Carbophobia - an Irrational Fear of Carbon
Author: Robert D. Brinsmead
August 2008
It is now being seriously
proposed that carbon emissions should be controlled and reduced by putting
everybody on carbon rations. This scheme was suggested for the
The Daily Mail reported:
“One method could be personal carbon allowances, where everyone is given a
fixed amount of carbon to use each year. Each time they travel by plane, buy
petrol, go shopping or eat out would be recorded on a plastic card. The more
frugal could sell spare carbon to those who want to indulge themselves. But if
you were to run out of your carbon allowance, you could be barred from flying
or driving.”
Or eating out? Lamb chops would debit the card for the greenhouse gasses caused
by sheep farting – joking aside, NZ has to pay a heavy
penalty [$1.2 billion] for above quota greenhouse gas emissions, a third of
which are caused by farting sheep.
Ridiculous? Of course it is, but AGW fears have
already become, in the words of Richard Lindzen, “a
tsunami of insanity.” I have therefore coined a new word for it: carbophobia – it means an irrational fear of carbon.
But since carbon is the basic substance, indeed the building block, of life
itself, both plant and animal, and since most carbon compounds are organic and
exceed the compounds of all other elements combined; and since every living
thing whether plant or animal breathes in, breaths out, eats or emits carbon in
every single act of biotic existence, then the irrational fear of carbon (carbophobia) is really a fear of life itself.
The dance of life is a fantastic exchange and circulation of carbon that should
be celebrated with joy and enthusiasm, not responded to with a morbid and
irrational fear. Carbon is not a poison. It is much more than a trace element
essential to life. It is the fundamental stuff of life. And the whole dance of
life has to start with C02 in the atmosphere. No C02 in the atmosphere = no
plant growth (a tree is 50% carbon); no plant growth = no food for the animal
kingdom, because everything animals and humans eat for growth and energy
(carbohydrates, proteins and fats) are made of carbon compounds. This
magnificent dance of life must all start with C02 in the air from whence it is
absorbed by plants on land and in the sea. The three most essential things for
life are water, oxygen and CO2. There would be no biosphere at all without CO2.
More CO2 in the atmosphere means more plant food/fertilization, more plant
growth and more food for every creature on earth. This has been amply
demonstrated in numerous studies and experiments. For instance, those who grow
indoor tomatoes commercially, spike the air with additional CO2 to greatly
increase the productivity of tomatoes. There is no downside to atmospheric CO2
– it is entirely beneficial to the earth. Even as a minor greenhouse gas, it
helps water vapour (the main greenhouse gas) make the climate more equitable
and earth more liveable.
Conclusion: The war on CO2 is a war on life. It is a war on the poor. But above
all, it is a war on humanity and human activity which is accused of being a
pathogen that is destroying the earth with carbon emissions. The regulation of
carbon means the micro-regulation, the micro-management and the radical social
engineering of human life to the degree not even dreamed of under the
totalitarian regimes of either communism or the monolithic Church of the Dark
Ages. The war on carbon is a smokescreen for a war on human freedom.
That’s what at stake in this tsunami of carbophobia.
So the great Russian economist and former adviser to Putin (who resigned in protest) declared:
Next year the
--Andrei Illarionov, Financial Times,
RDB
Web Published – August 2008
Copyright © 2008 Robert D.
Brinsmead