Monday, August 11, 2014

Global Warming Brings 'Record' U.S. Crop Yields

Of course, you’ll never see a headline like that (at least I haven’t.) As we know, global warming—aka climate change—is universally bad, even catastrophic. No good comes of it.


Or so we’re told by the environmentalist Left. But, as the Associated Press reports, Cool Summer Sets Expectations for a Record Harvest:


A mild summer across much of the nation's heartland has provided optimum growing conditions for the nation's corn and soybean crops. Pair that with high-yield seeds and other new farming technologies, and the U.S. is looking at busting records come harvest time.


In a typical growing season, at least some corn-growing states would have experienced drought or other production problems. But the 18 states that grow 91 percent of the nation's corn have experienced nearly ideal conditions this year, as adequate rain fell when plants emerged and cooler summer temperatures minimized heat stress.


The article didn’t suggest that global warming was responsible for the ideal weather conditions that led to the bumper crop. But, why not? If this report had read Hot Dry Summer Sets Expectations of Sub-Par Harvest, somewhere in the article man-made climate change would have been cited as a probable cause. Typically, articles about weather extremes contain some such statement as “Many scientists believe such weather extremes are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change related to man’s fossil fuel use.”


The AP also credits biotechnology-improved crop seeds for the higher yields. But, that is beside the point. If climate change ideologues are going to blame every nasty weather event on man-made climate change, shouldn’t man-made climate change get credit for unusually good weather events? Why, in the AP article, is there no statement such as, “The ‘optimum growing conditions’ may be related to climate change brought about by man’s fossil fuel use?”


Of course, we do know why. Good news doesn’t give statists viable rationalizations for demonizing business and increasing government controls. Just as religionists credit “God” for everything good, yet blame man for everything bad, so do environmentalists, who simply substitute “Nature” for “God”. Then again, environmentalism is essentially a religion, and carries the same authoritarian implications.


Related Reading:





Why I Don't Trust the "Climate Consensus"

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