{"id":459565,"date":"2026-08-01T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=459565"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:40:03","slug":"climate-change-catastrophism-is-a-leftist-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=459565","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change Catastrophism is a Leftist Weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sallust<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan Peterson has written a piece for the Telegraph<\/em> called \u2018Climate change catastrophism is a Leftist weapon to destroy capitalism<\/a>\u2019. He starts by referencing the current \u201cmoral panic\u201d about air conditioning, the banning of which is another futile gesture as a hot summer leads to \u201cthe usual flood of exaggerated concerns\u201d. He lays the blame on Al Gore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

What we drive, how we heat our homes, what we eat, how much water we use: every modern activity increases industrial CO2<\/sub> emissions in a manner not dissimilar to air conditioning. Do all such intimate, local decisions therefore necessitate governmental oversight and regulation? And if so, what freedoms can possibly remain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots of such worrisome totalising can be traced in the more academic realm to the 1960s and 1970s, with the publication of Rachel Carson\u2019s Silent Spring<\/em>, Paul Ehrlich\u2019s the Population Bomb<\/em> and the Club of Rome\u2019s the Limits to Growth<\/em>. More distal influences, such as Karl Marx\u2019s Communist Manifesto of 1848<\/em>, also merit consideration, as we shall see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another source, however, unmatched in its combination of scientific pretension, charged emotional tone, policy impact and mass appeal: former Vice President Al Gore\u2019s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth<\/em><\/a>, which this year marks its 20th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than any other single work, this glossy, visually dramatic production translated the abstractions of climate modelling into a compelling, emotionally charged narrative \u2013 one that struck fear into the hearts of tens of millions. It did so by framing mankind\u2019s industrial activity and consequent increase in CO2<\/sub> production as the driver of a truly dangerous increase in global temperature. It did so by warning of severe and impending ecological devastation and economic disruption. It did so by arguing for the necessity of emergency response, while casting dissent as the most serious of modern sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Inconvenient Truth<\/em> proved far more effective than any prior academic report or specialist warning at propelling climate change from scientific and policy circles into mainstream cultural consciousness. At the same time, it entrenched the intensely emotional and partisan \u2013 almost religious \u2013 tone that still dominates the issue today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many observers (including the UN\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assert that global average temperature has risen between 1.1 and 1.5\u00b0C since the 1850\u20131900 establishment of reliable instrumental records and the acceleration of the Industrial Revolution. The same experts attribute most of this warming to human technological activity and the consequent increase in atmospheric CO2<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticisms of such estimates do exist. The 1850\u20131900 period is often used as a starting point as it is the period from which accurate thermometer readings began. But it is situated at the tail end of the Little Ice Age, a relatively cool period. Thus its use as a baseline may inflate the apparent magnitude of subsequent warming. Using the Medieval Warm Period results in more modest estimates, and reasonable disagreement persists over which starting point best captures the relevant signal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Peterson doesn\u2019t dispute the possibility of human impact on the environment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

It may be true that CO2<\/sub> levels have risen due to industrial activity and contributed to global warming. The importance of those facts, however \u2013 and especially their implications for action \u2013 remains an entirely different matter. The insistence that they constitute an existential crisis of apocalyptic proportions is not a scientific claim. It is, instead, a dogmatic and partisan assertion.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He calls therefore for a re-evaluation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

We can begin that re-evaluation by revisiting the confident, uniformly pessimistic predictions of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Climate doomsayers warned incessantly of sweeping ecosystem collapse, plunging agricultural yields, intensifying droughts and the relentless advance of deserts. Any marginal benefits from elevated CO2<\/sub>, they insisted, would be violently overwhelmed. The dominant narrative \u2013 permitted in popular media \u2013 foretold a far less verdant, more unstable, and markedly less hospitable planet. The crisis was already upon us. Emergency action was imperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lies, damned lies and statistics \u2013 or so the cynical adage goes. But it gets still worse. There are claims that literally invert the truth. Such lies, or damned lies or statistics, might be aptly deemed anti-truths. An anti-truth is not merely false; it is a falsehood so profound that it stands in direct, antagonistic opposition to reality itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The architects of our culturally dominant climate and economic models issued apocalyptic predictions with a confidence bordering on the unshakeable. The same insistence prevails today \u2013 often in the form of the unchanged opinions of the same actors, despite their prediction of anything but the presently undeniable rapid, comprehensive greening of the Earth. Such error is particularly striking given the phenomenon\u2019s speed, well-understood mechanisms and truly planetary scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How, then, could it be anything but time to question the accuracy, integrity and value of all the conclusions derived from such models \u2013 and to ask what factors, including the motivational, drove the catastrophising and made such failure not merely possible but inevitable?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Peterson condemns the \u201cself-appointed sainthood\u201d that has wasted untold amounts of money to achieve nothing, and with no concern at all for those truly in need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

