The newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which was published last week, provided another round of “We’re doomed” prognostications from the media and politicians. The Guardian – Scientists deliver ‘final warning’ on climate crisis: act now or it’s too late; The Washington Post – World is on brink of catastrophic warming, U.N. climate change report says, two cite just two. Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, claimed, “Humanity is on thin ice and that ice is melting fast.”
None of this is new, of course. Back in 2007, the Guardian claimed “time was running out” to address climate change. The doomsayers have been screaming “the end is nigh” so much that even Chicken Little would say, “Give me a break.”
According to the latest IPPC report, by 2035, the world will pass its arbitrary 1.5⁰ C temperature increase threshold since pre-industrial times. How does the world’s temperature get measured and when did “pre-industrial times” end? Don’t ask those questions. In fact, since 1750, data collected by the University of California – Berkeley, shows that the global average land temperature has increased by … wait for the ominous music … 4.0⁰ C since 1750.
We’re still here. And none of the predicted calamities—agricultural collapse, rising seas causing island nations like the Maldives to vanish under the waves, more hurricanes and tornados, the end of maple syrup, the end of coffee (the drinking of which is racist, by the way), and new plagues of locusts and frogs—has come to pass.
An old media saying is “If it bleeds, it leads.” Although that usually referred to the local news show highlighting violent crime, it applies as well to stories about the “arriving soon” climate apocalypse. Ironically, the latest round of headlines soothes weak-minded fools—the ones who throw paint on Picassos and glue themselves to floors to demonstrate the seriousness of the upcoming catastrophe—who will have proved their righteousness when the grim climate reaper passes over their doors, which will have been marked, not with lamb’s blood, but with insects that have been dyed bright green.
There’s no reasoning with these fanatics. They simply are impervious to reality. If they became convinced that climate change meant “2 + 2 = chair,” then they would demand all books on arithmetic be changed. The best one can do is subject them to the ridicule they deserve.
Far worse, however, is that these doom and gloom headlines provide perfect cover for the countless climate grifters who continue to make green hay while the sun shines. They pretend they can “save” the planet with only trillions of dollars in subsidies, and total control over people’s lives. Hence, the New Jersey shore will be sacrificed, along with countless whales, on the altar of offshore wind, whose only effect on climate will be to cool your wallet because of the resulting huge increases in your electric bill.
Your gas stove will be taken from you, your gas furnace ripped out and replaced with an electric heat pump that works just fine, as long as it’s not cold outside. You will be forced to drive an electric vehicle or, more likely, required to walk/bicycle to wherever you are allowed to go. And you will eat bugs and enjoy them. All shall be sacrificed to the God of Climate™, an angry and vengeful God who makes the Greek Furies look like cuddly puppies in comparison. (If you voted Republican, you’ll be tossed into a volcano, too, because, well, you voted Republican.)
In a new Manhattan Institute report, I propose a rational energy policy for the US. It would end all of the subsidies for green energy, electric vehicles, and charging infrastructure. It would end the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel standards, which divert 40% of the US corn crop to make ethanol that is blended with gasoline, will continue to raise food prices and increase water pollution. It would end the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which have become a poorly-disguised mandate for electric vehicles.
Most of all, it would end the obsession with carbon emissions and climate change. Nothing this country does to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have any measurable impact on world climate. None. Nada. Zip. A far better approach is to adapt to a changing climate, as we always have done in the past.
Of course, nothing I suggest will be adopted because that would limit opportunities for graft. Eventually, the madness will end. Unfortunately, it probably won’t end until we have destroyed our economy and the lives of many millions of Americans.
