Guest essay by Eric Worrall
As Hurricane Harvey survivors struggle with the aftermath, the cleanup, with power outages and portable generators, reporters far away in comfortable offices in New York think they have a solution to their problems; a new carbon tax.
We Don’t Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change?
Nicholas Kristof SEPT. 2, 2017
Imagine that after the 9/11 attacks, the conversation had been limited to the tragedy in Lower Manhattan, the heroism of rescuers and the high heels of the visiting first lady — without addressing the risks of future terrorism.
That’s how we have viewed Hurricane Harvey in Houston, as a gripping human drama but without adequate discussion of how climate change increases risks of such cataclysms. We can’t have an intelligent conversation about Harvey without also discussing climate change.
…
Remember also that we in the rich world are the lucky ones. We lose homes to climate change, but in much of the world families lose something far more precious: their babies. Climate change increases risks of war, instability, disease and hunger in vulnerable parts of the globe, and I was seared while reporting in Madagascar about children starving apparently as a consequence of climate change.
An obvious first step is to embrace the Paris climate accord. A second step would be to put a price on carbon, perhaps through a carbon tax to pay for tax cuts or disaster relief.
We also must adapt to a new normal — and that’s something Democratic and Republican politicians alike are afraid to do. We keep building in vulnerable coastal areas and on flood plains, pretty much daring Mother Nature to whack us.
…
A week and a half ago, Republicans and Democrats traveled to see the solar eclipse and gazed upward at the appointed hour, because they believed scientific predictions about what would unfold. Why can’t we all similarly respect scientists’ predictions about our cooking of our only planet?
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/opinion/sunday/hurricane-harvey-climate-change.html
I once had to power my home for a week from a portable generator, thanks to outages caused by a major tropical storm. A portable generator is an expensive way to produce power, but its better than letting the food spoil.
The last thing people in that situation need is higher fuel bills.
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The New York Times reaction to almost anything is more taxes, more gun control, and restrictions on everyone’s speech but the legacy media.
..it’s backfiring on them big time….even the nuts think they are nuts
Hummmm, could it be a Faceboof effect?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-02/facebook-exposed-you-are-product
Bring in an Oxygen Tax . . . . to put a stop to all that exposed man-made metal that is likely to ‘catastrophically’ go rusty once the Houston flood water subsides. Actually, why not tax the whole sky whilst we’re at it. Sorted.
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
Don’t ask me what I want it for
If you don’t want to pay some more
‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman
The New York Times, along with other similar publications, is a left wing fascist propaganda rag.
It is no accident that “The New York Times” is an anagram of “The Monkeys Write.”
the level of stupid exhibited by Kristof cannot be measured.
It’s a sicK, foolish raNt, another anagram. Is that a coincidence? Or a cosmic joke?
As someone whose income puts me in the top 1% – I am all for taxing Harvey survivors to help them. Oh not all of them just the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-regulation, Trump voting, climate change deniers.
While we’re at it let’s throw in a big tax increase for the residents of Tangier Island who are asking taxpayers like me to bail (pun intended) them out.
But I refuse to give even one penny more of my hard earned money to people who refuse to help themselves.
And guess what? This elite, swamp dweller has a very good accountant.
I thought Republicans and conservatives were all about “personal responsibility” – I guess not so much.
Seasealya, just keep voting for Democrats who like bigger government, higher taxes, and greater spending of other people’s money and see how long you remain in the “top 1%.”
The areas of the flooding predominantly voted for Hillary in 2016. Why are you throwing fellow democrats under the bus?
I apologize for assuming that you are democrat supporter, if you are an independent.
If you did vote for Hillary, then you voted for Big Government to step in and spend your tax dollars on bail outs, even if the “disaster” is large corporations not being profitable enough to please their shareholders. You voted for government bailouts of whatever, even big banks that were stupid enough to chase big profits by taking big risks and then lost too much when things went sour, so you have no right to complain when the government does exactly what you voted them to do, even if the hands on the levers of power belong to someone that you disagree with.
