Guest essay by Professor Dr. William J.R. Alexander, Emeritus of the Department of Civil and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and a former member of the United Nations Scientific and Technical Committee on Natural Disasters. Dr. Alexander is featured on page 181 of the 2009 U.S. Senate Report of More Than 700 Dissenting Scientists on Man-Made Global Warming Claims. The below essay is a reprint of Dr. Alexander’s submission to CCNet’s Benny Peiser.
THE RETURN OF COLONIALISM
By Dr. Will Alexander
There has been mounting resistance of African countries to what they perceive to be measures to use climate change to maintain the colonialist master-servant relationship. They perceive that climate change is intended to suppress the rise to economic competitiveness of the African nations.
Africa is fragmented as a result of historical colonialism. The African countries may find it difficult to speak with one voice but the underlying feeling is very clear. No African country will dare to impose restrictions which they perceive to be limitations on their development imposed by the Western nations. These are two examples that occurred during the past week.
The Libyan who was jailed because of his role in the Lockerbie disaster was released on health grounds. He received a hero’s welcome when he returned to Libya. A South African woman athlete won the 800 m event in record time at the international athletics function in Berlin. She was immediately humiliated when the organizers publicly announced that she would undergo femininity tests. South
Africans were outraged by the publicity and claimed that this was a racist reaction. She will receive a hero’s welcome when she returns to South Africa.
SUPPRESSION OF THE FACTS
There are two important facts that are deliberately suppressed by climate alarmists. The first is that nearly all African countries are net absorbers of carbon dioxide. This far outweighs their emissions. They should be entitled to financial benefits, not penalties.
The second is within my personal sphere of knowledge. It is the Secretary General’s erroneous statement that if we fail to act, climate change will intensify droughts and floods, and that water shortages will affect hundreds of millions of people. This statement is demonstrably false. Since the establishment of the IPCC in 1988, there has not been a single loss of life in sub continental Africa due to floods that can be provably attributed to climate change. The same applies to droughts and threats to water supplies.
The Secretary General’s claim is based solely on theory that completely ignores the natural extremes that have been known since biblical times. The extreme events that were experienced in sub continental Africa prior to 1988 have not been exceeded since then.
There is an opposing view propagated by the alarmists. The public have been informed that virtually every serious event is a consequence of climate change. This has already started to backfire. If this is the case, African countries have a right to claim compensation from the developed countries for each event.
IMMINENT GLOBAL DROUGHT
Following on my last comment in CCNet, the WMO has just issued a warning that an El Niño event is developing in the Pacific. The South African Weather Service has issued a public warning that this could have serious effects in South Africa. When the drought occurs, African countries will have a strong case if they refer to the Secretary General’s warning, blame it on emissions produced by the Western nations and demand compensation.
It will be a very serious mistake if the affluent nations of the West believe that they can bully the African nations into submission on this climate change issue. I have seen no evidence that the affluent nations fully appreciate the minefields that await them at Copenhagen.
Regards,
Will Alexander
Related Links:
Wash. Post’s Moment of Clarity: In Poorer Nations, Energy Needs Trump Climate Issues – September 9, 2009 – Excerpt: Millions of people are eager to buy their first washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners…dearth of power hinders prosperity. […] Some environmentalists see a chance for Asian and African countries to take the lead in developing renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind power, bypassing Western energy models based largely on coal and oil. But many economic experts here are doubtful that will happen. “The United States and Europe have had the energy they needed to grow and develop,” said William Bissell, a prominent Indian entrepreneur and author of “Making India Work.” “But we haven’t had our 21st century yet.”
Flashback 2002: U.S. Environmentalist Laments Introduction of Electricity in Africa
Ugandan Activist: ‘African life span is lower than it was in U.S. and Europe 100 years ago. But Africans told we shouldn’t develop’ because wealthy Western nations are ‘worried about global warming’: Excerpt: ‘Telling Africans they can’t have electricity and economic development – is immoral’
Flashback 2003: S. African Activist: Poor countries should just say: ‘Go to hell’ to Wealthy Western Nations: ‘If you don’t want us to fill in our wetlands, then you bomb your big cities like Washington, a third of Holland and Rotterdam and so on, and restore them to being swamps’
Flashback 2002: UN Earth Summit’s Failure Called ‘Good Thing’ For Poor Nations: Excerpt: The first world became rich without the IMFs and World Banks, and the less of them that are around, the more likely the Third World is to do the same.”
Poor Kenyans rebel as UK grocery store’s “carbon friendly” policies may stop food exports
Flashback 2002: Average American Lifestyle Called “Total Bull—t” by Environmentalist – Excerpt: ‘If anyone in a developing country looks to the U.S. and wants a lifestyle like the average American–it’s total bull—t!’
Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About ‘Global Governance’ – July 10, 2009
‘Climate Justice…the underlying principle for global equity’
Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper once dismissed UN’s Kyoto Protocol as a ‘socialist scheme’
Flashback 2000: Actor Chevy Chase Says ‘Socialism Works’ — ‘Cuba might prove that’
Black clergymen protest Robert Redford ‘link his environmentalism to racism’
