The Bizarre and Shocking Truth of Global Warming

Politicians love global warming. It is the ideal enemy: it threatens the existence of all life, it is impossible to actually ‘fix’, and they can always blame someone else when they fail. Politicians label it an ‘existential’ threat to justify virtually unlimited emergency acts and centralization of power. Because government controls almost all media and education, it is the undeniable truth. So what is the real story? Is it a whole lot of nothing or should we stop everything to solve it?

Unfortunately, this issue is much to complicated for the true/false world of politics¹. You either agree with the official narrative and support all sorts of extreme measures, or you’re a ‘climate denier’². Sadly, it is difficult to impossible to find an honest, objective, or nuanced explanation of the underlying issues. Luckily for you, I’ve done extensive research and provided a detailed rebuttal below.

What Does the Science Say?

When discussing climate change, advocates appeal to the authority of “science”, which usually means academics. The problem with this appeal is that most climate scientists depend on grant funding for their research. And who funds that research? Non profits, NGOs, and governments³; all with vested interests in frightening results. Unfortunately, the conflict of interests are rarely discussed in the corporate media and rules out most academics.

So what is known for sure? The most obvious and undeniable fact is that the climate changes. And this process is completely natural. Simply put, the Earth doesn’t have a fixed climate. Not long ago, glaciers covered so much land that tribes from Siberia migrated by land to America⁴. The climate changes that caused glaciation and subsequent melting occurred long before the Industrial Revolution.

Geologically speaking, the Earth is still in the process of leaving the last ice age⁵. Ice records show previous eras of colder and warmer climates than now. In fact, 100 million years ago, the Earth had no ice caps at all⁶. Clearly, where ever the climate is heading, it is NOT unique to our time.

Greenhouse Gasses

If climate change is natural, then why are people making such a big stink about Global Warming? Because there is a kernel of truth to their claims. With a simple chemistry lab, it is trivial show that certain gases hold heat better than others⁷. The big three, carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, trap solar heat much better than nitrogen and oxygen⁸.

Of the three, methane holds heat the best, but easily reacts with oxygen and is therefore not a long term warming threat. And nobody is seriously worried about water vapor, aka rain. Which leaves carbon dioxide as the king of global warming. Some sloppy fear-mongers point to the planet Venus as an example of how bad things can get. Venus has a surface temperature over 800F. This comparison is foolish, of course, because carbon dioxide is a trace molecule in Earth’s atmosphere while it is the primary constituent in Venus’ significantly denser atmosphere.

It’s All About Carbon

The fight against Global Warming resolves around reducing carbon emissions. And like climate change itself, carbon is natural. The current concentration of carbon dioxide(CO₂) in the Earth’s atmosphere is miniscule. It is so small that it’s measured in parts per million (ppm), while oxygen and nitrogen are measure in parts per hundred (aka percentage). According to the EPA, the amount of CO₂ is roughly 425 ppm. This number has risen steadily over the past century from less than 300 ppm⁹.

Just as it is trivial to show that some gasses hold more heat, it is also trivial to show that CO₂ is on the rise because of industrialization. Denying the physical reality of this debate is silly and counterproductive. Unfortunately, both sides are guilty of this, especially the warming alarmists. Their biggest failure is denying the carbon cycle. There is no doubt that burning fossil fuels emit CO₂, but where did the carbon come from in the first place?

Plants Love CO₂

Fossil fuels, like coal, natural gas and oil, trap carbon underground. The Earth is so good at trapping carbon that it is currently a trace molecule instead of a primary gas. When the dinosaurs roamed, there was roughly 5 times as much CO₂ in the atmosphere than now¹⁰. This shows two critical and often ignored facts: 1) the climate can easily adjust to greater carbon dioxide concentrations, and 2) the Earth will eventually remove and trap that CO₂.

If you only listen to the warming pimps, they make it sounds as if carbon dioxide is inherently bad. Of course, that is absolutely crazy. Plants love CO₂: the more, the better¹¹. Same with heat and water vapor, all consequences of global warming. I should point out that burning fossil fuels releases CO₂ faster than the Earth and plants consume it, but in general there is nothing wrong with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Warming

Credit James Melville: https://twitter.com/JamesMelville

So far so simple, but the tricky point is how much warming is there? It is so tiring seeing people take victory laps every time a heat wave occurs, or to write off warming altogether when a blizzard hits. Both are ridiculous, since today’s weather has nothing to with global warming one way or the other. Climate scientists talk about average temperatures, but that doesn’t stop the clown show every summer and winter.

Average changes of temperature are most pronounced in the polar regions¹². Ironically, these inhospitable places could actually benefit from being warmer. In other places, average increases express themselves with later autumn freezes¹³. Later freezes and earlier thaws means the growing season is longer, which is a net benefit, not something to fear.

