True Egalitarianism (musing on the ultimate “meaning thing”), Wendell Krossa
I am an egalitarian. Not in the strictly material sense as per Marxism and its vision of classless human society. Not in terms of any form of communalism (i.e. Robert Owen’s 19th century utopian socialist communes). Not in terms of equality of material outcomes, equality in terms of sharing material goods.
I am egalitarian in terms of our larger life purpose defined by humanity’s highest ideal- love. Any human being can attain ultimate heroic status, the supreme form of human achievement, the ultimate stage of human maturity, in terms of loving others. Love as our highest human ideal levels us all as human beings. Achievement in common love is the single greatest achievement that any person can make in life. It outdistances all else that we can achieve in life.
Further, love takes human life to the pinnacle of achievement, the epitome of maturity, when it reaches the embrace of unconditional “love of enemies”. Then we really “tower in stature as maturely human” (i.e. Joseph Campbell’s comment that we reach maturity when we orient our lives to universal love). When we love universally, unconditionally we then become the true heroes of our story, of our life quest.
We saw this highest of human achievements brilliantly illustrated in Nelson Mandela forgiving his oppressors and working to include them in the post-apartheid South Africa. We all know people, whether materially successful or not, who stand out among us as exceptional examples of common love.
To repeat this most fundamental form of egalitarianism- Every one of us can achieve the best of being human, the ultimate of human existence, life, and story, not materially, but in terms of what matters most in life- in achievement with regard to love, the one feature that most singularly defines us as human.
Love alone resonates across the cosmos after life. It lasts forever when the material ceases to be.
So I am an egalitarian in regard to this most important feature of human story. Every one of us- from poorest to richest- has equal opportunity to succeed at love, the single most important achievement in human life.
Another study shows that cold in China kills 45 times as many people as heat does…
Peer-Reviewed Study Confirms Cold Temperatures Kill WAY More People Than Heat
And how Biden’s appeasement of climate extremists is responsible for soaring inflation…
Commentary: Joe Biden’s Progressive Energy Agenda Is Causing Soaring Prices
Quotes from above link:
“Unfortunately, the Biden Administration refuses to restart the energy independence it inherited. On its first week in office, it halted all new oil and gas leases on federal lands, which federal courts held was unlawful. Then, after sanctioning importation of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal to the United States, a White House delegation traveled to Venezuela to discuss “energy security,” according to former Press Secretary Jen Psaki. But the United States should never be dependent on murderous thugs or despotic regimes for its energy needs.
“President Biden remains beholden to leftwing climate activists, which is why he is vigorously opposing a return to successful energy policies. Many of these radicals, who are now influencing or directing energy policies, are actively hampering production from private companies through market manipulation or allocation based on investment firm imposed environmental, social or governance (ESG) factors. That’s why our office has launched an investigation of this potentially unlawful behavior.
“There are many imprudent extreme energy policies of the Biden Administration, and the list continues to grow as this crisis broils into a catastrophe. President Biden revoked a key permit to the Keystone Pipeline, ceased drilling for oil in Alaska, ballooned the “social cost of carbon,” and paused new oil and gas leases. With a legacy like this on such a vital component of a functioning nation, it’s no wonder why Americans are being financially devastated at the gas pumps….”
As with everything else (i.e. inflation) will Biden now blame Putin for his spill when getting off his bike the other day? The Dems have blamed Russia for pretty much everything over past years- i.e. the election of Trump (the greatest “conspiracy theory” ever), the Hunter Biden laptop (“Russian disinformation” according to many “intelligence” people), and more.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/will-biden-also-blame-putin-for-his-bicycle-spill
Pushback against ESG infiltration of the business world, a version of the Chinese “social credit” scoring program.
Milton Friedman noted back in 1970 that the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement was a kind of back-door subversive crusade of socialist/environmentalist extremism to reshape the business world, something these branches of ideology could not gain support for through the normal democratic process of societies. CSR is the same as the contemporary ESG movement- “Environmental and Social Corporate Governance”.