Fascinating how the troll believes that the only way to help yourself, is to vote for politicians who will take other people’s money and give it to you.
Believe me, the people of Texas are helping themselves, and most of ;them aren’t going through government to do it.
Most of the recent problems with banks was due to government regulations that required the banks to lend to people who had little chance of paying back the loans.
Seasealya: so what exactly is your point? Please clarify.
Seasealya: so what exactly is your point? Please clarify.
What an incoherent rant. If you really have a point, then you will need to articulate it much better.
As noted by others here, the majority of those displaced and affected by this storm in Houston are likely Hillary voters. But one thing to consider, the majority of the “Cajun navy” who brought their bass boats and duck hunting boats and big trucks in to help those affected are likely Trump voters. So, yes, Republicans and conservatives are about personal responsibility, and they are about not waiting for government and instead rolling up their sleeves and giving of themselves to help people in need.
seasealya, as a matter of urgency, contact your psychiatric support person and get them to review your medication.
DO IT NOW.
Predicting the orbit of the moon involves a relatively simple equation with only a few variables. All of which are not only known, but known with very high precision.
Predicting the climate involves thousands of very complex equations, some of which aren’t solveable.
The variables are still being discovered and few of them are known with any degree of precision whatever.
Only a total moron would compare the two.
MarkW,
He is writing for morons and other elites who cannot think for themselves. Good point in the writers efforts to compare two things that have no relationship whatever, but these folks with a liberal education in today’s Universities lack essential critical skills. Also they lack the ability and data to sell the CAGW mantra so they grasp at straws.
“A second step would be to put a price on carbon, perhaps through a carbon tax to pay for tax cuts”
Ahh, a tax to pay for tax cuts. Brilliant!
Yeah, I thought that was pretty good too. These idiots do not seem to realise how patently stupid their own ideas are. Also taxes cost a lot to implement and administer, so after the cost of collection, administration redistribution via ‘tax cuts’ , there will probably only be 50% of what was collected actually getting paid back to anyone. The rest being wasted by faceless pen pushers and bureaucrats.
Greg,
That’s the whole point of the scheme.
The Gray ” Lady ” is senile …??
The :”Old Gray Lady” has been senile for decades.
She’s been brain dead for decades.
The NYT never recovered fully from the loss of credibility engendered by the Jayson Blair debacle.
In Michael Mann’s recent testimony to Congress, he had the unmitigated gall to compare other scientists working on climate to Lysenko. Lysenko, of course, used his scientific creds to prop up Stalin’s deadly policies on collective farming, leading to perhaps 10 to 20 million starvation deaths (mostly in the Ukraine), and perhaps hundreds of thousands more being imprisoned in the gulag system, many of whom died in Siberia.
During the horror of the Holodomor, the NY Times printed the Communist apologia of Walter Duranty, and the Pulitzer Prize committee awarded this ass clown a Pulitzer. This reminds me a little of when the Nobel committee awarded a Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC.
Earth to Michael Mann: In your analogy, I’m afraid YOU are Lysenko!
And the NY Times is still just the NY Times.
> Why can’t we all similarly respect scientists’ predictions about our cooking of our only planet?
Umm let us count the ways. Nah, rather than belabor the obvious let me rip the author for his disrespect of the scientific process by calling for belief and respect rather than verify and reproduce.
I thought that Climate Scientists do not make “Predictions”, only “Projections”. I do not think the NYT got the memo…
Actually, they only generate potential scenarios. (HT: Willie Soon)
The joke here is that they are playing on the extreme accuracy of astronomical predictions, particularly the moon and Sun, and pretending that the fantasy climate models, which are truly not science, are the same thing. Really sad, but some people will fall for it.
Be very careful about that “some people will fall for it”. The timing and spread of this idea that “we believe in science about eclipses so we should believe in science about climate change” has all the hallmarks of a well-planned propaganda campaign.
There is nothing “really sad” about it, higley7; it’s another snappy slogan which is going to be very hard to counter if we aren’t alert to what is happening. It’s 15 words of glib plausibility which any decent ad-man would be proud to have come up with; can you refute it in 15 words?
