By GARETH VAUGHAN - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 15 November 2007
The collapse of communism and the decline of conventional western religions are among reasons for the growth of global warming fears and "eco-fundamentalism", Britain's former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson says.
Baron Lawson of Blaby is visiting New Zealand, for the first time, as a guest of lobby group the Business Roundtable.
Since retiring from politics in 1992, he has written extensively on climate change and, in Auckland tonight, is giving a lecture on the subject. Yesterday, Lord Lawson compared widespread international concern over climate change to other "scares" of the past, including Thomas Malthus' theory in 1798 of overpopulation, and concerns in the early 1970s of another ice age.
People hostile to capitalism and globalisation wanted to find an excuse to interfere in others lives and put a spanner in the works of capitalism, he said.
The failure of communist regimes and lack of success of socialist policies in the West, was a factor in this rise of "eco-fundamentalists" and "climate alarmists" - including former United States vice-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.
"Someone has to stand up and say, `Look, the emperor has got no clothes'," said Lord Lawson, chancellor from 1983 to 1989 in Margaret Thatcher's government. "It is difficult for any active politician with career aspirations to dare to strike out against this ... It's only old men like me, superannuated politicians whose career is behind them, who can tell the truth."
The science of global warming remained far from certain, he said. Even if the planet warmed by three degrees centigrade over 100 years, humans would adapt. Drastic cuts to global carbon dioxide emissions were unattainable and there was no evidence they were necessary.
The growth of protectionism was a dangerous side effect. "Free trade and globalisation has been a huge benefit for the world and particularly the poor."
With the New Zealand Government planning to introduce legislation before Christmas incorporating a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, Mr Lawson had a warning. The European Union's scheme had proved a "complete fiasco" and had done nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4273261a13.html