{"id":307590,"date":"2024-03-13T08:46:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307590"},"modified":"2024-03-13T08:47:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:47:00","slug":"inside-a-2074-climate-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=307590","title":{"rendered":"Inside a 2074 Climate Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 We had bigger things to worry about, like whether drag queens should have been allowed to read books to children<\/a> \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Baby, it\u2019s hot outside: A fearmonger\u2019s guide to dressing for the apocalypse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sandy Powell<\/a>
Updated <\/strong>March 11 2024 \u2013 12:13PM, first published 11:30AM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the year 2074 and we are at the end of another glorious half-century of climate extremes that have kept us on our toes; nimble and spry and ready for the next challenge. Those of us who have survived at least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was digging the weekend\u2019s accumulated ash and filth from around the front door of my burrow this morning I thought about a time, 50 years ago, when we didn\u2019t live underground and were mildly surprised by the warming weather.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a beautiful time when we still used that antiquated term \u201cdrought\u201d as though the rain would at some point return to a stable and reliable pattern in the coming years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were aware of climate change<\/a>, of course, and had been for half a century, but that was a thing that far off future generations would have to prepare for, not us. We were simply too comfortable to make any substantial changes to our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And why would we? We had bigger things to worry about, like whether drag queens should have been allowed to read books to children<\/a> and whether the tax cuts<\/a> we were giving billionaires were big enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that is too cynical; people were struggling to afford to feed and house their families<\/a> and had just lived through, what was then, a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic<\/a> and were reasonably inward looking in their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.canberratimes.com.au\/story\/8551006\/a-fearmongers-guide-to-dressing-for-the-climate-change-apocalypse\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Granted this is an attempt at political parody, but the logical inconsistency of this future climate fantasy is just irritating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If \u201cwe still used that antiquated term \u201cdrought\u201d as though the rain would at some point return to a stable and reliable pattern\u201d, how can there be any vegetation left to burn? Surely it all burned away and never re-grew ages ago, because there was no water to irrigate the new seedlings, or they all got washed away in the infrequent but brutal mega floods. Dust I can believe \u2013 Australia is a very dusty place, even super floods wouldn\u2019t be able to remove all the dust. But dust and ash, not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If somehow the ash and dust got there anyway, despite the lack of rain and vegetation, and everything is covered in dust and ash, all that investment in solar panels was a big waste of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah but sometimes it rains \u2013 so who in their right mind would live underground, and risk getting drowned in a flood? Better hope those fossil fuel driven water pumps work properly. Maybe you live underground until it floods, then climb a tree? Ah I forgot, all the trees burned down long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing Covid as a \u201conce in a lifetime pandemic\u201d? Well Covid is still here \u2013 but where are the lockdowns? Does anyone still believe the lockdowns were anything but a massive government overreaction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if the world of 2074 is an apocalyptic dystopia, who would care who got tax cuts way back when?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading this ill considered attempt at political parody was just painful, like trying to watch a badly scripted Hollywood movie which gets all the science wrong. But I guess you have to have an engineering mind, to feel irritated by such obvious inconsistencies, or to understand the absurdity of bumbling Western \u201csolutions\u201d to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c\u2026 We had bigger things to worry about, like whether\u00a0drag queens should have been allowed to read books to children\u00a0\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":307592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\u201c\u2026 We had bigger things to worry about, like whether\u00a0drag queens should have been allowed to read books to children\u00a0\u2026\u201d","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691821216,691827572,691827571,691827570],"class_list":["post-307590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-extremes","tag-climate-fantasy","tag-drag-queens","tag-fearmongers-guide","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/0cover-image-_1280x720.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1i18","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":269003,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269003","url_meta":{"origin":307590,"position":0},"title":"Neil Oliver: Weather maps are among the most blatant forms of fearmongering deployed so far.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/23\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Neil Oliver says weather maps are another example of fearmongering being exerted on the population.