Question: President Barack Obama recently unveiled the framework for an aggressive climate change plan. Should government enact policies to attempt to address climate change?
Climate change is real. The climate has constantly changed throughout the Earth’s history. That much is known. What is unknown, however, is the extent to which human activity impacts global temperatures and weather patterns — if it all.
Not only do we lack a true understanding of mankind’s effect on the Earth’s climate, we also have no idea how, or even if, one country’s approach to climate policy would benefit humanity. The most optimistic answer is “very, very, very little.” The most realistic answer is “not at all.”
Despite all the unknowns, one thing is very clear: Temperature models prove that changes in solar activity play a much more influential role in climate change than humans ever could.
If we don’t even know humans’ impact on climate change, and we don’t know if even the most severe legislation to reduce emissions would make any difference at all, it is outlandish and irresponsible for us, as a nation, to kill jobs, raise energy prices, trap people unnecessarily in the binds of poverty and put our entire economy at risk based on a policy of hoping for the best.