Tag: doomsday predictions

Resourceful Earth Day: Fred Smith on Julian Simon

In his 1999 piece (often tied to a Wall Street Journal op-ed or CEI-related commentary around Earth Day 2000), Fred Smith proposed renaming April 22 “Resourceful Earth Day” explicitly to celebrate Simon’s vision:“The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them.”

In his 1999 piece (often tied to a Wall Street Journal op-ed or CEI-related commentary around Earth Day 2000), Fred Smith proposed renaming April 22 “Resourceful Earth Day” explicitly to celebrate Simon’s vision:

“The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them.”

Smith critiqued the shift in Earth Day from any early optimism toward a gloomy “day of atonement” focused on humanity as a “cancer” on the planet. He highlighted the environmental movement’s embrace of the “Terrible Toos”: too many people, too much consumption, too much reliance on poorly understood technology. This led to calls for stasis, population control, reduced growth, and “wilderness” that excludes human activity—contrasting sharply with Simon’s view that free people continuously improve both the economy and the environment.

Smith critiqued the shift in Earth Day from any early optimism toward a gloomy “day of atonement” focused on humanity as a “cancer” on the planet. He highlighted the environmental movement’s embrace of the “Terrible Toos”: too many people, too much consumption, too much reliance on poorly understood technology. This led to calls for stasis, population control, reduced growth, and “wilderness” that excludes human activity—contrasting sharply with Simon’s view that free people continuously improve both the economy and the environment.

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From The Master Resource

By Robert Bradley Jr.

Editor’s Note: Today has been celebrated since 1970 as Earth Day. With the Progressive Left all but abandoning its significance, the opportunity is to rebrand April 22nd as Resourceful Earth Day. Human ingenuity, despite Statism, has proven optimist/realist Julian Simon correct, as noted by CEI founder and longtime head Fred Smith in this 1999 tribute.

“The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them.”

April 22, once associated with the optimism of revolutionary Marxism (as the birthday of Lenin) and then with the pessimism of modern Malthusianism (environmentalism’s Earth Day since 1970), merits redemption. A new label, Resourceful Earth Day, is appropriate as we enter the 21st century, a title selected to honor mankind’s increasing ability to solve environmental as well as economic problems.

This title, of course, is inspired by the late Julian Simon, author of “The Resourceful Earth,” who combated with passion and power those who viewed man as the cancer of this planet and his future as bleak and austere.

Resourceful Earth Day also signals a hope more appropriate to spring, marking a return to a positive view of man’s role on this planet. Indeed the old Marxists, convinced that they would dominate the future, optimistically favored economic and technological change. The forces of change, they believed, would move man toward heaven here on Earth.

That optimistic element has disappeared. The environmental establishment has grown increasingly gloomy, convinced that the Earth is suffering from the “Terrible Toos” — too many people, too much consumption, too great a reliance on technology which is understood too little. Earth Day has become a day of atonement for man’s criminal assault on our planet. That pessimism reflects, in part, their realization that history is no longer on their side; thus, change is no longer in their interest. Stasis must be the order of the day.

With attacks on things like biotechnology, automobiles, suburban opportunity and trade, they now seek only, as Aaron Wildavsky noted, “an egalitarian society based on rejection of economic growth in favor of a smaller population eating lower on the food chain, consuming a lot less, and sharing a much lower level of resources much more equally.” Had God not expelled man from the Garden of Eden, so the story goes, the “greens” certainly would have. And, indeed, their ideal land use is “wilderness,” defined as an area from which man is excluded.

Simon was a wonderful critic of all this foolishness. He investigated and refuted the gloomy projections that Western Civilization was a failure, that our civilization was non-sustainable and doomed to inevitable decline as the planet’s finite resources were depleted.

But the finite nature of the Earth’s material resources pose no great problem, he argued, because the Earth’s most precious resource is infinite and organic. It is its people, contributing to  the ever-growing stock of useful human knowledge. When people have been free to apply their intellect, they have always found ways to meet needs and answer crises, and always will.