If you can then let’s spread your 15 words as widely as possible because if we can’t then the climate propagandists are going to get away with it again.
Newminster – can’t refute it, but how about these 10 memorable words:
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”.
“Solar models have verified. Climate models have not been verified or validated for a reason.”
15 words.
The author asks us to believe in the equivalence of the Law of Gravity ( solar eclipse) with a dis-proven hypothesis (excess CO2 by man causes temperature increases from 1970 to 1995). How un-scientific.
I suggest a surcharge of 50cents a newspaper instead.
Ummm…50c per paper??
I’m kinda guessing that this might not (should not) make much of a return….plus we all hear about the declining paper sales.
Ok, Make it $1 per newspaper. !
That will eliminate its usefulness as a fish wrapper.
I would prefer not wrapping my fish with the NYT. The ink would transfer to the fish… as would the headline…
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/nyregion/toxic-fish-caused-food-poisoning-outbreaks-report-says.html
The reason we stared up at the appointed hour is that the model for solar eclipses has stood the test of time. It works for both past eclipses and future eclipses, and is verified at least twice annually (there are at least two solar eclipses in some form, on average, every year) The climate models have verified, um, never. That’s why it’s folly to throw money at any possible ‘solution’.
Now, if they are willing to equate the two theories, climate change and solar eclipse prediction, we should absolutely take them at their word. When the models for AGW fail to predict, and we know they will, then we can stand and say “Al Gore has no clothes.”
Kristof asks, “Why can’t we all similarly respect scientists’ predictions about our cooking of our only planet?” Before Harvey, the last major hurricane landfall on the U.S. mainland was twelve years ago. Imagine this headline: After Twelve Long Years, Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut! Do we suddenly expect more nuts to be found reliably now?
Not cooking the planet, just cooking the story…….
how climate change increases risks of such cataclysms….
Obviously, It makes a major hurricane hit the US every 12 years
Back in the late 1800’s there used to be periods of annual Cat4 storms hitting Texas and gaps of 3-4 years without them. By the mid 1950’s the Cat4 storms changed to decadal occurrences. Now they average one storm every 12 years or so. From 1970 to 1988 there was a 19 year drought of Cat4-5 storms along the Texas coast.
“We Don’t Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change?”
Because Harvey is real and “Climate Change (CAGW)” is an unproven speculation.
Hurricanes have been around longer than humans or their CO2 by-products. Hurricanes are not dependent on humans or their CO2 by-products for their existence. There is no known connection between human activity and hurricanes. Only in Kristof’s deluded mind.
If we’re going to blame Harvey on climate change, could we in fairness give climate change credit for reducing the frequency category 3+ hurricanes hitting the US mainland?
Demonized something then demand higher taxes to constrain the demon. That’s what it means to be progressive.
In a word: evidence.
“Climate change increases risks of war, instability, disease and hunger…”
Climate Change for the Catastrophists’ religion is analogous to the Christians’ concept of sin — anything that’s bad is the result of Climate Change.
You are no better at analogies than the NYT author.
I am still stumped as to why there are no videos or photos of white people looting from houses and shops.
Is this racist photography at work?
There was a long story online a day or two ago about Houston’s drug addicts wading through water to score at certain hangouts. (I thought it was in WaPo but I couldn’t find it when I googled.) It sounded like most of them were white. Perhaps they’ve done their share of looting.
The religion of the CAGW believers is not original with me here. See:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/17/essay-carbon-footprint-as-original-sin/
The point of an analogy is to point out the similarity of two different things in order to infer further similarities which lead to further insights. Christianity defines what is bad by calling it sin.
You analogy is not an analogy.
To liken AGW-ism to religion is not to opine on the quality of any religion, but to note that a science that is like a religion is not valid science. The analogy holds.
One could also sell their tragedy in the charity market. A once in a lifetime fund raising opportunity not to be missed. So you don’t forget send in your donation to the Union of Concerned Scientists before midnight tonight. They are very very concerned. Really.
https://secure.ucsusa.org
“Why can’t we all similarly respect scientists’ predictions about our cooking of our only planet?”
