Economy can drive 'green' change

BY JOHN REID BLACKWELL
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Friday, September 15, 2006

Those looking to counteract global warming should look at the stock performance of automobile makers Honda and Toyota versus Ford and General Motors, one scientist suggested yesterday.

"The market sorts out people who do things efficiently from those that do not," said Patrick J. Michaels, a University of Virginia professor and state climatologist. While Ford and GM are struggling, Honda and Toyota have been offering customers more efficient vehicles, he said.

Economic efficiency and social prosperity can drive environmental improvements, too, Michaels said. "If you want to do something about global warming, you'd better make sure that our societies are affluent -- not just the United States, but the world," he said yesterday at an environmental conference hosted by the Virginia Manufacturers Association and the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Michaels is an environmental scientist and prominent skeptic about the potential harm of global warming. Climate change is real, he said yesterday, but the disaster scenarios popularized by the news media and Hollywood -- that global warming is causing more severe hurricanes, for example -- are not supported by a careful study of the scientific evidence.

Global warming is the theory that humans are changing the world's climate by putting more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It was a major topic at the two-day meeting in Richmond, where industry and government officials discussed environmental matters.

"We wanted to be able to contribute at some level to the dialogue on climate change because it is in public debate right now," said Brett Vassey, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

Michaels and another speaker, environmental lawyer Thomas S. Mullikin, questioned many of the prevailing assumptions about global warming. Both said the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement designed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, would have little effect on overall climate trends.

Mullikin, a senior partner in the Charlotte, N.C., law firm of Moore & Van Allen, said the Kyoto Protocol hurts the economies of developed countries while driving industry to nations with weaker environmental regulations. "You are not going to solve this problem in the United States," he said. "This issue is bigger than Virginia, and it is bigger than our country."

Mullikin directed much of the blame at China, whose trade and currency policies make its products cheaper than U.S.-made goods. China's economy is growing rapidly as a result, but it also is polluting more, Mullikin said. Seven of the world's 10 most polluted cities are in China, he said.

"Put me on the list of people that are bashing China," Mullikin said. "They are stealing from us. They are besmirching the environment."

Still, polls show that a majority of Americans are concerned about global warming and believe government should do something about it, Mullikin said.

He said the business community needs to take a leadership role in addressing the issue. "Our responsibility is to move that energy in a positive direction."

Contact staff writer John Reid Blackwell at jblackwell@timesdispatch.com or (804) 775-8123.