Benefits of 'climate change'

Fuel Fix:

After years of questioning scientific research showing carbon dioxide emissions from human activity is causing the temperature of the planet to rise, Texas Congressman Lamar Smith has a new question on climate change.

What if climate change isn't such a bad thing?

In an essay entitled "Don't Believe the Hysteria Over Carbon Dioxide," Smith, a San Antonio Republican, poses the theory that higher temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could have a variety of benefits from increased crop production to opening up shipping lanes in the Arctic.

"Greater vegetation assists in controlling water runoff, provides more habitats for many animal species, and even aids in climate stabilization," Smith writes. "Also, as the Earth warms, we are seeing beneficial changes to the earth's geography. For instance, Arctic sea ice is decreasing. This development will create new commercial shipping lanes that provide faster, more convenient, and less costly routes between ports in Asia, Europe, and eastern North America."

Smith's point that climate change will have some positive benefit is not without scientific merit.

As described on NASA's website, higher carbon dioxide levels are to increase crop yields by "increasing the rate of photosynthesis, which spurs growth, and they reduce the amount of water crops lose."

And more cargo ships and even cruise liners are are already heading into the Arctic, as sea ice in the regions thins at the hands of warming temperatures.
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While the writer claims that sea levels are rising, that is not true.   Recent studies have shown that they have declined in the last two years despite the ominous predictions.   This should not be all that surprising.  Ice causes water to expand and the melting decreases the volume.