What are we then to conclude? That much of the \u2018science\u2019 surrounding industrial CO2<\/sub> has been corrupted by self-serving obfuscation, if not outright deception. That the errors of anti-industrial activists have been driven by motives far removed from \u2013 indeed, often antithetical to \u2013 genuine concern for the planet or poor. By championing catastrophe, they have justified their preferred economic theories, played at moral heroism, squandered a fortune \u2013 and achieved next to nothing for the environment and the world\u2019s most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse, this self-anointed sainthood has enabled the demonisation of those who built the energy systems that powered Western prosperity, while aggrandising activists whose record of economic failure and authoritarian excess is a matter of history. Recent research sharpens the portrait, linking the revolutionary strain of Leftist activism to antagonistic narcissism and outright psychopathy \u2013 and, notably, to no measurable commitment to social justice whatsoever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Peterson quotes from the Bible (Matthew 6:5 to be precise):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And here is a parting shot at those who, despite all this, remain committed to the apocalyptic CO2<\/sub> narrative and its call for a green revolution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Let\u2019s say that we had managed to divert just $7 trillion or $8 trillion of all the trillions that have been funnelled into the so-called energy \u2018transition\u2019, harvested from taxpayers and energy consumers. What could we have done instead with all that purloined money? Indeed, what could we still do, given the projections of more spending to come?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Peterson\u2019s article is definitely worth reading in full<\/a>, though the tragedy is that those who ought to read it won\u2019t \u2013 but will refute it just the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jordan Peterson has written a piece for the Telegraph called \u2018Climate change catastrophism is a Leftist weapon to destroy capitalism\u2019. He starts by referencing the current \u201cmoral panic\u201d about air conditioning, the banning of which is another futile gesture as a hot summer leads to \u201cthe usual flood of exaggerated concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":459567,"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_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Jordan Peterson has written a piece for the Telegraph called 'Climate change catastrophism is a Leftist weapon to destroy capitalism'. He starts by referencing the current \"moral panic\" about air conditioning, the banning of which is another futile gesture as a hot summer leads to \"the usual flood of exaggerated concerns\".","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":[691819079,691829997,691819134,691818056,691818955,691818153,691824269,691835208,691818154,691823398],"class_list":["post-459565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-al-gore","tag-carbon-dioxide-co","tag-climate-alarmism","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-doomsayers","tag-climate-models","tag-jordan-peterson","tag-little-ice-age-1300-1850","tag-net-zero","tag-uns-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-ipcc","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Vyl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":243637,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243637","url_meta":{"origin":459565,"position":0},"title":"The Models Are OK, the Predictions Are Wrong | Dr. Judith Curry | EP 329","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Jordan B Peterson and Dr. Judith Curry discuss climate change, the major error in current models and future predictions, academic fraud, and the need for dissenting opinions.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/00Screenshot-2023-02-07-132647.png?fit=894%2C503&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/00Screenshot-2023-02-07-132647.png?fit=894%2C503&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/00Screenshot-2023-02-07-132647.png?fit=894%2C503&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/00Screenshot-2023-02-07-132647.png?fit=894%2C503&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":238655,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=238655","url_meta":{"origin":459565,"position":1},"title":"Climate Science: What Does it Say? | Dr. Richard Lindzen | EP 320","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Jordan B Peterson and Dr. Richard Lindzen dive into the facts of climate change, the models used to predict it, the dismal state of academia, and the politicized world of \u201cprofessional\u201d science.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/00Screenshot-2023-01-09-103131.png?fit=897%2C502&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/00Screenshot-2023-01-09-103131.png?fit=897%2C502&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/00Screenshot-2023-01-09-103131.png?fit=897%2C502&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/00Screenshot-2023-01-09-103131.png?fit=897%2C502&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":251428,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=251428","url_meta":{"origin":459565,"position":2},"title":"12 Ways the Planet Could Truly Be Saved | Bj\u00f8rn Lomborg | EP 345","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Jordan B. 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