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00Screenshot-2023-07-23-210538.png?fit=958%2C565&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00Screenshot-2023-07-23-210538.png?fit=958%2C565&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00Screenshot-2023-07-23-210538.png?fit=958%2C565&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00Screenshot-2023-07-23-210538.png?fit=958%2C565&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":444316,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=444316","url_meta":{"origin":307590,"position":1},"title":"Shocked Silence Greets RCP8.5 Demise as \u2018Implausibility\u2019 Ruling Leaves Net Zero Fearmongering in Tatters","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/15\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The fallout from the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ruling that computer model high emissions pathway RCP8.5 is \u201cimplausible\u201d is only just beginning. Most mainstream media fearmongering stories over the last 15 years need to be moved into the junk file, as do the increasingly shrill sandwich-board pronouncements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"5.1\u00b0C and 3.8\u00b0C warmer\"","block_context":{"text":"5.1\u00b0C and 3.8\u00b0C warmer","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=5-1c-and-3-8c-warmer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-Shocked-Silence-Greets-RCP8.5-Demise-as-%E2%80%98Implausibility-Ruling-Leaves-Net-Zero-Fearmongering-in-Tatters.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-Shocked-Silence-Greets-RCP8.5-Demise-as-%E2%80%98Implausibility-Ruling-Leaves-Net-Zero-Fearmongering-in-Tatters.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-Shocked-Silence-Greets-RCP8.5-Demise-as-%E2%80%98Implausibility-Ruling-Leaves-Net-Zero-Fearmongering-in-Tatters.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-Shocked-Silence-Greets-RCP8.5-Demise-as-%E2%80%98Implausibility-Ruling-Leaves-Net-Zero-Fearmongering-in-Tatters.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-Shocked-Silence-Greets-RCP8.5-Demise-as-%E2%80%98Implausibility-Ruling-Leaves-Net-Zero-Fearmongering-in-Tatters.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":402588,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=402588","url_meta":{"origin":307590,"position":2},"title":"Lomborg: Fearmongering predictions about climate change keep falling apart","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/16\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past half-century, environmentalists have predicted countless calamities. Their extreme predictions were typically wrong, their draconian countermeasures turned out to be mostly misguided, and we should be grateful we didn\u2019t follow their harmful advice. 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In 1918, the American journalist, critic and satirist H. L. Mencken is credited with saying:\u00a0\u201cThe whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety), by menacing them with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQOJ1Q8LHIbeIVPp_8QJp1ONwHJBJL71-EfXOwmWEFqwqaSs_4oR3KtG60CmARaAylIJZcnbLyIdKCvC13C4j3xlhN-apvilW_OZs0il69aKOkbFr99pXzoheGip-Gwo.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQOJ1Q8LHIbeIVPp_8QJp1ONwHJBJL71-EfXOwmWEFqwqaSs_4oR3KtG60CmARaAylIJZcnbLyIdKCvC13C4j3xlhN-apvilW_OZs0il69aKOkbFr99pXzoheGip-Gwo.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQOJ1Q8LHIbeIVPp_8QJp1ONwHJBJL71-EfXOwmWEFqwqaSs_4oR3KtG60CmARaAylIJZcnbLyIdKCvC13C4j3xlhN-apvilW_OZs0il69aKOkbFr99pXzoheGip-Gwo.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQOJ1Q8LHIbeIVPp_8QJp1ONwHJBJL71-EfXOwmWEFqwqaSs_4oR3KtG60CmARaAylIJZcnbLyIdKCvC13C4j3xlhN-apvilW_OZs0il69aKOkbFr99pXzoheGip-Gwo.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AQOJ1Q8LHIbeIVPp_8QJp1ONwHJBJL71-EfXOwmWEFqwqaSs_4oR3KtG60CmARaAylIJZcnbLyIdKCvC13C4j3xlhN-apvilW_OZs0il69aKOkbFr99pXzoheGip-Gwo.png?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":413966,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=413966","url_meta":{"origin":307590,"position":5},"title":"Retracted by Nature, traduced by Michael Mann \u2013 Gianluca Alimonti is Back and He\u2019s Taking No Prisoners","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/20\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m calling it the \u2018Revenge of Alimonti\u2019. In 2023 a group of activists including \u2018hockey stick\u2019 inventor Michael Mann, Attribution Queen Frederike Otto and Marlowe Hood and Graham Readfearn from AFP and the Guardian respectively managed to get a paper led by Professor Gianluca Alimonti retracted by Nature because it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Censorship\"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=censorship"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP51UjyIYA3WAgu8FQHdQ2LI7mjtksuYsXnD-TJOzzIoSMPAA2Kvo3o5ns5cAXBORsi2oHo73lL2h-S9sOO9qo-GYrLXhACxyKc337g-h2YNFhAKlktzRVqyQCh6XmO-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP51UjyIYA3WAgu8FQHdQ2LI7mjtksuYsXnD-TJOzzIoSMPAA2Kvo3o5ns5cAXBORsi2oHo73lL2h-S9sOO9qo-GYrLXhACxyKc337g-h2YNFhAKlktzRVqyQCh6XmO-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP51UjyIYA3WAgu8FQHdQ2LI7mjtksuYsXnD-TJOzzIoSMPAA2Kvo3o5ns5cAXBORsi2oHo73lL2h-S9sOO9qo-GYrLXhACxyKc337g-h2YNFhAKlktzRVqyQCh6XmO-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP51UjyIYA3WAgu8FQHdQ2LI7mjtksuYsXnD-TJOzzIoSMPAA2Kvo3o5ns5cAXBORsi2oHo73lL2h-S9sOO9qo-GYrLXhACxyKc337g-h2YNFhAKlktzRVqyQCh6XmO-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0AQP51UjyIYA3WAgu8FQHdQ2LI7mjtksuYsXnD-TJOzzIoSMPAA2Kvo3o5ns5cAXBORsi2oHo73lL2h-S9sOO9qo-GYrLXhACxyKc337g-h2YNFhAKlktzRVqyQCh6XmO-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C709&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307590"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307594,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307590\/revisions\/307594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/307592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}