{"id":257466,"date":"2023-05-14T21:20:17","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T19:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257466"},"modified":"2023-05-14T21:20:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T19:20:26","slug":"away-with-self-fullfilling-climate-prophecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=257466","title":{"rendered":"Away With Self-Fullfilling Climate\u00a0Prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Science Matters<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ron Clutz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Edward Ring explains the importance of dispelling CO2 hysteria in his American Greatness article Challenging the Premise of Our Destruction. <\/strong><\/a> Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claiming that anthropogenic CO2 will not cause catastrophic climate change is a
credible, necessary point of view backed up by scientific evidence.<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0most powerful and destructive perception<\/strong>\u00a0in the world today is that using\u00a0fossil fuels will cause catastrophic climate change.<\/strong>\u00a0This belief, marketed by every major government and corporate institution in the Western world, is the foundational premise\u00a0underlying a policy agenda of stunning indifference to the aspirations of ordinary people.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The war on fossil fuel<\/strong> is a war on freedom, prosperity, pluralism, independence, national sovereignty, world peace, domestic tranquility, and, most ironically, the environment itself. It is a war of<\/strong> rich against poor, the privileged against the disadvantaged,<\/strong> corporate monopolies against competitive upstarts, Malthusians against optimists, regulators against innovators, and authoritarians against freedom-loving people everywhere.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this war cannot be won unless the perception is maintained.\u00a0If fossil fuel is allowed\u00a0<\/strong>to\u00a0compete against other energy alternatives for customers\u00a0as a vital and growing part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy, this authoritarian political agenda falls apart.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is reasonable to question the assertion that eliminating fossil fuels will inevitably result in an impoverished society<\/strong> subject to punitive restrictions on individual behavior. But the numbers are compelling and can be distilled to two indisputable facts<\/strong>: First<\/strong>, fossil fuel continues to provide over 80 percent of all energy<\/a> consumed worldwide<\/strong>. Second<\/strong>, if every person<\/strong> living on planet Earth were to consume half as much energy<\/a> <\/strong>per year as the average American<\/strong> currently consumes, global energy production would need to double.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several inescapable conclusions<\/strong>\u00a0derive from these two facts, if one assumes that energy is the driver of prosperity. Just in case that is not obvious,\u00a0imagine Americans living with half as much energy<\/strong>\u00a0as they use today. Where would the cuts occur? Would they drive their cars half as much? Heat their homes half as much? Operate manufacturing, farming, and mining equipment half as much? They would need to do all those things and more.\u00a0The economy would collapse.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These consequences don\u2019t escape the intelligentsia who promote \u201cnet zero\u201d policies<\/strong>. These consequences explain the policies they advocate<\/strong>. The recent promotion of \u201c15-minute cities\u201d<\/strong> that will inform rezoning and redevelopment to put all essential services within a 15-minute walk of every residence. The rise of \u201ccongestion pricing\u201d to charge automobiles special tolls if they drive into an expanding footprint of urban neighborhoods. \u201cSmart growth.\u201d \u201cInfill.\u201d \u201cUrban Service Boundaries.\u201d Bike lanes. \u201cSmart buildings,\u201d \u201csmart meters,\u201d and \u201csmart cities.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These innovations, all in progress, only begin to describe what is coming.<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By restricting new development and systematically reducing the use of fossil fuels, the global middle class will shrink<\/strong> instead of grow. The wealthiest elites will buy their way out<\/strong> of the smart slums. Everyone else will be locked down.<\/strong> This is how energy poverty will play out in the modern era. It cannot be emphasized enough: If energy production is restricted, this will happen<\/strong>. It\u2019s algebra. It is objective fact.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardly less speculative is the\u00a0reaction outside the Western world.<\/strong>\u00a0What are our elites thinking? Do they intend to start World War III? Perhaps they do. Because\u00a0nothing short of war is going to stop<\/strong>\u00a0the Chinese, Indians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Brazilians, Nigerians, or Bangladeshis from developing every source of energy they possibly can. Just those\u00a0seven nations account for half the world\u2019s population.<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s 4 billion people. Will they stop developing energy\u00a0until they at least achieve half the per capita energy consumption that Americans currently enjoy<\/strong>? Not a chance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Will they get there by relying exclusively on wind and solar? Dream on.<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fossil Fuel Will Not Cause a Climate Catastrophe<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

If you only believe half of the preceding arguments, you must realize that\u00a0Americans have been backed into a corner.<\/strong>\u00a0If anyone\u00a0calls for abundant energy\u2014or abundant anything,<\/strong>\u00a0since energy, and fossil fuel in particular, is the prerequisite for virtually all goods and services\u2014they are\u00a0shouted down as \u201cclimate deniers.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0And the way to upset the entire edifice is not to merely argue that fossil fuel is essential to the survival of civilization. Because the\u00a0counterargument is that eliminating fossil fuel is essential to the survival of the planet.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That is an unwinnable argument. It is not possible to reason<\/strong> with an opponent of fossil fuel if you concede their fundamental premise:<\/strong> that burning fossil fuel will cause catastrophic climate change. You either become a \u201cdenier,\u201d or you submit to energy poverty.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the tough decision facing Americans.<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s accurate to also say it is a decision facing Republicans since literally every prominent, mainstream, housebroken, accommodating establishment Republican will not challenge the assertion that we\u2019re experiencing a \u201cclimate crisis,\u201d even though most of them know better.<\/strong> But this should be a bipartisan issue. For Republicans, this is an opportunity to show some backbone by rejecting the most destructive and fraudulent premise of our time.<\/strong> In so doing, they would unify their party, attract independent voters, and realign the nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is stupefying. Without fossil fuel, America will enter a dark age,<\/strong> and the only way to control a restive population that\u2019s seen its standard of living plummet will be through the establishment of a technology-driven police state.<\/strong> They are the fascists. The so-called climate deniers are fighting for prosperity and freedom.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n