As I write this, much of the United States is suffering under a heat wave and accordingly, the usual suspects are on television reminding us that if we do not follow their wonderful directions and stop flying to our vacation destination the temperature will continue to rise until we are all reduced to cinders. After their forecast of doom, they nobly get on their private jet and hurry off to a luxury location where they are joined by fellow travelers who then congratulate themselves on their noble and brave appearances on television.
Certainly, if you were a member of the baby boom generation, you might take the news that we are all doomed unless we begin to cook using electric stoves with just a bit of skepticism. Why? Because we have heard it all before; in fact, we have heard the tales of doom multiple times. Remember the fact that we were headed to a new ice age? Or, that billions of people were going to starve due to a shortage of food? How could we forget that the world would run out of oil sometime in the 1990’s, or that all the polar bears were going to die due to the disappearance of the ice caps? Strange isn’t it that all of those and other forecasts were wrong and yet we are expected to blindly believe and follow the new messiahs as they want us to march bravely backward into the fourteenth century.
Yet, there may be some degree of truth in their dire forecasts, and if there is, individuals such as Bjorn Lomborg will help us all to put them into the proper perspective. In the article linked below, Lomborg points out that people are not stupid, and that the history of mankind has been a lesson on how humanity lives with and adapts to the natural world. For example, the number of deaths from climate in the last century is down by over 95%. How is that possible if the earth is going through a major climate change? Perhaps it is because we have adapted to the world around us and by taking steps to shape our environment. Or, what about those “super storms” who are bearing down on us? Actually, the number of hurricanes that have made landfall since 1900 is down slightly.
The article helps to put climate change in perspective, in terms of costs, impact, and realistic options. It is a bit of fresh air that can help you judge better those talking heads and messiahs who somehow fail to lead by example; they continue to purchase huge houses by the shore, travel in private jets and leave behind the largest of carbon footprints.
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Imprimis_Apr_8pg_5-23WEB.pdf
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