Climate Alarmist Position

In previous columns, I discussed the failure of the Climate Alarmist’s science as well as the designation of many within the alarmist’s camp that real problem is not CO2 levels but living human beings, who are all CO2 emitters. The alarmist camp is not just at war with humanity in general but capitalism, since now capitalism is to blame for approaching apocalypse which never seems to come about. An academic, Benjamin Fong, wrote in the New York Times, “The real culprit of the climate crisis is not any particular form of consumption, production or regulation but rather the very way in which we globally produce, which is for profit rather than for sustainability. So long as this order is in place, the crisis will continue and, given its progressive nature, worsen. This is a hard fact to confront. But averting our eyes from a seemingly intractable problem does not make it any less a problem. It should be stated plainly: It’s capitalism that is at fault. . .As an increasing number of environmental groups are emphasizing, it’s systemic change or bust. From a political standpoint, something interesting has occurred here: Climate change has made anticapitalist struggle, for the first time in history, a non-class-based issue.”1

Mr. Fong is ignorant in his economics. As mentioned in previous columns, we are now feeding more people than ever before and more people worldwide are escaping poverty. We are wealthier today than ever before and in many developed nations poverty is the exception to the rule and not the rule. Our own poverty rate over the past five decades has fluctuated from 11% to 15%, meaning that the vast majority of our own in this country do not live in poverty. As recent studies have shown, the planet is getting greener not browner, which could be related in part to the rise of CO2 levels allowing for more vegetation and the ability to grow more food.

Another nail in Dr. Fong’s theory is which nation has done more to reduce CO2 levels? The United States is far ahead of other nations in reducing CO2 and why is that? 2 The primary reason is Fracking and the increase of Natural gas produced and used in place of coal, so we are witnessing that capitalism is the primary reason that United States leads the world in reducing CO2 emissions!

The biggest demand for energy, in particular fossil fuels will come from developing nations. Professor Fong’s solution, the restriction of fossil fuels production, will hamper the economic development of these nations, resulting in many of these nations and their populace slipping backward in economic development. Billions of people will not only slip back into poverty but could die as a result of their economy failing to produce enough goods and services to provide for jobs and their basic needs or produce enough food to live. The average climate alarmist hates people and view people as hindrance to saving the planet and at least one group of scientists have even acknowledged that we are already two billion people over what this planet can sustain. A little famine is what the Alarmist orders to save and destroying capitalism is one way to get to that goal.

F.A. Hayek noted in his last book the Fatal Conceit, “Yet if the market economy did indeed prevail over other types of order because it enabled those groups that adopted its basic rules the better to multiply, then the calculation in market values is a calculation in terms of lives: individuals guided by this calculation did what most helped to increase their numbers, although this could hardly have been their intention.”3 Hayek’s point is that our ability to feed our population and support seven billion people is due to the expansion of free markets throughout the world. Economic liberation has freed many from poverty and what Climate Alarmist can’t abide by is the reality that our planet is supporting more people than ever before and this has run counter to their theories! If climate alarmist are correct, we should not have the ability to feed seven billion plus people or the increased prosperity we are witnessing in many developing nations. Countries like South Korea have gone from being one of the poorest countries to a developed nation within two generations. In contrast, North Korea can’t even feed its own people due to the socialistic economic model adopted by their leaders. As many as three million people may have died by starvation in North Korea during the 1990’s and even today, much of the nation populace are still starving, how many dying is anyone’s guess. This is the future that Professor Fong is prepared to foist upon us.

Venezuela is another example of Fong’s economic thinking as one of the richest country is now on the abyss of massive starvation. Bloomberg reported, “As Venezuela has become economically isolated, inflation has spiked and the nation has been wracked by shortages of everything from car parts to basic medicines. Infant mortality and diseases like malaria have soared, while shaky services and unreliable food programs have fueled violent unrest among those once loyal to Maduro and his mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.”4 A country rich in resources is now unable to provide the basics for its people is what happens when one listens to the likes of Professor Fong.

Over the past few weeks, I have reviewed the climate change debate and the following can be assessed. The first being, the science girding the alarmist position is imploding as they can’t explain the inconsistency of their own theories. They can’t explain away the Roman Warming period, the Medieval Warming period and even the present warming period which began before the rapid industrialization of our planet! During the Medieval warming period, we saw CO2 levels lower than today and stable, not rising but yet we saw as warm of temperature if not warmer as we see today nor can the alarmist truly understand the hiatus that has occurred over the past two decades. They are now finally acknowledging that their models have overestimated the present warming period, leaving one to wonder when does the alarmist accept that their theories are flawed, if not outright wrong.

The second point is how I reviewed not just the flaw in the theories but outright manipulation of data to get the results they needed to make their case. The Alarmist are destroying scientific inquiry and debate, to replace it with a more totalitarian view. The Catholic Church inquisition of Galileo pales in comparison to the new Inquisition that is stamping sound scientific research methodology for a politicized totalitarian approach that dismisses science in favor of politics and power.

The third point is how alarmist have moved away from finding solutions through finding new technology and newer sources of energy but attacking humanity itself. The Alarmist position is evolving into a radical position that it is people to blame for climate change and we must adopt population control of humanity to save the planet or all is lost. The final point is that climate alarmists are using this crisis to destroy capitalism and institute a socialistic worldview, showing that it is not science driving their position but ideology. The attack on people and prosperity is the final objective of the alarmist. The result will kill billions but as I have already shown, it is not like they care. As Joseph Stalin once noted, “One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic.”