Would-be guardians of the Planet should say just what type of Planet they desire: a frozen, mostly barren rock hurtling through space, or a warm, green world teeming with living things of all types.

The effect of changing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations on temperature has not been accurately determined, but is certainly small. (Other greenhouse gases, especially water vapor, are far more important.) Climate modelers will probably be arguing for decades about how to tease the CO₂ signal out of all the ``noise'' of ocean surface flux, north-south heat flux, humidity, clouds, aerosols, volcanoes, solar variability, etc.

In contrast, the fertilizing effect of CO₂ is large, consistent, and proven in hundreds of controlled scientific experiments.

It is thus quite remarkable that advocates of global energy rationing should choose to point out and attempt to ridicule this statement: ``Mankind is moving the carbon in coal, oil, and natural gas from below ground to the atmosphere and surface, where it is available for conversion into living things. We are living in an increasingly lush environment of plants and animals as a result of the CO<sub>2</sub> increase. Our children will enjoy an Earth with far more plant and animal life as that with which we are now blessed. This is a wonderful and unexpected gift of the Industrial Revolution'' (Robinson AB, Baliunas SL, Soon W, Robinson ZW: ``Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide,'' Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, 1998).

Though politically incorrect, this statement is true and is one of the strongest reasons for opposing restrictions on the use of carbon fuels. The Kyoto Treaty would be harmful to the environment, and not just indirectly by wreaking economic havoc, but directly by starving green plants and hence the animals that depend on them.

Well-informed Treaty advocates know very well that the world cannot sustain the present human population if carbon fuels are rationed. In fact, some admit to considering human life to be the equivalent of a cancerous growth on the Beloved Planet and favor drastic reductions in human numbers. But do they also believe that life itself is no different from a cancer?

Some attempt to minimize the CO₂ effect by claiming that it occurs only under restricted circumstances, or that it would disproportionately promote the growth of species they consider less desirable. Editorial writer Robin Groose tries to have it both ways: doubling CO₂ concentrations would lead to a ``small'' increase in growth, but a ``dramatic invasion'' of Wyoming by sagebrush (Casper Star-Tribune 5/10/98), to the detriment of cattlemen (who usually get no sympathy from enviro extremists).

A summary provided by Dr. Sylvan Wittwer, Director Emeritus of the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Michigan, emphasizes these points:

``Truth or Consequences: Scientific, Economic, and Defense Issues for the New Century'' will be the theme of the 16th Annual Meeting of DDP, scheduled for July 10-12 at the Scottsdale Hilton in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Taking center stage will be the issue which, short of world war, will be of greatest important in determining the conditions of human life in the next century. Will it be a time of freedom, abundance, and technological progress? Or a time of increasingly oppressive global bureaucracy, poverty, economic chaos, scientific stagnation and regression, and massive population decreases? The response to the purported threat of ``global warming'' will be the key.

Several presentations will relate directly to the global climate change issue: Former DDP President and Access to Energy editor Arthur Robinson, Ph.D., will discuss the Petition Project, in which more than 16,000 American scientists have endorsed a strong stand against the Kyoto Protocol for global energy rationing. John Christy, Ph.D., will present data on global temperatures from satellite measurements. Sallie Baliunas, Ph.D., will help to dispel scary greenhouse gas theory (including the relevance to the unverified models of a faint wintertime warming in Siberia). Keith Idso, Ph.D., will discuss plant responses to increasing levels of carbon dioxide. Sherwood Idso, Ph.D., will also give a presentation for those who visit his lab on Friday afternoon. Henry Lamb of ECO, who attended the December, 1997, meeting in Kyoto, will discuss the implications of the international treaty and of the Green Religion espoused by many of its advocates. Fredric Olds will discuss energy sources and how to counter propaganda concerning them.

The continuing threat of war and the use of weapons of mass destruction will be the focus of several presentations. Lowell Wood, Ph.D., of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Joseph Douglass, coauthor of America the Vulnerable, will discuss biological weaponry. America's foremost civil defense experts, Cresson Kearny and Ed York, will speak on war-winning and war-losing equipment and ideas and atomic weapons testing, respectively. Robert Jastrow, Ph.D., will give an update on strategic missile defense.

Bad science and its potential disastrous effects on human health and economic well-being will be the subject of several other speakers. Bonner Cohen, Ph.D., of EPA Watch will spotlight the new regulations on ground-level ozone and small particulates. J. Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., will review issues related to the Endangered Species Act. JoAnn Stuke Diethrich will focus on the upcoming ban on the critical agricultural chemical methy bromide. William Dresher, Ph.D., will give an overview of techniques for propagating junk science, and effective ways to fight them. Jay Lehr, Ph.D., of Environmental Education Enterprises will also speak about the tools needed by an effective activist, with an emphasis on the stratospheric ozone depletion scare. Bad economic science, and the potential cataclysms caused by dishonest money and banking, will be the topic of Lawrence Parks.

A limited number of participants can be accommodated on a special tour of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station on Friday morning, July 10.

An informal ``ask the experts'' discussion on civil defense technology will be featured on Friday evening.

This is a program you won't want to miss. A registration form is enclosed.