Friedman’s point was that businesses should exist to fulfill the founding purposes of their owners/shareholders/customers- to provide some service or product. They do not exist to fulfill broader public services, such as welfare or environmentalist projects, though they may also contribute to such outcomes simply as natural by-products of their main purpose (i.e. all businesses are obligated to follow general codes to not pollute their environments). Contributing to other social concerns should be based on general public support gained via democratic processes and legislation.
Contributing to other social concerns, aside from the main founding purpose of any given business, should be the personal projects of the members of the given business, but those people should use their personal funds to fulfill their personal choices to engage such projects, and not use the funds of the business (i.e. other’s money) to do so. Using the general funds of the business to push other social responsibilities is not democratic and undermines the freedom of others, that is to say- freedom in general.
Pushback against these non-democratic crusades to reshape business (CSR, ESG) started with Milton Friedman’s New York Times essay in 1970:
Over subsequent years others have exposed and taken up the task to counter this attempted socialist/Green takeover of the business realm.
https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-is-corporate-social-responsibility-killing-alberta-oil
https://financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-from-northern-gateway-to-keystone-the-undefinable-social-licence-movement-is-in-control-of-jobs-and-growth
Other links to commentary on ESG….
Phil Gramm and Mike Solon: “The ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ war on the Enlightenment” (Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2022)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/stakeholder-capitalism-enlightenment-blackrock-esg-index-fund-passive-invest-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-retirement-11653313715
Rupert Darwall: “Capitalism, Socialism and ESG” (the ideology of ESG)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2021/rupert_darwall_capitalism_socialism_and_esg_may_2021.pdf
Matthew Lau: Memo to Bank of Canada
https://financialpost.com/opinion/matthew-lau-memo-to-the-bank-of-canada-your-target-is-inflation-not-carbon
Best of late night comedy shows
This is another brilliant piece by Greg Gutfeld on social issues and the reason why his ratings swamp all other late night shows (his numbers are exaggerated in this bit for comedy effect but probably not far off in terms of actual ratings comparisons). Especially note the clip of Supreme Court Justice (liberal/Democrat) Sonia Sotomayor praising justice Clarence Thomas for his humanity and kindness. They disagree on many court rulings but respect one another as friends.
This mutual respect is becoming rare in a world where politicians and their mainstream media colleagues incite endless hatred for those they disagree with, smearing opponents endlessly with “racist… evil… white supremacist…end of democracy” slanders (both sides do such). Those of you on the Left side, try to get over your fear of Fox News just to listen to this brilliant bit of social commentary typical of Gutfeld…
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6308241811112#sp=show-clips
Joseph Campbell offered some good insights on human development, often focusing particularly on the development of young males.
One critical thing: The first step in beginning the process of development as a human being, said Campbell, is to take responsibility for your mistakes and failures. Own them and learn from them. And then correct those areas of failure to live as human.
Admitting failure is difficult for most people to engage. We all naturally become defensive, especially if our failures are pointed out by others in a less-than-loving manner (i.e. if accusatory).
There are ways that parents can encourage the acceptance of failure in the development of their children, as a less threatening process.
Here is an example of a non-threatening approach: “Parents who raise ‘confident, smart and empathic’ children do these 5 things when their kids misbehave” by Lynne Azarchi…
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/01/parents-who-raise-confident-smart-and-empathetic-children-do-things-when-their-kids-misbehave.html
And to the contrary, we have numerous public examples of people refusing to take this first step in human development- i.e. the admission/acceptance of failure- notably, public figures like Bill Cosby, now in his Eighties (and with a doctorate in education). Cosby refuses to even start the process of owning failure that most 4 and 5 year-olds (or younger children) have already begun to learn.
Another critical point in human development and maturing:
Campbell noted that we reach full human maturity (i.e. we “tower in stature as maturely human”) when we orient our lives to “universal love”. Then we become the authentic heroes of our story, of our life quest. Like a Mandela.
Campbell framed this ultimate stage of mature human development in terms of learning to inclusively love even enemies. He said that life would test us in this regard and we could maintain our humanity by remembering that even our enemies are still intimate family.
