• I believe in science, and it is a proven fact that climate change is part of nature.
  

• There was a time when the world was much warmer than it is now, and a good part of what is now the United States was under water as proven by the discovery of fish fossils and sea shells in what was once the Western Interior Seaway but now includes, for example, Colorado. (Image credit: William A. Cobban and Kevin C. McKinney, USGS, public domain as a publication of the U.S. Government.) This was not due to human-caused global warming because there were no humans.
  

• There was also a time when the world was much colder than it is now, and a good part of North America was covered by glaciers. This is how we got the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes.
  
• Carbon dioxide and methane emissions are greenhouse gases that promote warming, but whether enough to threaten human life or safety is open to question.
  

• Cap and trade is a fraud on the American people whose purpose is to enrich special interests. The following is not from conservatives, "climate change deniers," or Republicans. It is from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-NY) "Cap and Trade Could be a Boon to New York."

• "According to financial experts, carbon permits could quickly become the world's largest commodities market, growing to as much as $3 trillion by 2020 from just over $100 billion today. With thousands of firms and energy producers buying and selling permits to emit carbon, transaction fees for exchanges and clearing alone could top nearly half a billion dollars. ...If Congress establishes proper oversight of a carbon market, New York's financial talent, expertise and institutions are uniquely suited to provide the tools and innovation for a new commodities market of this size. Firms wishing to invest over the long term will need to turn to our financial sector to create the emerging products and provide the capital that would allow them to make green energy investments.An infrastructure is already beginning to form, as entities like the New York Stock Exchange, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and the new Green Exchange are developing carbon trading platforms or expanding their environmental trading desks. "
• I do not see why the productive elements of our society should pay higher prices for energy, or have to trade in carbon credits, to enrich New York City, Goldman Sachs, or J.P. Morgan Chase.
  

• The most vocal advocates of carbon taxes, cap and trade, and similar restrictions on carbon emissions do not believe in human-caused climate change themselves as shown by "Copenhagen climate summit: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes and caviar wedges." The article describes how people who attended the conference:

• Used private jets which use much more fuel per person, and generate far more carbon emissions per person, than commercial aircraft.
• Rented limousines, which burn more fuel and generate more carbon dioxide than economy or hybrid vehicles.
• "The top hotels – all fully booked at £650 a night – are readying their Climate Convention menus of (no doubt sustainable) scallops, foie gras and sculpted caviar wedges." 650 pounds UK was roughly $1000 USD in 2009. If you actually work for a living and travel on business, does your employer allow you to stay in a $1000 hotel room and submit expense accounts for scallops, foie gras (a cruelty-based animal product), and caviar wedges???
  

• I do not believe it is either constructive or equitable to implement carbon taxes, carbon credits (similar to the sale of indulgences for sins in the Middle Ages), nor do I believe there is any value to the Paris climate treaty. It is however in the interests of all supply chain stakeholders (investors, workers, customers, and suppliers) to eliminate all forms of material and energy waste which has the incidental effect of reducing carbon emissions.
  

• Henry Ford made enormous profits by either (1) finding uses for production wastes and byproducts or (2) even better, not making the wastes in the first place. This was when he could have legally dumped into the nearest river whatever waste wouldn't go up his smoke stack. Waste wood was distilled into saleable products like methanol (wood alcohol) and Kingsford Charcoal. Slag from blast furnaces was made into paving materials and cement, and sold. Ford extracted the valuable chemicals from coal, including sulfur which could be sold as ammonium sulfate (fertilizer) and thus not burned to generate acid rain, before he used what was left as fuel.
• Carbon dioxide is itself, if available in a concentrated form, a useful and saleable product. One application involves carbon dioxide enriched atmospheres in greenhouses to accelerate plant growth.
  

Contact 

Bill "at" levinson4nepa.com

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