From the American Thinker
By Chris Talgo
While in France celebrating the 80th anniversary of D-Day and honoring the thousands of soldiers who bravely sacrificed their lives against the existential threat that is Nazi Germany, President Joe Biden couldn’t stop himself from descending into political talking points by making the most devastating comparisons. and the deadliest battle in human history for climate change.
“The only existential threat to humanity, including nuclear weapons, is if we do nothing about climate change,” Biden said. Because of the “existential threat of climate change, which is only increasing, we are working together to accelerate the global transition to net-zero. This is an existential threat to humanity,” Biden said again.
The reality is that climate change is not an existential threat. In fact, in many ways, the slight warming that has occurred over the past half century has made life better for humans. For example, NASA satellite data shows a significant increase in global plant growth in recent decades – the so-called global greening. A slightly warmer planet is also beneficial because it produces larger crops.
However, one can make a strong argument that climate alarmism, and the policies that climate alarmists advocate, are actually an existential threat to humanity.
First and foremost, climate alarmists are hellbent on ending the use of affordable and reliable energy in the form of fossil fuels. This is just a horrible attitude that is putting millions of lives at risk.
Like it or not, the advent of fossil fuels, namely oil, coal, and natural gas, has been the greatest boon to mankind in all of history. The use of these resources to provide virtually unlimited energy in a cost-effective manner has lifted billions of people out of poverty.
Without sufficient access to fossil fuels, our modern way of life would cease to exist. Not only fossil fuels provide abundant and affordable energy. As the US Department of Energy notes, “Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas make up more than 6,000 daily products and high-tech devices.”
Second, climate alarmists demand that the world immediately switch to renewable energy and achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions. The problem is that renewable energy from solar panels and wind farms is very expensive, unreliable, and unmeasurable. If the world moves away from fossil fuels instead of wind and solar, the amount of energy we can use will decrease. This will cause damage to many areas.
Third, climate alarmists are constantly calling for degrowth, both economically and in terms of population. Somehow, climate alarmists have become convinced that the solution to the problems of a warming planet is for humans to reduce population growth. This is extremely short-sighted and fails to take into account that many developed countries are currently experiencing real population decline. If this is not reversed, and soon, many developed countries will experience severe demographic problems.
Likewise, the call to cut the economy, which has been a major cause of concern among climate alarmists for years now, will lead to disaster and will lead to a reduction in living standards for billions of people. This is especially true for some developing countries, which are banking on economic growth and increased prosperity to raise billions from poverty.
Fourth and finally, climate alarmists, whether they know it or not, are like modern Luddites in that they encourage innovation and technological breakthroughs. In many ways, climate alarmists are the opposite of progressive because they seek to regress humanity back to a time when creature comforts and access to the latest and most limited technology for a select few rather than accessible to the masses. Worse, by blocking the development of new technologies that could solve some of the world’s most pressing problems simply because they don’t fit their views, climate alarmists are actually preventing the improvement of the human experience.
Fortunately, it seems that climate alarmists are losing ground. Polls show that more people are skeptical of persistent fears and are becoming more aware of failed doomsday prophecies. This is good news, but it’s only the beginning. Unless and until there is a general consensus that climate alarmism is a problem and that the misguided policies advocated by climate alarmists are rejected outright by an overwhelming majority, climate alarmism will be a serious threat to the future of humanity.
Chris Talgo is the editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
Features Picture: Vladimir Morozov/akxmedia
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