“When life produces what the intellect names evil, we may enter into righteous battle, contending ‘from loyalty of heart’: however, if the principle of love (Christ’s ‘Love your enemies’) is lost thereby, our humanity too will be lost. “Man” in the words of the American novelist Hawthorne, “must not disclaim his brotherhood even with the guiltiest”.”
Yes, we all serve as either inspirations or warnings to one another.
Watch as summer progresses across the Northern Hemisphere and every hot day or hot spell becomes further evidence for alarmism prophets to buttress their climate apocalypse narrative.
Here is some counter evidence from Skeptical Environmentalist author and professor of statistics, Bjorn Lomborg (meaning he knows data). Here are quotes from his book “False Alarm” where he notes that the far greater threat humanity faces is from cold, not from more heat. Further climate warming will benefit all life, and save many more people from cold deaths than might die from heat deaths.
“There is nothing good about heat waves- they are dangerous and kill people. But in fact, cold weather is far more dangerous and kills more of the population. This means that as the world gets warmer many people will actually benefit.
“Scientists who undertook the biggest ever study of heat and cold deaths, published in Lancet in 2015, examined seventy-four million total deaths from all causes in 384 locations in thirteen countries… The scientists found that heat caused almost 0.5 percent of all deaths, but more than 7 percent of all deaths were caused by cold. For every heat death, seventeen die from the cold…. Deaths caused by the cold get less attention partly because they are less sudden. Heat kills when body temperature gets too high, and this alters the fluid and electrolyte balance in weaker, often older people. Cold usually kills because the body restricts blood flow to the skin, increasing blood pressure and lowering our defenses against infections.
“Essentially, heat kills within a few days, whereas cold kills over weeks. In just the thirteen countries examined in the massive Lancet study, one hundred forty thousand people died from heat each year, and more than two million from the cold. We hear about heat waves that in a few days cause hundreds of deaths, but we do not hear about the thousands of slower cold deaths; this is because there are no TV cameras when mostly elderly, weak individuals expire over weeks or months in anonymous apartments.
“… One example- the United Kingdom. Each year, the UK experiences 33 cold deaths for every heat death. In one recent winter in England and Wales, the cold killed 43,000 people… Yet, this didn’t become a widely known story because these cold deaths didn’t fit the broader climate change narrative.
“It is similarly true for India. Recently, CNN capped a monthlong report on the frightening impact of heat in India with the headline “Dozens Dead in One of India’s Longest Heat Waves”. It was a powerful story told by media and climate campaigners around the world. But it was also rather curious because it focused on the smallest risk from temperature- related heat deaths. In fact, the scientific literature shows that while extreme heat kills 25,000 people each year in India, extreme cold kills twice as many. Indeed, the biggest killer is moderate cold, which kills an astounding 580,000 each year.
“CNN could have written plenty of stories telling us “Normal cold temperatures in India kill more than a half million people”, but it never did…
“The latest US data… shows that heat deaths are few and are in fact declining (because, in spite of the research assumption, people do buy air conditioning), whereas cold deaths are far larger, and are actually increasing.
“Why? It turns out that reducing death from heat is easier than reducing death from cold, in part because heat is a short-term phenomenon. You need an air conditioner just for a heat wave, and maybe you sit in the room where its working for the worst days, whereas the cold requires long-term structural responses such as insulating your home and workplace, and continuous heating throughout the winter months.
“If we assume there is no adaptation, it is true that rising temperatures mean heat deaths will increase. But surely, we should also recognize that higher temperatures mean fewer people will die from cold. And since cold deaths outweigh heat deaths almost everywhere, it turns out that even without adaptation, moderate temperature increases will likely mean that the people who didn’t die of cold will roughly outweigh the additional deaths from heat…. Since it is much easier to adapt to heat than to cold, it is likely that the big killer will remain cold.
“Two lessons… First, hearing only about deaths caused by heat means we end up believing things are much worse, leading to more fear. Second, it means we focus on the smaller problem of heat deaths that in many places is relatively easily solved by simple adaptation measures already being undertaken.
