The Climate Change Distraction

FORWARD: I tend to be long-winded, so this article has been greatly shortened in the hopes that someone will actually read the damned thing. I’m not publishing this under my own name, so don’t expect academic levels of references and figures. You disagree with something, start a war in the comments.

The 1800s set the tone for mankind’s future, not just politically, but economically and scientifically as well. It was at this point when we began to understand that our actions may have a lasting effect on the global carrying capacity for humanity. The concerns have always wavered back and forth, but at the end of the day the predictions all mean the same thing:

“Doom” is a terrible scientific conclusion, as it is rooted deeply in emotion; however, doom is an excellent political conclusion as fear-mongering has long been a preferred tool for those with special interests, and unfortunately the budding science of climatology has been used time and again to push an agenda.

Today, climate change is as divisive a topic as can be found, pitting allies, neighbors, and even family against each other. This all or nothing approach to a very serious and complex problem is yet another challenge America faces in its attempts to stand united.

A Brief Background of Climate Change

The Greenhouse Gas Effect Theory is currently the science underpinning this latest issue. Dating back to 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius calculated that different gases (most noticeably: Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) had an effect whereby they would trap the amount of infrared energy in a system, increasing the temperature.

The original observations were considered to be non-important from a Doomsday perspective, as Arrhenius concluded that the effect would take many thousands of years to actually be a factor. As time moved forward, scientists continued to build upon and tweak Arrhenius’ work, isolating carbon dioxide as a contributor, and also discovering worrying trends in past-climate trends (paleoclimatology) where previously stable Ice Ages were discovered to have actually contained many smaller episodes, and in fact were not stable at all, regularly flipping from one state to another.

Alarm began to build in scientific circles, and by the 1960s the rising use of aerosols had caused a rise in smog around the industrialized world, as well as the relatively new phenomenon, Acid Rain. These two very visual concerns led to the beginning of the “Doomsday” crowd, with in 1970 scientists warned of an imminent Ice Age if mankind did not soon change their ways. Legislature passed during this time helped to greatly reduce the Acid Rain caused by industry and other irresponsible use of chemicals.

As one problem was conquered, another took its place in the form of a growing hole in the ozone layer located in the Southern Hemisphere. Fast global action proved strong enough to overcome this challenge, as the international outlaw of CFCs and reduction in HCFC use greatly increased the strength of the Earth’s ozone layer.

As the ozone layer slowly began its healing journey, the politician scientists pivoted to the next target on their hit list: The Greenhouse Effect.

Previous climate issues were fairly cut and dry:  sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and HFCs destroy the ozone. But, this time is different, this time the smoking gun was not as easy to identify.  The Greenhouse Effect is primarily driven by carbon dioxide, with methane being a close second. The problem seems simple, right? Just decrease global CO2 and methane production! Unfortunately that would prove more difficult than previous concerns. The sources for carbon dioxide and methane are innumerable, and whereas prior problems could be readily substituted, reduction in carbon dioxide or methane production would destroy entire industries in some countries and would cause great harm to the economy of most others.

In 1992 the world met in Kyoto, Japan, and signed the Kyoto Protocol, which put some loose restrictions on the nations that signed the treaty. To be honest, this rather half-assed approach did little to appease anyone, as only the signees would be holding to their word, while rising powerhouses such as China and India would continue chugging right along, like the little coal-fired-engine-that-could. Half-assed measures get half-assed results, and the El nino of 1998 was all the excuse that was needed. The Doom is back, this time assuring us that our planet would become too hot to support our current way of life, and if we did not make changes soon then we would all be featured in a real life Water World – a fate worse than death according to Costner’s acting career.

Climate change has only gotten more divisive since then, with hockey-stick graphs on one side, and receding glaciers on the other. Is the climate heating? Is it cooling? One ice sheet thickens (Antarctica) while the other grows thinner (Arctic). Some heat is missing, while other locations are too hot.

The simple truth is that Climate Change is not the worldwide threat its been sold to be and is nothing more than a giant, monetized distraction.

The Politics of Climate Change

Al Gore has long been at the forefront for combating “carbon dioxide.” Citing his college professor as his inspiration, Al Gore has become borderline obsessed with greenhouse gases, and how to combat them. His pressure on the US government and media has created a push for green energy kicking off a “gold rush” for the green energy sector. Suddenly money is flooding in, and as we all know, where government money flows, corruption follows. What was initially a dripping spigot of free money turned into several industries over night, with things like solar power and cellulosic ethanol promising to completely destroy the “evil” fossil fuels sector.

Well, the stage was set, and the show must go on. We have fossil fuels and capitalism playing the part of the bad guy, Al Gore and his activists the valiant hero, and “green” technology acting as the magical weapon that will slay the evil pollution beast and save us all. Dissenters are mocked and careers ruined. If you doubt the science on climate change you are met with outright scorn and disbelief, so thorough has the marketing been for this particular “doom” cult.

The rest of the modern world has thrown their lot in with Gore and his cronies as there’s never been a government that didn’t want more control over its people, and once again they have that age old excuse “its for your own good.” As the fever pitch of outraged do-gooders has risen, so has the amount of money flowing from the government (the public) into poorly thought out schemes and technologies. People like to feel important, and the relentless campaigns by governments, activists, and bored people worldwide have ushered in a new era of NIMBY policies that ostensibly are for the good of the environment, but really just defer the cost onto a different location (*cough* Chinese made batteries *cough*)

At this point it is borderline impossible to determine whether or not the Earth’s climate is warming due to just how highly politicized this topic has become. Papers that disagree with the media’s version of climate science are prevented from publication, or even never funded to begin with. The research that has been published in support of climate science is continuously being revised, and the models are constantly being updated as they fail time and again to demonstrate any ability to predict the future.

The Real Problem

While the two ends of the climate change spectrum sling mud at each other, very real damage is occurring to our planet’s carrying capacity virtually unnoticed. Oceans, forests, and fresh water tables all have been devastated, and every last one of these have been fully preventable.

The Ocean, once a bountiful supply of food for many populations, now have been depleted to the point where much of the Earth may as well be a desert when it comes to food availability. The fish are simply not there anymore, destroyed by wanton harvest of commercial operations and gross overestimation of supplies by industry experts.

Westernized countries have largely understood the value of their forests and have begun extensive re-planting programs, while the Third World and emerging markets have been plowing under their forests for palm oil production and substandard farmland. A short-sighted approach to a far-reaching problem.

Of course there is no money in these problems, no way for Western governments and their cronies to loot and pillage their way to a “solution”…so they go ignored in favor of hefty subsidies to buddies in the various “green” industries and their “good enough for government” results.

The greatest threat to our “life as we know it” isn’t gas from cow shit, but instead wind from bullshit – and the Western world keeps eating it up as their leaders pile it higher and deeper, drowning us in piles of complete nonsense in  an attempt to shame everyone into giving more of their future over to government control.

Author: ThePessimisticChemist

Age: 30 Sex: M Location: America View all posts by ThePessimisticChemist