The Earth Needs Some Pepto Bismol

So, let me get this straight, global warming caused Katrina to strike New Orleans in 2005 because Al Gore, et al, said so.  Yet, we have the interesting reality that in 2013 the hurricane total was the lowest in over 30 years and there were no major Atlantic hurricanes for the first time in almost 20 years.  The NOAA is predicting a lower than usual hurricane season for 2014, as well.  Oh, by the way, we just had a “polar vortex” this past winter which caused almost the entire United States to suffer through some of the coldest temperatures in decades for an extended period and we had a ship stuck in Antarctic ice while investigating “global” warming, during the Antarctic summer, no less.   Apparently global warming took a year off.

 I’ve always been skeptical of global warming.  I will admit, frankly, it’s not because I’ve studied the science in any depth.  I’ve always been skeptical because I can recall as a young teenager in the mid-70’s reading that a global ice age was about to descend upon us and it never materialized. When I see people like Al Gore making millions as a result of efforts to convince people global warming is real, it makes me wonder, just like charlatans like Benny Hinn make me wonder about faith healers.  Moreover, some common sense would tell me at least a couple of things.  First, if there is global warming, it’s likely the earth will work its way through it.  The earth is a highly resilient place that has, pardon the pun, weathered many such problems throughout the ages.  Second, simple logic suggests that concluding the entire globe is on some kind of a warming trend is beyond human capability to measure effectively or accurately.  I simply don’t trust the science that told me in 1975 an ice age was coming to now tell me global warming is here.  Third, I don’t deny global warming might well be a reality, but there are alternative explanations beyond human causation that require serious exploration and thought, such as solar radiation cycles. 

Even more importantly, there is an enormous philosophical stake here.  Global warming advocates keep saying things like “the science is clear” or “there is a consensus among scientists” that manmade global warming is real.  Such statements belie what I was always taught about science, namely, science is always in a state of flux because scientists are supposed to let the data speak for itself.  According to many in the professional commentariat, as well as many “amateurs,” science seeks truth.  Yet, I can say from experience that if one attempts any effort to argue about sacrosanct “scientific” ideas like global warming or evolution, the response from the allegedly scientific-minded is often a brick wall.  There is no willingness to discuss, no willingness to think about these “scientific” truths, except through the lens that they are utterly proven realities for which no possible alternative exists, can exist, or ever will exist.  This is not a scientific view of these matters, but a philosophical pre-disposition which arises from a determination to conclude that the only reality is an utterly material reality.

   

Such a pre-disposition ultimately results in an ends justifies the means mentality.  Thus, even if global warming is maybe only a possibility and not a reality, it’s still okay to run around scaring everyone into behaving like it’s true because people will think “green” and thereby help the planet.  Of course, this makes unproven assumptions that (a) we have any real ability to do much to “help” the planet avoid global warming (b) that “green” is some sort of monolithic reality that requires everyone to do exactly the same things in order to help the planet, and (c) any one person or group has a sufficient understanding of the complexities of the entire planet’s weather such that their pronouncements should be received as the last word.  The United Nations has a group that issues pronouncements about climate change, and, interestingly enough, such pronouncements often come with requirements that “rich” nations send money to “poor” nations under the UN’s auspices and oversight, of course.  The UN, however, has no interest in having all that cash flow through its (cough, cough) pristine and completely undefiled coffers, right?  The UN is corrupt because there is no one really overseeing what it does with all the money it gets.  Who can oversee a world body? 

The world may be warming or not.  I don’t mind doing my part by recycling, reducing my trash, growing my own vegetables, walking when I can rather than driving, reducing my electric consumption by keeping my thermostat adjusted higher in the summer, lower in the winter and so forth.  Such, however, is not what the global warming crowd ultimately seeks.  No, this is more about control over people than it is about science.  It provides cover for those who think that a handful should tell the rest of us morons what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  Global warming has morphed into “climate change” because even Al Gore is smart enough to see the handwriting on the wall.  “Deniers” like me have been branded, but the branding has faded because too much reality is kicking in and global warming appears to have cooled off. 

Al Gore and friends will just move on to the next crisis, make millions more, and continue to herd the sheep, who will bleat whatever Al and friends tell them to bleat.  If I were the owners of Pepto-Bismol, I’d be jumping on the bandwagon – “The science is clear, the science is clear . . . the earth has diarrhea – the UN needs to buy 100,000,000 gallons of Pepto-Bismol right away.”