“Instead, we focus too little on the bigger and often stubborn problem of cold deaths… A 2015 analysis of heat and cold deaths in Madrid showed that not only are cold deaths outweighing heat deaths five to one but also heat deaths are declining especially in the older age groups, however, cold deaths are increasing for all groups.”
And so on… Excellent research from a respected climate expert.
Another good one from Lomborg:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-rich-worlds-climate-hypocrisy-energy-fossil-fuel-wind-solar-panel-india-poverty-power-battery-storage-11655654331?mc_cid=da0f6c4994&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f
Quotes from above Lomborg link:
“The developed world’s response to the global energy crisis has put its hypocritical attitude toward fossil fuels on display. Wealthy countries admonish developing ones to use renewable energy. Last month the Group of Seven went so far as to announce they would no longer fund fossil-fuel development abroad. Meanwhile, Europe and the U.S. are begging Arab nations to expand oil production. Germany is reopening coal power plants, and Spain and Italy are spending big on African gas production. So many European countries have asked Botswana to mine more coal that the nation will more than double its exports.
“The developed world became wealthy through the pervasive use of fossil fuels, which still overwhelmingly power most of its economies. Solar and wind power aren’t reliable, simply because there are nights, clouds and still days. Improving battery storage won’t help much: There are enough batteries in the world today only to power global average electricity consumption for 75 seconds. Even though the supply is being scaled up rapidly, by 2030 the world’s batteries would still cover less than 11 minutes. Every German winter, when solar output is at its minimum, there is near-zero wind energy available for at least five days—or more than 7,000 minutes.
“This is why solar panels and wind turbines can’t deliver most of the energy for industrializing poor countries. Factories can’t stop and start with the wind; steel and fertilizer production are dependent on coal and gas; and most solar and wind power simply can’t deliver the power necessary to run the water pumps, tractors, and machines that lift people out of poverty.
“That’s why fossil fuels still provide more than three-fourths of wealthy countries’ energy, while solar and wind deliver less than 3%. An average person in the developed world uses more fossil-fuel-generated energy every day than all the energy used by 23 poor Africans.
“Yet the world’s rich are trying to choke off funding for new fossil fuels in developing countries. An estimated 3.5 billion of the world’s poorest people have no reliable access to electricity. Rather than give them access to the tools that have helped rich nations develop, wealthy countries blithely instruct developing nations to skip coal, gas and oil, and go straight to a green nirvana of solar panels and wind turbines.
“This promised paradise is a sham built on wishful thinking and green marketing. Consider the experience of Dharnai, an Indian village that Greenpeace in 2014 tried to turn into the country’s first solar-powered community.
“Greenpeace received glowing global media attention when it declared that Dharnai would refuse “to give into the trap of the fossil fuel industry.” But the day the village’s solar electricity was turned on, the batteries were drained within hours. One boy remembers being unable to do his homework early in the morning because there wasn’t enough power for his family’s one lamp.
“Villagers were told not to use refrigerators or televisions because they would exhaust the system. They couldn’t use cookstoves and had to continue burning wood and dung, which creates air pollution as dangerous for a person’s health as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, according to the World Health Organization. Across the developing world, millions die prematurely every year because of this indoor pollution.
“In August 2014, Greenpeace invited one of the Indian’s state’s top politicians, who soon after become its chief minister, to admire the organization’s handiwork. He was met by a crowd waving signs and chanting that they wanted “real electricity” to replace this “fake electricity.”…
“This is why, for all the rich world’s talk of climate activism, developed nations are still on track to continue to rely mostly on fossil fuels for decades. The International Energy Agency estimates that even if all current climate policies are delivered in full, renewables will only deliver one-third of U.S. and EU energy in 2050. The developing world isn’t blind to this hypocrisy. Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, articulated the situation elegantly: “No country in the world has been able to industrialize using renewable energy,” yet Africa is expected to do so “when everybody else in the world knows that we need gas-powered industries for business.”