Simon pointed out that, while people are born with stomachs, they are born with brains and hands as well. The latter allow them to create far more than they consume. People, after all, are not ciphers, which helps explain how the growth in the world’s food supply has outstripped the growth in the world’s population.

The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them. The calamity criers of the green movement predicted great disasters afflicting the planet by the year 2000. The Carter administration’s Global 2000 Report forecast global calamity, and Paul Ehrlich claimed on the Johnny Carson Show, “If I were a gambler, I would bet even money that England will not exist in the year 2000.”

Unfortunately for the eco-catastrophists, as we approach their due date for disaster, the planet is in increasingly good shape. This point was recently conceded by America’s arch-druid. “Not only do we have the healthiest economy in a generation,” said Vice President Al Gore, “we also have the cleanest environment.”

On this Resourceful Earth Day, we may hope that Gore and his fellow foot soldiers in the environmental brigades will ponder these points and rethink the wisdom of the current policy of placing all one’s faith in federal political solutions. The greens’ constant calls for massive government controls, forced population limits, harsh curbs on economic activity, and a curtailing of technology threaten to produce exactly the results that such actions seek to avoid —a world of ecological and economic disaster. On this April 22, let us commit to both a freer and a cleaner world; they go together after all.

Celebrate – CO2 Levels Just Hit 430ppm

The gas of life is greening the deserts, contributing to rising agricultural yields and making the far North more habitable – but you would never learn this from mainstream media.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

The gas of life is greening the deserts, contributing to rising agricultural yields and making the far North more habitable – but you would never learn this from mainstream media.

Jun 05, 2025

ANNUAL CARBON DIOXIDE PEAK PASSES ANOTHER MILESTONE 

Monthly Keeling Curve average exceeded 430 parts per million in May

AUTHOR
Robert Monroe

For the first time, the seasonal peak of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere exceeded 430 parts per million (ppm) at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego reported today.   

Scripps Oceanography scientists calculated a May monthly average of 430.2 ppm for 2025, an increase of 3.5 ppm over May 2024’s measurement of 426.7 ppm. Scientists with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory reported an average of 430.5 ppm, an increase of 3.6 ppm over last year. 

“Another year, another record,” said Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 Program. “It’s sad.”

Situated high on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano, the Mauna Loa Observatory is the global benchmark location for monitoring atmospheric CO2. At an elevation of 11,141 feet above sea level, the observatory produces measurements that represent the average state of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere.

…Read more: 

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/annual-carbon-dioxide-peak-passes-another-milestone

CO2 is greening the deserts.

Yale360: CO2 is Greening the Deserts – But it is Still Bad News
Inconvenient Study: CO2 fertilization greening the earth

This CO2 fertilisation effect brings immense benefits to farmers. At least part of the reason agricultural yields are skyrocketing is CO2 is making plants more drought resilient and helping them to grow faster.

Record Agricultural Yields Should Allay Climate Fear

In addition to this massive surge in plant growth caused by CO2 making the world a world a more fertile, productive place, CO2 could make vast tracts of almost uninhabited far Northern wilderness more productive and comfortable for human habitation, helping to feed a hungry world.

Warming Climate Powers Canadian Agriculture

Despite literally decades of doomsday predictions, there is no evidence whatsoever that CO2 is causing problems, other than broken computer models.

Canada Forest Fires Trend Has Gone Down Since 2000, Data Defy Alarmist Claims

Shellfish, coral and ocean life love CO2.

The Hill Pushes Discredited Ocean Acidity Scares
Fish adapt to ocean acidification by modifying gene expression
Study: Ancient Fish Thrived During PETM Extreme Global Warming

The reality is our world is too cold, not too hot. Our world is locked in one of the worst periods of an ice age which started 34 million years ago and still has the world in its deadly grip, the Late Cenzoic Ice Age. Any CO2 driven global warming which helps lift the world out of this terrible period in our planet’s history is a benefit to all life on Earth.

Predicted surges in sea level have failed to manifest. This prediction dates back to 1989 – you would think after 35 years of getting it wrong, scientists would stop banging on about the same failed theories.

