by John Swayze, Ph.D., Medicinal Chemistry
Retired Organic Chemist

Whichever of these bills becomes law [the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill passed last July in the House the Kerry-Lieberman “American Energy Act” recently submitted in the Senate, or a compromise between the two], I anticipate multiple unintended consequences, especially if mirrored globally:

1. In order to avoid onerous taxes on and bills for coal, petroleum, gasoline, and electricity, there will be a vast increase in combustion of self-harvested and black-market materials, like wood, garbage, building materials, (and dried dung?). Forests will be denuded, soil erosion will increase vastly, and airborne particulates from inefficient combustion will cause respiratory illnesses to proliferate.
2. Atmospheric CO2 will increase at a GREATER rate because of this burning, especially when combined with the decrease in vegetative mass to consume it.
3. Further denuding of forests and increases in soil erosion and water consumption as more people attempt subsistence agriculture to offset increases in food costs, which reflect production and transportation costs.
4. A vast increase in diarrheal deaths, particularly among the young, elderly, and poor, because of a drop-off in food preservation through refrigeration.
5. A vast increase in deaths, particularly among the young, elderly, and poor, from cold. These already exceed heat-related deaths by a large proportion.
6. A significant increase in heat-related deaths, particularly among the young, elderly, and poor, in regions which previously benefited from air conditioning.
7. A vast increase in deaths, particularly among the young, elderly, and poor, from the aforementioned respiratory diseases.
8. A huge increase in government-coerced redistribution of wealth in an attempt to offset the above symptoms of artificially-induced (also through government coercion) resource scarcity.
9. Market—followed by societal—collapse to a new form of medieval feudalism, now aided by technology held in the hands of a few.

The makings of a novel (suggested in part by Mark Steyn’s America Alone): Since China won’t cooperate it will prosper, eventually annexing eastern Russia and its neighbors for their resources, and making deals for energy resources with OPEC, which the West can no longer afford. As part of its new-age diplomacy, China will cede Europe and North America to militant Islam in return for a promise of reduced incursion into China and its satellites.