Most people, biggest stake

I am not a believer in the Al Gore-inspired global warming industry. Actually, I lump this discussion in with the New World Order/Trilateral Commission crowd. Unfortunately, the true believers tune out any opposing discussion and advance their plans to save the planet through new and improved light bulbs or whatever is the paranoid vogue du jour.

An amazing conference unfolded in Springfield, Mo., this past week that took ample potshots at the climate-change myth.

One speaker even had the audacity to remind the citizenry that the global warming debate actually unfolded more than 30 years ago. However the discussion then concerned the impending ice age. Then we hugged trees, and then we saved the rain forest. You get the trend.

Now Gore has found a way to raise the alarm of global warming and make a small fortune in the process. And the believers -- and they are plentiful -- will swallow any of the global warming "evidence" as pure gospel.

So, just for argument's sake, let's assume that Al is right and we ugly Americans are ramping up the pollution and spoiling the planet for future generations.

Maybe -- just maybe -- someone should spend a bit more time trying to convince the Chinese and the Indians that they might have a stake in this global debate. Someone needs to push that discussion right now because China continues to construct a new coal-fired power plant each and every week.

Here's my point.

While Gore and company push global warming down our parched throats, the Chinese and the Indians continue to have babies. And lots of babies.

A new population study out last week predicts that by the year 2050, India will be the world's most populous nation with 1.7 billion citizens, and the Chinese will be a close second with 1.4 billion. The United States will lag a distant third with just over 400 million folk.

So with a combined 3 billion citizens out of a world population of 7 billion, India and China have more than a small stake in the global warming solution. But keep in mind that these two populous nations are working on indoor plumbing right now, and I'm going to guess that improved and prudent use of resources is not high on their agenda.

So that leaves us with a costly cap-and-trade proposal to do our part. Does anyone see the stupidity in this quest?

Let me drag out one final nugget of wisdom from the population story. I think it illustrates a much larger picture.

Currently, Canada and Uganda have virtually identical populations. Because of differences in birth rates, in 2050 Canada will have 42 million residents while Uganda will explode to 96 million. Just digest those numbers for a moment.

If the planet is warming, maybe we need to look beyond our light bulbs and gas guzzlers and consider that the overwhelming majority of our planet's residents are much more concerned about their next meal than they are a saving the planet.

Not to bruise his inflated ego, but these people have never heard of Al Gore.

Lucky bastards!