Because none of their predictions ever come true.
Ever hear the one about the boy who cried “wolf”, when there was no wolf? The townspeople quit believing his cries after a while. That’s where we are with CAGW: The promoters of CAGW put out all these scare stories, and none of them ever come true. What do you expect people to think?
The alarmists claimed there would be more numerous hurricanes as a result of CAGW, but we’ve had over a decade drought in major hurricanes and the first one that comes along is pointed to as being the result of CAGW. What about the lack of hurricanes over the last decade? How does that fit into this formula?
The “more hurricanes” claim was wrong. That is reality. When will the alarmists acknowledge they were wrong? Hey, Kristof, if they are wrong about this, what else are they wrong about? Think about it.
Right on, TA.
{N}one of their predictions ever come true.
http://media.al.com/news_huntsville_impact/photo/john-christy-climate-change-chart-0a201a1637955761.jpg
(Note: the apparent “Wow, look how closely they models match the data from about 1975 – 1995!” is: the code writers TUNED those models to MIMIC the data.)
Kristoff think? lol He is paid to promote Big Wind and Big, er, Sorta Big, er, Big Someday, Solar. He’s a cheap, hack-for-hire.
Actually he is probably a fanatic believer is the CAGW religion , that is why he was hired.
Checking the status of one of my utility stock holdings, American Electric Power (AEP) announced it awarded the EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) contract for the 350 mile “Wind Catcher Tie Line” 765kV Transmission Line to Quanta Services Group to deliver electricity from an Oklahoma Wind Farm near Guyon to Tulsa OK. This is not OK. Where is Rick Perry’s over haul of the Department of Energy and who is providing the financial backing of this boondoggle? Still too many special interest groups sucking on the Green Koo-Aid.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quanta-services-selected-american-electric-103300628.html
Time for me to unload my position and short the stock. Will miss the 3+% dividend.
CarbonBigfoot says:
(AEP) announced it awarded the EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) contract for the 350 mile “Wind Catcher Tie Line” 765kV Transmission Line to Quanta Services Group to deliver electricity from an Oklahoma Wind Farm near Guyon to Tulsa OK.
Didn’t you know the AEP board of directors had been infiltrated by greenies for many yrs? They accede to every demand from the Sierra Club.
Because of the lies about human CO2
which result in unreliable or no electricity,
thus, dirty water and cooking with cow dung:
families lose something … precious: their babies.
And people die in buildings which would not be covered in cladding but-for-CO2-lies.
And people freeze to death because the solar and wind hu$tler$ create artificial market share for their sc@ms by rate-surcharges making reliable energy too expensive to buy or by taxes (subsidies) making prices of necessaries rise to the point that some people have no money left over to heat their home.
And the only, the ONLY, explanation, at bottom, for all this energy poverty is:
evil.
As for the NYT, follow –> the –> money.
The people without electricity and cooking on cow dung are not in that state because of renewable electricity or spending on climate change…
They are in that state because provision of electricity through fossil fuels has not reached them…
They are leaving that state because of (among other things) the provision of solar LED lighting, solar panels and fuel efficient stoves.
Why shouldn’t we insulate the homes of the less well off? (UK is a cold country – though nobody is freezing in it due to UK renewable energy)
And the various Paris-site agreements have helped the cow-dung-burners to have the reliability of fossil fueled electricity just how? “Green” thrown at their leaders?
“Here’s a windmill and a solar panel. Enjoy the dark.”
They are staying in that situtation because AGW’ers are fighting against cheap power and requiring them to use expensive unreliable power.
(UK is a cold country – though nobody is freezing in it due to UK renewable energy)
Surely you jest.
“They are in that state because provision of electricity through fossil fuels has not reached them…”
Another lie, Skanky?
This would appear to demonstrate you’re wrong – as usual.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/04/world-bank-funding-coal-power
I thought you were a big Guardian reader too…
Now go and apologise to Dr. Crockford.
