There is a lot of talk these days about a coming climate crisis and how life as we know it will end if we don’t do what the government tells us. Pardon me if I don’t panic. I’ve already lived through the end of the world several times. Here they are.
Over-Population – The 1968 book “The Population Bomb” predicted that in the 1970’s “hundreds of millions of people would starve to death” because there would be too many people in the world and not enough food. Reality – modern agricultural practices increased the growing and production of food, enough to keep up with a larger population.
Ice Age – Yes, in the 1970’s we were told that all scientists agreed and there was a consensus that the world was headed toward another ice age. Within 5 to 10 years people would have to live under domes to stay warm and all our food would have to be grown in hot houses. Reality – the earth’s temperature goes up and down. The earth has been much cooler than it is now and much warmer than is it now. Life survived.
Ozone layer – There was a hole in the ozone layer. We were told it would get bigger and bigger and harmful radiation from the sun would reach the earth’s surface and we would get radiation poisoning. Reality – the ozone layer is still there.
Y2K – Not a natural phenomenon, a manmade one. Many computers, before the year 2000, only had a two place field for the year. So when the year 2000 came, the computer would interpret it as the year zero, since it would see an entry of “00”. This, of course, would cause computers to crash, affecting anything that had a computer chip in it. We were told utilities could go offline and shipping deliveries could be delayed. Store up food and medicine and be ready for a blackout. Reality – People realized that this might be a problem and reprogrammed the date field to have four digits before the year 2000 came.
Rising sea levels – the ice caps were going to melt and sea levels would rise as much as 20 feet within 5-7 years (which means this should have happened around the year 2010). Whole coasts of countries would be underwater, some islands would disappear. Reality – the beaches are still there.
Global warming – We’ve been hearing this since the 1990’s. In 5 – 10 years the earth would burn up if we didn’t do… something. Reality – just like when we were told of the coming Ice Age, the earth’s temperature goes up and down. According to climate.gov “compared to most of earth’s history, today is unusually cold.”
This brings us to the latest and greatest end of the world scenario. Climate change. A catchy phrase and very clever because, it’s climate, it changes. No matter what the weather does- it can’t be wrong. And once again, the coming crisis is always 5 – 10 years away and the government must be able to control every aspect of your life in order to prevent it.
What I do worry about is the government’s involvement in trying to regulate our lives. Cars, home appliances, generators, air conditioners, etc. Let’s look at some of the government’s solutions to climate change.
Wind energy – Wind turbines on land kill eagles and hawks. Ocean floor mapping seems to be killing whales. (I thought we cared about wildlife, but apparently not) And guess what turbines need to keep running smoothly – oil)
Solar energy – Toxic chemicals are needed to create the panels and batteries. It cost tens of thousands of dollars to install. If there are trees blocking your panels, the trees will have to go (we also don’t seem to care about trees) and if there is a cloudy/rainy spell, you may be out of electricity. Many solar panels are made in China, and we know China uses coal for power.
EV cars – Remember what Gov. Newsom said? He wants everyone to drive an electric car. Just no one plug them in because there isn’t enough electricity. Here are the problems with EVs. Making them produces at least twice the amount of carbon than making a gas engine car. So the EV would have to be driven 50,000-80,000 miles before it would produce less carbon over it’s lifetime than a gas engine car. If you need to replace the battery it will cost between 5 -15 thousand dollars. If it’s cold outside your range is reduced. If you turn on the heater the range can be reduced by almost half. Going on a long trip and need to stop and recharge? Plan on an hour per recharging stop. EV’s are heavier than gas cars, causing more damage to the roads. The heavier cars cause the tires to wear out faster then gas cars and also gives off more microplastics into the environment. The lithium that the batteries need is mined (mostly in South America) using a tremendous amount of water, causing concern to the local farmers and residents about their access to fresh water. (Guess we don’t care about the indigenous people either)
I have two points to make. First, I care about the environment. But when the government tries to force change, it never works. Think of all the millions that Obama gave to different “green” companies, and the majority of them went bankrupt. The best way to go green, is to allow capitalism to do it’s thing. As companies develop items that are energy saving, affordable and dependable, people will natural want to use them.
Second, the government is always looking for a crisis to scare people. A people who are fearful and more easily controlled. Starting from when I was a teenager, (and I’m now a senior citizen) it was one crisis after another. And the predictions were always wrong.
So am I worried about the end of the world? Nope, Been there, done that.