Day By Day

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Stewart and the 10 myths

Leighton Steward is a geologist, environmentalist, author, and retired energy industry executive. He has written about the reasons for the loss of much of the Mississippi River Delta (Louisiana's national treasure) and has given advice on how the nation can achieve "no net loss" of wetlands in the future, advice that has been accepted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. He was lead author on a book about nutrition and health (Sugar Busters) that gave advice on how to lose weight and prevent and or treat diabetes. The book became a No.  1 New York Timesbestseller for 16 weeks and made a significant contribution to the changes that have occurred regarding the availability of no-sugar-added, higher fiber, and low-glycemic products in the supermarkets. More recently, Steward has written a book ( Fire, Ice and Paradise ) that is an endeavor to educate the nonscientist about the many causes of global climate change so that readers will be better prepared to understand what they hear, see, and read about in the media and from the politicians. He has received numerous environmental awards, including the regional EPA Administrator's Award for environmental excellence. He is chairman of the board of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at Southern Methodist University, was chairman of the National Wetlands Coalition, and was twice chairman of the Audubon Nature Institute. He currently serves on the boards or boards of visitors of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, EOG Resources, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and the Southwest Research Institute and is an emeritus member of the Tulane University board. His current interest lies in helping to educate the public and politicians about the benefits of carbon dioxide (CO2) as it relates to the plant and animal kingdoms and their related ecosystems and habitats and to the general health of humanity.
H. Leighton Steward is famous as one of the authors of Sugar Busters a book recommended to me by my own doctor and no doubt by many doctors worldwide. As you can see from the above his resume is extensive. Steward has recently published a book that attacks the so-called conventional wisdom of global warming; in his book he describes the 10 Myths of Global Warming. Here are two of them:
Steward's Myth 1: The planet Earth will be healthier with lower CO2 levels.
He says: More CO2 is needed to bolster plant life, which turns the gas into oxygen while also providing food.
Steward's Myth 2: Rising CO2 levels cause temperatures to rise.
He says: Temperatures over time have fluctuated while CO2 levels have remained steady. What's more, temperature increases have historically led increases in CO2 levels.
You can read all of them here.

Al Gore's scientific consensus is collapsing but I doubt that it will collapse in time to save us from cap and trade.

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