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I've been reading the "The Civil Society Report on Climate Change" from the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change. It makes interesting reading, convincing me that despite the recent proliferation of doommongers, we've actually never had it so good. Of particular interest is the chapter entitled "Death and Death Rates due to Extreme Weather Events: Global and U.S. Trends, 1990-2006". Compared with the peak rate of deaths from weather-related events in the 1920s of nearly 500,000 a year, the death toll during the period 2000-06 averaged 19,900.

Their report suggests that a central plank in the global warming argument – that it will result in a big increase in deaths from weather-related disasters – is undermined by the facts. It shows deaths in such disasters peaked in the 1920s and have been declining ever since.

Average annual deaths from weather-related events in the period 1990-2006 – considered by scientists to be when global warming has been most intense – were down by 87% on the 1900-89 average. The mortality rate from catastrophes, measured in deaths per million people, dropped by 93%.

Compared with the peak rate of deaths from weather-related events in the 1920s of nearly 500,000 a year, the death toll during the period 2000-06 averaged 19,900. “The United Nations has got the issues and their relative importance backward,” Goklany said.

Their report suggests that a central plank in the global warming argument – that it will result in a big increase in deaths from weather-related disasters – is undermined by the facts. It shows deaths in such disasters peaked in the 1920s and have been declining ever since.

Average annual deaths from weather-related events in the period 1990-2006 – considered by scientists to be when global warming has been most intense – were down by 87% on the 1900-89 average. The mortality rate from catastrophes, measured in deaths per million people, dropped by 93%.

The report by the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change, a grouping of 41 mainly free-market bodies, comes on the eve of an international meeting on climate change in Bali.

Indur Goklany, a US-based expert on weather-related catastrophes, charted global deaths through the 20th century from “extreme” weather events.

Compared with the peak rate of deaths from weather-related events in the 1920s of nearly 500,000 a year, the death toll during the period 2000-06 averaged 19,900. “The United Nations has got the issues and their relative importance backward,” Goklany said.

The number of deaths have fallen sharply because of better warning systems, improved flood defences and other measures, rather than any significant climate change factors.

So what does this tell us? Perhaps that economic development and activity and the ensuing advances in technology and understanding has significantly reduced the dangers posed to humans by the unpredictable nature of weather and climate.

In addition to the reduced risk of fatalities all this rampant commercialism has plainly improved the environment in which we live despite the pollution that is rumoured to cause so many problems.

Indur Goklany, a US-based expert on weather-related catastrophes, and the author of this chapter of the report points this obvious fact in another publication - "The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet"

He starts by quoting from Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) which describes London mired in coal dust and factory smoke. At that time, diseases such as cholera and typhoid were rife as London’s water supply was grossly polluted. But the building of London’s sewage system and the implementation of public health measures cleaned up the city.

Londoners, and the rest of us, now enjoy a cleaner environment than ever despite – or rather because of – the greater level of economic development.