Seeking a better climate for the world's poor

The world’s poor are suffering because of misguided governmental climate change policies, say dozens of scientists, theologians, pastors, and ministry leaders. Around 150 Catholic, evangelical, and Jewish figures signed a two-page declaration released today that calls on political leaders to “abandon fruitless and harmful policies to control global temperature.”

Instead, governments should adopt policies that reflect “responsible environmental stewardship” and “make energy and all its benefits more affordable” for the world’s poor, says the document titled “Protect the Poor: Ten Reasons to Oppose Harmful Climate Change Policies” and published by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, an evangelical environmental organization.

The declaration comes a week ahead of a United Nations summit in New York City, where UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes to rally support for an international global warming treaty planned for 2015. (The heads of state of China and India, two of the largest carbon emitters, will be notably absent.) U.S. President Barack Obama is reportedly planning to propose a nonbinding political agreement to “name and shame” nations into reducing their carbons emissions. Such an agreement would not have the teeth of a treaty, which would need to be approved by the U.S. Senate in order to become law. At present, there is not enough support in the Senate to pass an international climate deal.

Advocates of a climate agreement frequently point out that the predicted effects of rising temperatures would seriously impact the world’s poor, who cannot afford to adapt to global effects, such as rising sea levels.

But the signers of the Cornwall Alliance declaration say climate policy hurts the poor by raising the price of energy—and thus other goods and services—preventing economic growth that could enable the poor to adapt to climate changes. “Abundant, affordable, reliable energy, most of it now and in the foreseeable future provided by burning fossil fuels … is indispensable to lifting and keeping people out of poverty,” the declaration reads.

It notes that in developing countries, “the poor desperately need to replace dirty, inefficient cooking and heating fuels” that cause millions of illnesses and premature deaths each year, “mostly among women and young children.”

The World Health Organization estimates 4.3 million people died prematurely in 2012 as a result of inhaling smoke from rudimentary coal, wood, and biomass stoves used to heat homes and to cook.

Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C., was one of the signers of the declaration. He said a growing number of evangelical “elites” during the past 15 years have embraced climate activism, perhaps believing they are helping the world’s poor by opposing global warming. “I hope that this statement will be somewhat of a corrective,” he said.

Other signers include Christopher Monckton, an outspoken climate skeptic and former advisor to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Roy Spencer, a climatologist and former NASA scientist; Joseph D’Aleo, a meteorologist and co-founder of The Weather Channel; Richard Land, the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary; George Gilder, an economics writer and co-founder of the Discovery Institute; Brian Godawa, a filmmaker and author; and Wendy Wright, the former president of Concerned Women for America.

Richard S. Courtney, an environmental consultant and an expert reviewer for the 2007 climate report produced by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also signed the document.

The declaration states the Earth is part of an “omnipotent creation” and is “robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting.” It says studies indicate the planet’s natural warming and cooling cycles outweigh human influences on temperature, and that warm periods have tended to benefit human health and increase food production.

“What we would argue is that the contribution of carbon dioxide to increasing global average temperature is so slight as to be certainly not dangerous,” said E. Calvin Beisner, the founder and spokesman of the Cornwall Alliance. “But the contribution of increasing CO2 to plant growth and crop yield is enormous. … There is no good reason for us to reduce CO2 emissions.”

According to an accompanying technical paper from the Cornwall Alliance, one researcher estimated the added crop value since 1960 due to increased atmospheric CO2 might be as much as $3.2 trillion.

Rising temperatures might be better for human health, too, since more people die due to winter weather than due to summer weather. Officials in the United Kingdom estimated that there were 31,100 “excess winter deaths” in England and Wales during the 2012-13 season, mainly involving circulatory and respiratory illnesses among the elderly. Officials blame the problem partly on “fuel poverty,” when people cannot afford to adequately heat their homes.