There is mounting evidence that the climate is warming¹⁴. However, most weather records only cover 50 to 100 years of measurements. All other comparisons are indirect, like analyzing ice core samples. So any time you hear “record breaking” headlines, just remember they represent an extremely small sample size. Any claim of hottest or most extreme “ever” is disingenuous and misleading (at best).

Conservation

The Left loves myths, especially ones that convince the masses to comply with their ideology. Before Al Gore invented Global Warming (joke), conservation efforts fell on deaf ears. They tried to scare everybody with the energy crisis of the 70’s. Then it was acid rain, then the ozone layer, and then rainforests. In every case, Americans kept their habits of consumerism and “over” consumption¹⁵.

But Global Warming is different. This time the Left struck gold. They claim the very existence of mankind depends on conservation¹⁶. Finally, they found a crisis to sway the masses. We must stop burning fossil fuels, buy electric cars, and switch to renewable resources. Otherwise, we’ll melt the icecaps and destroy life as we know it.

Conservation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I believe Americans could do much better. However, economics will be the driving force of change, not some quasi-religious desire to bond with nature. Unfortunately, the Left is completely ignorant of economics. Aside from name calling and demagoguery, they are complete devoid of ideas for persuasive change.

Economics

Let’s start with the most important fact that environmentalists have yet to figure out: the Earth will *never* run out of natural resources. Why? Prices, of course. A good example is the oil market. It takes the Earth many millions of years to create oil, which means whatever is currently underground is all that will ever be available¹⁷.

Logic dictates that eventually all that oil will be used. In fact, people have predicted peak oil for decades, always to be proven wrong. Why? Prices, of course. As soon as supply diminishes, prices go up. Despite higher prices, demand remains strong¹⁸. And higher prices open reserves that were inaccessible and unprofitable at lower prices, like shale oil¹⁹.

I’m sure this will continue for many decades to come. Maybe even hundreds of years. And when oil supplies finally diminish, prices will rise to the point where alternatives become not only viable, but preferred. When that happens, instead of being a time of celebration, it will be a time of despair. Why? Because oil, and fossil fuels in general, make us wealthy. When energy is expensive, great waves of poverty will ravish mankind.

Uses of Petroleum

Petroleum is a major component of just about everything people consume. Number one on the list is food. Prior to the automobile/tractor, roughly half of all Americans were farmers. Now it’s around 2-3%²⁰. This in entirely due to fossil fuels. By the time all tractors are electric, food prices will be significantly higher than today. Likely many times more expensive.

Petroleum and natural gas are used in fertilizers, which vastly improves agricultural output²¹. Here it is extremely unlikely that renewables will displace these fuels. Therefore, petroleum and natural gas will continue to be used for fertilizer, but at exceptionally higher prices, again raising the price of food.

Petroleum is also used for plastics, medical supplies, lubricants, textiles, and many more. And, ironically, even electric car batteries rely on cheap energy²². The same is true with solar panels and wind turbines. Manufacturing green alternatives is only remotely feasible today because of the widespread usage of fossil fuels.

Poverty, Famine and War

When the day of recooking finally comes (hopefully quite sometime from now), the world will be an extremely dangerous place. Skyrocketing food prices will increase poverty and starvation. And if the Global Warming alarmists are correct, it will also lead to famine. The natural consequence of this will be war, likely resulting in the deaths of billions.

I believe in the power of innovation to solve problems, but long term energy prices are exceptionally challenging. Besides nuclear power, there doesn’t seem to be any real alternative. Solar and wind just don’t scale, especially without the use of natural gas for when it is cloudy or there is no wind. Without some sort of breakthrough technology, the long term future is bleak.

Conclusion

So what should be done? First, let’s recognize that if indeed the climate is changing, there really isn’t anything that can or should be done about it. Besides rising ocean levels, a warmer climate is not only natural, but likely desirable. Next, let’s realize that the end of fossil fuels will be devastating for people, prices, and renewables. It will eventually happen, so in the meantime mankind would be wise to invest money and resources into practical alternatives.

Sadly, the problem is that our politicians are thieves and indifferent to real world problems. Instead of trying to solve these complicated problems, they push solar panel companies that they own stock in²³. Worse, instead of using technologies that scale, like nuclear, every mainstream solution is threadbare. And that’s exactly what politicians want.

They want an enemy like Global Warming. They will never solve it, and therefore, will keep the world in a constant state of emergency. And who benefits? The power grabbing politicians. They want an excuse to levy a carbon tax, and want to line the pockets of their donors by profiting from government mandated renewables²⁴.