Fact Number 2: Global warming activists and politicians want to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the energy derived from fossil fuels such as gasoline and coal.  The global warming policies being discussed – such as “cap and trade” or energy taxes – reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by either explicitly or implicitly raising the price of fossil fuels.   Because 86% of our current energy use comes from fossil fuels (those energy sources that emit the largest amount of greenhouse gasses), these policies will raise the price of gasoline, home heating and cooling, and the myriad of other energy products we consume in our daily lives.

From a “global warming perspective”, such reductions are the desired outcome.  Our recent experience with high gas prices illustrates that when price goes up, demand goes down.  Ergo, when global warming policies raise the price of energy from fossil fuels, our use of fossil fuels will decline. 

Along the same lines, when global warming policies increase the cost of energy, our cost of living will soar, wages will stagnate, and unemployment will rise.  In short, our economy will decline and our nation will suffer.

However the damages to our standard of living from global warming policies will far exceed the economic costs we have just experienced with soaring gas prices.  As of June, gasoline prices were up 33.3% and overall energy costs were up 24.4%.  Global warming policies, such as the recently defeated Lieberman-Warner cap and trade proposal, have been estimated to increase gas prices by between 60% and 144%.  More stringent emissions caps would require even larger price increases. 

As the past several months have demonstrated, rising energy prices come with real costs that can neither be ignored nor wished away.  Should we implement global warming policies that do not mitigate these costs, there will be no one but ourselves to blame.