And this on the media claim that climate change is worsening wildfires…
New Data Absolutely Destroys Media Claims of ‘Climate Change is Causing More Wildfire’
This site promotes the evidence showing that there is no “climate crisis” and the mild warming of the past century or so (roughly 1 degree C) has been significantly beneficial to all life in our sub-optimally cold world- i.e. compared to paleo-climate history showing that for over 90% of the past 500 million years of life, the Earth has been entirely ice-free with evidence of the remains of tropical plants and animals found in the polar regions. Meaning that a much warmer world results in expanded habitats for all life, with the migration of the far more diverse flora and fauna of tropical regions into colder regions of Earth. Hence, why such hysteria over melting ice on our planet? An ice-free world, in paleo-climate context, is historically normal, natural, and optimal for all life.
(Insert note: Physicist Freeman Dyson and climate physicist Richard Lindzen, among others, have noted that global warming does not necessarily make warm areas of the world hotter but the increased heat is carried by ocean and atmospheric convection currents to the colder regions of the planet. Hence, increased warming beneficially impacts colder regions, colder seasons (i.e. winter), and colder times of day (i.e. night). All net good for life.)
Further degrees of warming will continue to be net beneficial to all life and more basic plant food (CO2) will continue to green our planet, as it has over the past century (15% more green vegetation across the Earth over just the past 40 years).
This site will also continue to tackle the basic mythical themes, the apocalyptic mythology, of alarmism movements (“profoundly religious crusades”). Climate change alarmism has incited the public’s survival impulse, rendering populations susceptible to irrational salvation schemes like decarbonization. Wendell Krossa
Polar bear expert Susan Crockford on evidence of polar bear subpopulation surviving well without sea ice, just as polar bears have survived previous ice-free interglacials…
Newly-discovered SE Greenland Polar Bear Subpopulation: Another Assumption Proven False
This from latest Net Zero Watch newsletter (June 16, 2022)…
“Rich nations hit brakes on climate aid to poor at UN talks
Associated Press, 16 June 2022
“BERLIN (AP) — Rich countries including the European Union and the United States have pushed back against efforts to put financial help for poor nations suffering the devastating effects of global warming firmly on the agenda for this year’s U.N. climate summit.”
My response:
“Suffering the devastating effects of global warming”. This mantra is proclaimed endlessly in news media and is quite entirely distorting of the true state of things. It is a reference to the scattered heat waves of our modern era and associated mortality (episodes that are related more naturally to weather, not climate). Note in this regard that the respected medical journal The Lancet states that far more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. And the mild warming of past decades has resulted in far more people saved from cold deaths than any increased mortality from heat deaths. Meaning, global warming has been net beneficial to humanity and more warming in our still abnormally cold world would be further beneficial to all life.
Again- There is no “climate crisis” (except for still too much cold in our world) and no need to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.
Note: The worst heat waves in North America occurred in the 1930s, notably 1935-6. Contrary to media reporting, we are not experiencing “the worst heat waves on record” today.
The key issue in the climate debate is the role of CO2. The framing question of the debate- Is CO2 the main influence on climate change and is climate change becoming “an existential threat… a crisis… a catastrophe”? Evidence shows that the warming over the past decades, and century, has been mild and beneficial to all life.
Further, counter evidence shows that other natural factors overwhelm the CO2 influence, rendering CO2 a “bit player” in climate change. And further, the CO2 warming influence decreases logarithmically with rising levels and will not contribute to much more warming. Again, the increase in CO2 has been hugely beneficial in greening the planet (a 15 % increase in green vegetation across the Earth since 1980).
The apocalyptic scenarios of the climate alarm crusade are based on climate models that have been discredited for falsely predicting excessive warming that has not occurred.
Conclusion? Once again, there is no sound scientific reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.
Defining themes of “profoundly religious” crusades: Wendell Krossa
(1) The loss of an imagined original paradise due to corrupt/sinful, fallen humanity (i.e. life degenerating over the long-term from a “better past”, and a “self-loathing” of humanity as essentially evil and at fault for the degradation of the world and life).
(2) Prophesies of looming apocalypse (decline of life toward a worsening world, toward some great collapse and ending of life).
(3) Required salvation scheme (contemporary version- decarbonization to “save the world”).
