by Amy Ridenour (NAPSA)—Promoters of the global warming disaster movie “The Day After Tomorrow” must believe most of us were born yesterday. The much-hyped e+ film focuses on a global apocalypse of cataclysmic floods, tornadoes, storms and blizzards that threaten to destroy civilization. Amy Ridenour Two hundred and ninety-foot tidal waves surge against Manhattan skyscrapers followed by a quick freeze that leaves Manhattan enshrouded in ice. Dozens of cities get hammered. A tornado levels Los Angeles, five-pound hailstones bombard Tokyo and San Francisco Bay freezes. It’s a NewIce Age. It’s the brainstorm of German schockmeister Roland Emmerich, best known for “Independence Day” and “Godzilla.” Those movies were enjoyable examples of the “sky is falling” fantasy genre. “The Day After Tomorrow,” however, is the subject of a multi-million dollar PR campaign touting it as if it were not fiction, but cinma vrit, a realistic warning of what could happen if we don’t dismantle our modern economy to stave off global warming. Yet the extreme scenarios pro- moted by global warming theory advocates are supported more by political ideology than by science. It’s probably no coincidence that this thinly-disguised political warheadis being launched in an election year. Nor would it be surprising to see it used to push the Senate to approve the McCainLieberman Climate Stewardship Act, costly legislation that attempts to impose key Kyoto provi- sions on Americans. Kyoto was rejected by President Bush because of its draconian economic burdens—mandates so stringent economists believe it would trigger a prolonged recession—and because the treaty wouldn't prevent global warming. There is little scientific evidence that documentsthe need for a Kyoto-style crusade against climate change, anyway. Excepting the El Nifio year of 1998, since about 1979, the Earth’s temperature apparently has not been increasing. What minor warming the Earth experienced over the past centuryprimarily occurred before 1940, when there were far fewer automobiles and powerplants. The U.S., in any case, is not ignoring climate issues. The U.S. government spent over $3.5 billion on climate change in 2003 alone. Manyof the horrendous events predicted by global warming scaremasters have no basis in reality. Paul Driessen, author of the revealing new book “Eco-Imperialism,” observes that the resurgence of malaria, yellow fever and dengue in Africa and Asia is related to the banningof the effective and cost-efficient pesticide DDT,not to global warming. Virtually all major U.S. malaria and yellow fever outbreaks occurred long before widespread automobile use. Wisconsin suffered surges of malaria in the 1880s, while yellow fever killed 19,000 in Memphis alone in 1878, Driessen says. Even if global warming wereto occur at the fast pace predicted by alarmists, it wouldn’t unleash the New Ice Age predicted in “The Day After Tomorrow.” Says scientist Andrew Weaver in the journal Science, “it is safe to say that global warming will not lead to the onset of a new ice age.” Amy Ridenour is president of The National Center for Public Policy Research (www.national center.org) in Washington, D.C.