“(UK is a cold country – though nobody is freezing in it due to UK renewable energy)”
Really, Skanky?
How many times must I post this and prove you to be a liar?
http://www.theguardian.com/big-energy-debate/2014/sep/11/fuel-poverty-scandal-winter-deaths
Kristoff is not the sharpest tack.
Agreed. And what I always find baffling about such people is: they do not care. They are willing to look like ignorant, illogical, buffoons just to make a buck. An emotionally healthy, strong, person would rather be poor than to ever sell their integrity.
Kinda sad, really. Either he is so hard-up for cash that, blinded by fear, he will intellectually prostitute himself for money, or he has such very low self-respect that he places almost no value at all on his reputation for clear-minded thinking and integrity.
Makes you wonder, as you peer into the eyes of such a man (in imagination): “Is there anyone in there?”
Clarification: “Agreed{, except that I think Kristoff is not dull; he takes on that persona to write what is patently ridiculous to make money}.”
Nicholas Kristof is nasty piece of work, with a consistent air of great concern. He, as you might remember, started the Joseph Wilson/ Valerie Plame foofraw back during the Bush II administration, despite knowing Wilson was both inflating his resume and a paid Kerrey staffer.
It’s Kristof, with only one ‘f’, and he is the winner, according to Wankerpedia, of two Pulitzer prizes. Unlike, well, virtually nobody, he’s against human trafficking, you’ll be relieved to discover. You’ll also be amused to know he is FOR education reform. Not vouchers; no, no, no. He believes that by, among other things, raising starting teacher salaries from $39K to $65K per annum, current problems can be fixed. (We all know how well throwing tax money at an embedded problem solves it.)
Liberalism is a form of indentured slavery/ the mafia takes all your wages and uses them to cover the debts you owe them that never get less.
Giving you back about 30% of what you paid in taxes for ‘public services’
Why, Mr. Smith, don’t you want live like this? Eating rice and beans day after day after day…..
(photo caption: “Typical street scene in Havana.”)
Dictatorships of the elite are just soooo cool.
Those Cubans are probably still better off than some of the Africans in the poorer regions. If nothing else, I expect that they do have generated electricity.
To somehow equate the predictive skill and certainty of orbit mechanics to “predictions” related to Climate Change are asinine. At no time in the lead up to the August 2017 solar eclipse did I see any use of the words “could”, “maybe”, “should”. Of course the solar eclipse “could” have been obscured by clouds, given the uncertainty of local weather conditions. Those words most certainly do not apply to the fact that the eclipse would be taking place at a precise time and place regardless of clouds or not. Nor have I read that the path that it took across The United States from coast to coast was somehow “unprecedented”.
On the other hand, nearly every “Prediction” or Climate Change related research paper is peppered with those words.
Not sure folks would have been happy with Astronomers saying that the 2017 solar eclipse could occur sometime on or around the 21 of August and its path should run west to east across The United States, but we are not exactly sure where…
As a Houstonian tired from days of helping neighbors demolish ruined houses and like up water damaged stuff, I would like to invite the NYT to go eff off.
We have a situation in Houston where 40 years of negligence by mostly democratic Mayors left us highly vulnerable to floods.
That the NYT dared to use the first powerful storm in over a decade as a prop to continue their modern version of pimping for Stalin, now with climate, is infuriating.
Amen, hunter. Hang in there, weary warrior. You Texans (as a rule) sure are doin’ America proud.
Take care.
Janice
Bravo!
Hunter, FYI…… one cup of Borax in a gallon of warm water in a sprayer is one hell of a weapon to use on mold. The mold will never grow back on a surface once treated. I talked to Borax a few days ago. They can not promote 20 Mule Team for mold removal as they have an agreement with a company they make mold remediation products for.Good stuff. On new construction, unexposed wood from the frame up a few feet treated three, times. will never have mold or termites. There is a degree of fire protection also.It doesn’t star in suspension well, so it needs regular shaking. That’.s a pretty good deal for $7 a box. .
stay in suspension
Thanks on the borax.