30 Year Anniversary of the UN 1989 “10 years to save the world” Climate Warning

CO2 has a proven track record of helping our closest relatives thrive. If all the failed doomsday predictions wasn’t proof enough that we have nothing to fear from more CO2, the final proof that CO2 is good for us is that our monkey ancestors thrived in a much hotter world. The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 5-8C hotter than today, was the age of monkeys. Our monkey ancestors feasted on the abundance of the hothouse PETM, and colonised much of the world, only retreating when the cold returned.

So, I hope you will all join me in raising a glass of your favourite beverage to celebrate this milestone in human well-being and industrial progress, and drink to humanity achieving a milestone I hope to be alive to see – 500ppm of CO2 by the middle of this century.

Replace Green Giveaways with Development of Fossil Fuels

As the presidential election nears, it is reasonable to ask why the U.S. continues to give away billions to “avert” a fabricated climate crisis to countries that have little interest in participating in the charade beyond accepting handouts.

From Watts Up With That?

By Vijay Jayaraj

As the presidential election nears, it is reasonable to ask why the U.S. continues to give away billions to “avert” a fabricated climate crisis to countries that have little interest in participating in the charade beyond accepting handouts.

The United States has been a significant contributor to global climate initiatives, most notably through its involvement in the Paris Agreement.

At the 15th U.N. Climate Conference in 2009, rich countries pledged to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 to assist developing nations “fight” climate change. This target was said to have been achieved for the first time in 2022, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Having the world’s largest economy, the U.S. was expected to support a large portion of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which resulted in a promise of $3 billion.

GCF claims to be the “world’s largest dedicated climate fund” with a portfolio valued at $12 billion, or $45 billion when co-financing of projects is included. According to the GCF website, the fund delivers “transformative climate action in 140 countries” to keep “average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius.”

To which one might respond: Poppycock! No “climate action” will have a significant effect on temperatures, and the 2 degrees cited hardly matter environmentally in any case. Climate policies “will have a trivial effect on temperature but disastrous effects on people worldwide,” concludes a recent paper by Drs. Richard Lindzen and William Happer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University, respectively.

Besides, contrary to doomsday predictions, Earth is flourishing in many ways. Global poverty has decreased dramatically over the past few decades, and agricultural yields have increased significantly partly, because of higher levels of atmospheric CO2.  Natural disasters — often cited as evidence of climate change — are causing fewer deaths than ever before, despite population growth and development along coastlines and other vulnerable areas.

The outrage of having taxpayer money poured down the climate rat hole is compounded by the fact that recipients of GCF grants include China and India, the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases that are rapidly expanding consumption of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the bone-headed policy of the U.S. is to reduce the use of these affordable and abundant fuels to the detriment of household budgets, business profitability, electric grid reliability and national security.

So, instead of pouring billions into international climate projects, the U.S. should prioritize its own energy security. This means developing its oil, coal and natural gas and strengthening partnerships with reliable allies like Canada.

The United States’ vast reserves of natural gas have been made available through advanced extraction technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, making the country one of the world’s leading producers. This abundance can ensure a reliable and cost-effective energy supply for other nations and reduce U.S. dependency on foreign sources, enhancing national security.

The intermittent nature of wind and solar power – both GCF darlings — necessitates backup power sources or massive battery storage systems that come with their own environmental and economic costs. The materials needed for batteries, for instance, are often mined in regions with poor environmental records or by using child labor.

By contrast, modern fossil fuel extraction in the U.S. and Canada is subject to some of the strictest environmental regulations in the world. Ironically, by outsourcing energy production to less regulated countries in the name of “going green,” the U.S. causes more environmental harm globally.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis in Europe starkly illustrated the dangers of energy dependence. European countries, having underinvested in fossil fuel infrastructure and a reliance on Russian gas, found themselves in a precarious position.

This example alone is enough for the U.S. to reset its priorities. Promotion of failed and mostly unwanted “green” policies should be replaced with aggressive development of fossil fuel resources, as well as nuclear power, and building robust energy partnerships with allies.

This commentary was first published at Daily Caller on September 19, 2024.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University and an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, both in the U.K., and a B.S. in engineering from Anna University, India.