A recent New Jersey Star-Ledger guest column, 6
things that will drastically change our lives in N.J. if we do nothing about
the climate crisis, highlights a whole
bunch of climate-related effects that should lead us to “get the planet on a
course toward zero greenhouse gas emissions.” Of course, without greenhouse
gasses, which occur naturally, our planet would be a dead frozen world. What
the author, Rutgers professor Robert Kopp, one of the lead authors of volume
one of the Fourth National Climate Assessment,
calls for is curtailment of humanly emitted greenhouse gasses from burning
fossil fuels, the main source of energy that powers our lives.
Kopp cites a host of regularly occurring
events--cold waves, heat waves, rain, coastal flooding, fish migrations, rising
sea levels--all of which have always or long been happening. The problem, Kopp
says, is that climate change is going to make them worse. Of course, climate
change is a regular occurrence, as well. It’s okay, as long as it’s “natural”.
It’s only not okay if it is caused by (unnatural?) life-enhancing human
activity that produces greenhouse gasses. Then, it’s so serious that we humans
must be forced to drastically curtail our use of still-vital fossil fuels.
Kopp cites Superstorm Sandy. But Sandy was a
freak that has long been anticipated as the nightmare scenario for the
mid-Atlantic/Southern New England coastal United States, with its wedge-shaped
coastal configuration that makes it particularly susceptible to the kind of
atmospheric events that gave rise to
Sandy. See Chapter Eight, “The Storm that Eats the Jersey Shore” in the
book Great Storms of the Jersey Shore by Larry Savadove and Margaret Thomas Buchholz.
I’m convinced that our climate is changing and that
human activity is some part of the cause. And there is no evidence for any
drastic increase in extreme weather, which is why climate catastrophists keep
putting out increasingly alarming predictions of catastrophic
climate-related change. Today, every headline-grabbing weather event is blamed
on climate change in the same way that a religionist might claim “God’s will”
as the cause.
What is increasingly labeled a “climate crisis”
is a fraud. It implies that earth’s climate was tranquil and harmless, but
human activity is making it increasingly dangerous. The truth is just the
opposite. Humans have always dealt with a climate crisis. Using energy and
industry in a climate of political and economic freedom, human activity took an
inherently dangerous climate and made it increasingly safe and livable. Today,
climate related deaths are down 99% from before the Industrial Revolution.
Thanks to fossil fuels and other reliable, economical, safe, and clean energy
sources like nuclear and hydro, and the great industries that met our demands
for that energy, our climate is more livable than ever. Climate danger still
exists, of course. But our ability to survive, adapt, and flourish despite them
is greater than ever.
To his credit, Kopp calls for adaptation to
climate dangers. Adaptation is also not new to human experience. It’s possible
that weather extremes are getting marginally worse. But nothing has really
changed much. I won’t be suckered by the one-sided view of theorists who offer no real practical solutions to man-made climate change aside from catastrophic
curtailment of fossil fuels in favor of essentially useless “renewable” solar
and wind farms.
I left these comments:
“Climate change is real, caused by humans and
here now.” Well, partially caused by humans. And so what? The catastrophe
scenario is pure speculation. What is not speculative is the immense harm that
“zero greenhouse gas emissions” will do to our quality of life. The benefits of
reliable energy, mainly fossil fuels, dwarf any marginal negative side effects
of climate change.
We’re led to believe that earth’s climate was
tranquil and harmless, but humans are making it increasingly dangerous. The
truth is just the opposite. Humans have always dealt with extreme climate
dangers. Using energy and industry in a climate of political and economic
freedom, human activity took an inherently dangerous climate and made it
increasingly safer and more livable. The real crisis will come when those who
want to “do something”--namely, abolish reliable energy and restrict our
freedom--succeed at “doing something.”
The government funded Climate Crisis
Establishment is a statist political agenda. But it is only half the story, if
that. “Managing climate risk” should begin with DO NO HARM. There is a huge
body of mostly private sector work pointing to a completely different viewpoint
that sees no impending climate catastrophe; that there is no call for crippling
forced government curtailment of vital energy from fossil fuels, or of
totalitarian, global government-imposed "unprecedented transitions in all
aspects of society," as the
U.N. urged; and that humans can
flourish better by remaining free, continuing to prosper, and adapting to
climate change.
To get balance and objectivity, go outside the
Establishment to people like energy expert Alex Epstein; Ron Bailey, science
expert relating to human progress; and climate scientists like Patrick J.
Michaels and Paul C. Knappenberger.
Related Reading:
Lukewarming:
The New Climate Science that Changes Everything—Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. Knappenberger
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