In our humid climate, it is a staple that we keep in stock and use frequently.
Good on you hunter.
“They” aren’t concerned with what you really need. “They” are only concerned with what they want.
PS my wife and I have made a contribution to The Salvation Army. An avenue where what is needed is more likely to reach those in need in Houston and others in Harvey’s path.
I know there are other avenues but that’s the one we chose.
This is an Opinion Section piece. It is not the opinion of the editors of the New York Times.
@ur momisugly Kip Hansen: It may be an opinion section piece, the fact that it is in the New York Times means that it will (for most people) carry more weight than it deserves. Regardless of that, it is still a shoddy piece of writing and deserves all the savaging it gets.
mouser ==> Yes, true that, but attention to detail is important. If one reads the anti-skeptic blogs, you will see the same formula “WUWT claims….” followed by something from a comment posted by some angry misinformed ‘tweenager.
Nichoias Kristof says “Let’s help ….” etc.
I have a different headline for our dear Nicholas Kristof:
‘We don’t deny the Cajun Navy, so why deny what the Cajun Navy used for their rescue operations?’
So, what did the Cajun Navy use to rescue Houstonites from the floodwaters, Nicholas? Flat bottomed fishing boats? Flat bottomed fishing boats powered by carbon spewing (admittedly an overkill description), gasoline burning outboard motors? Hundreds of ’em? And, oh yes, even a few (somewhat awkward in the shallow waters) gas burning inboard stern drive ski boats? And, a few gas powered jet skis thrown in the mix? And, how did those boats get there? Did those brave, generous, volunteer Cajun Navy sailors drive them there towed behind their … diesel and gas burning pickup trucks?
And, what about the professional rescue crews, Nicholas? Don’t those Coast Guard helicopters burn hydrocarbons? What about those propeller driven swamp boats that were used? And, besides the watercraft, weren’t a few high ground clearance diesel trucks used in rescue operations?
Do you deny that, Nicholas? Didn’t you see those rescuers and the Cajun Navy on the news the last several days.
Maybe it’s just me, but I would say that the existence of what I’ve just described is one whole helluva lot less deniable than what you’re attempting. In fact, climate change and Harvey is nothing if not an abstraction, but what I’ve described is concrete, yet you sir, refuse to see what was right before your very eyes, and refuse to see it in favor of your abstraction.
Yeah, Nicholas, let’s use this tragedy for the perverse end of taxing out of existence the very same appliances that rescued people from it.
It’s all fun and games…until the real cowboys show up
https://youtu.be/YIijRj9D_r0
Floatation tyres not so good in water.
“Why can’t we all similarly respect scientists’ predictions about our cooking of our only planet?” If you ask questions like that, you are showing how scientifically illiterate and totally duped you really are. One must assume you equate science fiction with reality and are 100% clueless. Only a truly unknowledgeable person says something like that.
A century ago my family vacationed in Rockport, my wife graduated from high school there, and we currently live there. I have been in and run from several hurricanes since 1960, including Celia (1970). Although in a relatively secure place, we decided to leave the morning of the storm partly from the information provided by the brave hurricane intruding fliers. Recently I went to a talk at the Rockport Historical Society about the damage Celia did to the Jackson Seafood Company. This time it will be to the tourist and sports fishing industry, all those trailers we knew were temporary, and especially to those who could least afford it.
Stay tuned, will let you know in a week or so how it should be classified (to the nearest decimal?). Because of the lack of much storm surge and rain and minimal damage to the much larger adjacent supportive Corpus Christi it could have been (and may well be someday) much worse. However, based on one days examination the winds were severe, damaging very old live oaks even in thick woods. Some was the result of what the chamber of commerce types call “smart growth,” basically aggressive expansion and annexation which produces increases in property taxes without much attention to rare events. They did worry more about storm surge, which usually causes more mortality.
if you reduce worldwide population growth, less babies will die & less CO2 emissions will be emitted.
Be kind to our planet – always wear a franger!
(SNIPPED) MOD