Fear Mongering

8/10/09
EIN News says, "Tuvalu Plots World's First Zero Carbon Output by 2020. At threat from rising sea levels caused by global warming, the low-lying nation plans to swap imported "dirty fuel" for wind and solar power. With no heavy industry, almost no natural resources and very low existing greenhouse gas emissions, Tuvalu could become the first country in the world to realise the zero-carbon dream. Lying halfway between Australia and Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific, the government has been forced to act because the nation stands to lose so much from climate change. (telegraph.co.uk)".
Here we have anecdotal information cited to both arouse your compassion for the Tuvalu people and also arouse your competitive spirit that what these poor underprivileged people can do should certainly be equaled by you.
Here also are some facts, which may help to put this anecdote into the proper perspective. Tuvalu is a 26 mi.² Island in the Polynesian group. It is considered the fourth smallest country in the world. It has a population of 12,000. The economy is mostly dependent on foreign aid, $9 million of which comes from the US ($750 per capita). For comparison, per capita income of the Solomon Islands is $600, Papua New Guinea $510, Congo $100, Ethiopia $90. The only steady work (wage and salary) on Tuvalu is government employment (socialistic?).
Is there really some basis on which we should follow Tuvalu and considering any carbon output control?
If you have compassion for their concern that they may be flooded out, assure them that you will give financial assistance that they can all move to a higher elevation Island. It should cost about the same as a week's salary for a Washington bureaucrat.
I respectfully ask you to kill all aspects of climate control, most of which involve carbon dioxide control. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are already controlled by a combination of naturally instituted processes, including photosynthesis.