that we curtail air travel for vacation on the grounds that jet travel adds unconscionable amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere, and on social justice grounds: that the poor are less able to insulate themselves “from grave climate change consequences,” like those prosperous fliers can.

This call is futile, unnecessary, and self-defeating. It is self-defeating on social-justice grounds because a significant curtailment of air travel will create a lot of unemployment in the tourist and air travel industries.  His call to think of the poor before you fly would create more poor people in those industries reliant on tourism.

It is futile because Canada contributes only 1.5 percent of world CO2 emissions, while Asia and Russia contribute well over 50 percent; and Asia and Russia aren’t buying this Western mania about atmospheric plant food. India and China in particular are building coal-fired power plants as quickly as they can, and have no plans on stopping for several decades more.

It is unnecessary because the latest hard atmospheric physics shows that a doubling of CO2 from 400 to 800 ppm will result in a rise of global temperature by a meagre 0.72ºC.  Catastrophic climate change isn’t in the cards.

There is no need to be miserable on account of fears of climate change or concerns about “social justice.”  Life is to be enjoyed; the planet will be fine.

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See the Oct 20, 2023 entry of this blog for the hard physics on temperature rise.