Is Global Warming Causing More and Stronger Hurricanes?
by E. Calvin Beisner
The claim is common that global warming is generating more and stronger hurricanes. (And other tropical cyclones. Technically, as Paul Homewood points out, these storms are called hurricanes when they develop over the Atlantic or eastern Pacific Oceans, cyclones when they form over the Bay of Bengal and the northern Indian Ocean, and and typhoons when they develop in the western Pacific.) Is it true?
Not according to the empirical data. Those show that there has been no significant upward trend, when accounting for the magnitude of annual variation, in the frequency or intensity of tropical cyclones in any part of the world through the modern warm period.
Paul Homewood summarizes the data in a new paper released by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Raw data without much discussion is at Ryan N. Maue’s “Global Tropical Cyclone Activity” page. A particularly telling graph there is this:
Homewood points out that the up-and-down cycles fit well with ocean current cycles but not with changes in global average temperature or atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration.
Population Bomb? People Pollution? Not Hardly!
Are you, your kids, and your grandkids a threat to planet earth?
“Surely you jest!” might be your reply.
But lots of environmentalists, and lately especially lots of climate-change alarmists, think so.
I don’t. Unlike most environmentalists, I consider every human being as made in the image of God and full of potential. Rather than thinking of people mainly as mouths to feed and bodies to clothe and house and transport—as basically consumers and polluters—I think of them as producers and stewards. Every mouth born into the world comes with two hands and, most important, a mind, which is why, on average, people produce more than they consume in their lifetimes, leaving others better off because of them.
My understanding grows out of the Bible and a huge amount of study beginning nearly 35 years ago on the economics of demography (population studies) that formed the basis of my book Prospects for Growth: A Biblical View of Population, Resources, and the Future, published in 1990.
 One of my most important sources for that book and my later writings refuting the notion of overpopulation was the late Julian L. Simon, author ofThe Economics of Population Growth (1977) and The Ultimate Resource and The Ultimate Resource II (1981 and 1996) and editor of The Resourceful Earth: A Response to Global 2000 (1984) and The State of Humanity (1996), for the last of which I served as managing editor, during which I was privileged to become good friends with Dr. Simon.
Simon and a variety of other scholars have thoroughly debunked the arguments of modern Malthusians that human population growth threatens to strip the earth of resources and poison the planet while we’re at it. Unfortunately, most environmentalists don’t get the message.
But a new book, also heavily influenced by Simon’s work, promises to be a bombshell in the debate. Pierre Desrochers and Joanna Szurmak’s Population Bombed! Exploding the Link Between Overpopulation and Climate Change is a tours de force that I’ve read with great delight.
It’s scholarly yet clear and concise. It begins by introducing two conflicting perspectives: pessimists (the world is overpopulated or soon will be, and population growth threatens to bring on resource shortages, damaging pollution, and catastrophic climate change) and optimists (human creativity enables us to support a population many times larger than today in a sustainable way even while making resources more abundant and the environment cleaner, safer, healthier, and even more beautiful).
Next it compares their past forecasts with reality, demonstrating that the pessimists have been comprehensively wrong and the optimists comprehensively right. Then it explains how free markets make this possible, how businesses in market economies spontaneously embrace environmental stewardship, and how increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations green the planet and makes more food available for everything and everyone.
It then explains how environmentalists have chosen CO2-driven climate change as a “crisis of last resort” because their other crises didn’t pan out. And it concludes by explaining the psychology and ideology behind environmental and climate alarmism and why they consistently misunderstand and the human relationship with our environment.
Population Bombed! is an extraordinary book. Reading it will equip you to refute claims of overpopulation and population-driven environmental catastrophe that are rampant in today’s schools, colleges, political circles, and even churches.
So, from now to the end of January, I want to send you a FREE copy of Population Bombed! as my way of saying “Thank you!” for a gift of any size to the Cornwall Alliance! To receive your copy, simply mention promo code 1901 when you make your donation. You can make your gift at our secure online website, or by phoning 703-569-4653, or by sending your check to Cornwall Alliance, 9302-C Old Keene Mill Rd., Burke, VA 22015. Don't forget to mention Promo Code 1901!
 God Bless You,
Megan (Toombs) Kinard
Director of Communications
The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation seeks to magnify the glory of God in creation, the wisdom of His truth in environmental stewardship, the kindness of His mercy in lifting the needy out of poverty, and the wonders of His grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. A coalition of theologians, pastors, ministry leaders, scientists, economists, policy experts, and committed laymen, the Cornwall Alliance is the world’s leading evangelical voice promoting environmental stewardship and economic development built on Biblical principles. The Cornwall Alliance is a non-profit religious, charitable, and educational organization. All gifts are tax deductible.
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