Thanksgiving 2022
Thankful and Concerned
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and much to be concerned about as well.
We can be thankful that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere has contributed to increased agricultural productivity, which is essential to feed our growing population.
We can be thankful that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere has contributed to global greening, both by increasing tree and plant growth and by making plants more efficient in their use of available water.
We can be thankful that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere has contributed to modest warming and has not resulted in the far greater warming predicted by the climate models.
We can be thankful that the modest warming has manifested primarily as warmer minimum temperatures rather than as increased maximum temperatures.
We can be thankful that the predicted increases in the frequency, intensity and duration of adverse weather events such as tropical cyclones, tornadoes, droughts, floods and heat waves have not occurred.
We can be thankful that the modest rate of increase of sea level which began toward the end of the Little Ice Age has continued, contrary to predictions of much more rapid rise which might have submerged islands and inundated low-lying coastal communities.
We can be thankful that ongoing research indicates that our climate is less sensitive to increased atmospheric CO2 than had been predicted.
Finally, we can be thankful that there is no evidence of a current or impending climate “crisis”, or that the current climate change represents an “existential threat” to our survival or the survival of the planet, or that there is scientific justification for declaring a climate “state of emergency”.
We should be concerned about efforts to unnecessarily and rapidly transition our energy economy from reliance on fossil fuels, nuclear energy, hydroelectric and geothermal generation to reliance on intermittent renewable forms of generation such as wind and solar combined with yet-to-be-developed long-duration storage and/or as yet undefined “Dispatchable Emission-Free Resources”.
We should be concerned about the pace of decommissioning of the conventional generation resources required to provide backup generation during periods of renewable generation intermittency.
We should be concerned about the reliance of intermittent renewable generation and storage systems on materials controlled largely by unfriendly and aggressive foreign nations and produced frequently by child and slave labor in unhealthy working conditions.
We should be concerned about the continued affordability of energy in the US economy and about the continued reliability of our energy supply and energy delivery infrastructure.
We should be concerned about our growing reliance on energy supplies from unfriendly foreign nations.
We should be concerned about our government’s efforts to destroy a US industry which is essential to the continued supply of reliable and affordable energy.
We should be concerned about our government’s efforts to prohibit the production and sale of internal combustion engine vehicles and force their replacement with electric vehicles. We should be particularly concerned about the government’s intent to force a transition from diesel engine transit and school buses to electric buses in light of the numerous spontaneous battery fires which have rapidly destroyed transit buses in Germany, France, China and the US.
Finally, we should be concerned about the growing fascism of our government as it advances its climate change agenda.
Here are two publications from astrophysicists evaluating other possible factors affecting earth's climate. I believe that a thorough look at climate change should include consideraton of other factors. Everyone is stuck on CO2 as the only or predomimant factor of concern. Nothing as complex as climate could ever be influenced by just one factor. In fact the title of this paper by an astrophysicist is "No Experimental Evidence for the Significant Antropogenic Climate Change". https://arxiv.org/pdf/1907.00165.pdf
And for example, other factors and approaches are discussed by this paper coming out of Japan:
"Winter monsoons became stronger during geomagnetic reversal: Revealing the impact of cosmic rays on the Earth's climate" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190703121407.htm
These papers were found with only the most cursory of reviews. I could list a host of other factors that I suspect might affect climate both long and short range...from La Nina-La Nino years to microscopic plastic globules in the ocean from human dumping (which was intended to be recycling) of plastic waste impacting phytoplankton production. Climate is extremely complex yet the "narrative" simplistically assumes one factor and then targets fossil fuels and farting cows. The environmental movement has quite the history of folks and regulators viciously attacking a "bad" target and setting sweeping restrictions only to find their laws and policies have simply shifted or caused other problems..for example, air pollution controls initially translated into greater water pollution impacts; electric vehicles over gas powered engines require drastic mining of rare earth chemicals; High Tech in Silicon Valley was considered "clean industry" until all the nasty chemicals were found in the underlying groundwater.
With US national debt now over $30 trillion, we really don't have the resources to continue to make sweeping wrong and possilby irrevocable decisions. With the refusal to study, consider, and carefully weigh and debate other influential factors, we are once again presuming we understand the triggers and that climate change is truly an insurmountable problem .
Good luck on this. Agree.
Some of the touted climate "science" is just left of phrenology and is total fear mongering.
Just take a trip to Utah or Arizona and look at millions of years of geology, locations of previous oceans, etc...and get a grip.
Astrophysicists out of University of Turku in Finland and Japan even make a case that anthropogenic causes are inconsequential relative to other factors, but there has been no debate or funding of careful study to really explore what factors affect climate nor to assess the possible impacts of crazy"climate" policies that may well bankrupt the US and many other poorer countries and impoverish citizens, and not do a thing to modify climate change.
I first heard simultaneous discussion and presentation of several climate change models--some predicting dire global cooling while some predicitig dire global warming --at Huxley Environmental College in 1974. Yoo hoo. Slightly different outcomes. It's not clear that predictive models and input data have improved much.
I understand the Biden Administration is looking at funding project ideas such as shooting little reflective particles up in the atmosphere to reflect (counteract) the suns rays. Egad. Such madness. Every time there is a volcanic explosion we see the unmitigated cooling effects. God help us.
Prediction of runaway population waiver from crushing compounding growth of humanity to a sudden precipitous drop of world population by 2050..the latter coming out of the UN some decades ago. Which is it? Yes, the actions by the WEF and others to control the "narrative", to limit investigation, debate and just plain dictate and control human action on this planet are frighteningly fascist.