Climate Change Endangers Growth of the World Economy

By Franz Alt

[This article originally published in: Die Welt, August 14, 2003 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.welt.de/daten/2002/08/14/0814wi350420.htx. Franz Alt, author and solar pioneer, is a director of Southwest German radio.]

The chief mathematician of the Munich insurance association summarizes reality more impressively than any eco-institute. If the damages of weather-caused natural disasters continue as in the past two decades, the climate-conditioned damages will be greater in 60 years - with an annual global economic growth of three percent – than the worldwide gross domestic product. When George W. Bush says “climate protection is too expensive for the US economy”, Klaus Topfer asks: “How expensive will it be if the climate is not protected?”

Apocalyptic Scenario

Climate change becomes the negative motor of the world economy. Klaus Topfer as head of the UN environmental agency and the International Red Cross pointed out that more people escaped the flood- and drought catastrophes than wars in 2000. The rich industrial states act like ecological aggressors agasinst the poor in the South.

Millions of data on glacier ice, the atmosphere, the coral reefs of Oceania and the rings of old trees signal an apocalyptic scenario for our planet’s climate if redirection resolved ten years ago by all governments at the Earth summit in Rio isn’t accepted at the Johannesburg earth summit.

The global temperature increase of 0.6 degrees Celcius since 1861 led to an intense reduction of ice- and snow masses. A glacier in Europe can hardly survive the temperature increase of up to 5.8 degrees predicted for this century.

The nineties of the 20th century was the hottest decade since the beginning of data collection in 1861. It is hotter today than ever before in the last 16,000 years.

The deserts of our planet are increasing by 30,000 hectares daily. Every day we lose 86 million tons of fruitful soil through erosion.

Daily we produce 100 million tons of greenhouse gases by burning coal, gas and oil. We burn in one day what nature created in 500,000 days. Every day we grow by a quarter of a million persons.

In the face of this data, the Bush administration admits that the greenhouse effect is man-made. However Washington will not sign the Kyoto Protocol even at the Earth summit in Johannesburg. The Kyoto Protocol only earmarks a reduction of a few percent in greenhouse gases. “Adjusting to climate change” is recommended in the 2002 climate report.

What can Europeans do? The only successful strategy is save energy, use energy more efficiently and develop rfenewable energies.

At least 20 million buildings in Germany must be energetically rehabilitated. This would mean a 50 percent decrease in the consumption of heating energy and create 300,000 jobs in the plagued construction industry.

The automobile economy that markets three-, two- and one liter cars on a large scale will boom worldwide. This is also true for the fuel cell car…

Unlimited Energy

The solar architect Rolf Disch in Freiburg sold the first solar-energy-plus houses that produce more energy with the help of the sun than is consumed in these energy-houses. Every homeowner becomes an energy-seller. Economy and ecology harmonize at last. These houses are not more expensive than conventional houses. Money is earned with the solar roof. The sun doesn’t send any bill.

Gasoline- and heating oil prices will also rise in the next decades on account of their limited supply, not only on account of the environmental strain. Sun, wind, geothermal energy, bio-gas, solar hydrogen, water power and the wave energy of the oceans are practically unlimited and available for all time. The sun alone sends us 15,000 times more energy daily than 6.2 billion presently consume. The solution to the energy- and climate problem is in the skies.