(4) Necessary violent purging of “evil”, a great cleansing of the world, a purifying (today- purge the “evil” of the “pollutant” CO2, and industrial civilization).
(5) The felt need for the heroic engagement of a “righteous battle against evil”.
(6) Stark tribal division of humanity- identifying one’s side as good, against the other side as evil.
(7) Promise of a restored paradise or new millennial utopia.
(8) Never admitting your apocalyptic vision is essentially mythical (even though given contemporary “secular/ideological/scientific” expression) and that it distorts entirely the true state of life (i.e. endlessly resetting the dates for the end of life, as the end never arrives because life is on an endlessly improving long-term trajectory).
This article from Die Welt, translated by Alex Bojanowski and posted in latest Net Zero Watch newsletter (June 16, 2022 Net Zero Samizdat):
(Note: I am not affirming Bengtsson’s comments that we need to engage the transition to renewables because good science contradicts the alarmist claim (1) that CO2 is mainly responsible for climate change and (2) that climate change will become “catastrophic” with further rising CO2 levels and further warming. In fact, the opposite is proving true- that further warming will continue to result in net beneficial outcomes for all life and more basic plant food will continue to green our planet, meaning even more food for animal life and increased crop production for humanity. Alarmist media ignore these beneficial outcomes for ongoing hysteria over their apocalyptic narrative re naturally changing climate.)
Lennart Bengtsson: “Knowledge is the best medication against climate fear”
Die Welt, 15 June 2022
Quotes:
“There is no climate crisis, (Bengtsson) says, a warming climate is beneficial in some parts of the world, and the consequences and impacts of global warming can be curtailed. Climate policies that are too ambitious could even be harmful.
“(Bengtsson) I don’t think the current warming should be called a crisis. Global food production, for example, is increasing. And despite a rapidly growing population and continuing warming far fewer people die as a result of extreme weather than in the past.
“The number of people dying from extreme weather events has decreased significantly due to more accurate forecasting and improved warning systems. I’m afraid the news media are often not in the picture on this subject, they often present too much of a simple picture. In fact, far more people die from the cold than from the heat.
“Most extreme weather events are not caused by high temperatures but are caused by temperature differences. This is why storms are more intense during the winter season. In fact, it is to be expected that certain weather extremes such as extratropical storms could become even weaker in a warmer climate.
“I find it difficult to accept that a warmer climate is higher latitudes should be negative. An ice-free Arctic Ocean will encourage and enable more fishing, simplify shipping and transport and create better living conditions, better opportunities for farming and more productive forestry in places like Canada, Scandinavia and Russia.
“I think the general public debate tends to regard all climate change as something negative, without pointing out that some climate changes are positive or even natural processes that have always existed. The warmer climate in Europe today is more favorable for society than the typical climate of the 19th century.
“But there are disagreements about how fast the warming is taking place and how damaging the warming could be. There isn’t a real consensus on whether or not extreme weather has gotten worse
“(Die Welt interviewer) What do you say to young people or your compatriot Greta Thunberg, who is in panic over this prospect?
“Bengtsson: My recommendation to the younger generations is that they engage intensively with the topic and learn more about the climate system. Knowledge is my opinion the best medication against climate fear.
Here is the Introduction to Lennart Bengtsson’s interview in Die Welt, by Alex Bojanowski:
“Lennart Bengtsson is one of the most renowned climate scientists – and he opposes catastrophism: There is no climate crisis, he says, a warming climate is beneficial in some parts of the world, and the consequences and impacts of global warming can be curtailed. Climate policies that are too ambitious could even be harmful.
“The climate scientist and Nobel Prize winner Klaus Hasselmann paid tribute to his Swedish colleague: “He is an experienced and highly respected meteorologist and climate expert,” writes Hasselmann in his dedication to Bengtsson’s new book. The Swede makes “a realistic yet optimistic assessment of the available options for change,” Hasselmann summarises.
“Bengtsson’s book “Vad händer med Klimatet” (“What’s happening to the climate?”) has just been published in Swedish. It offers matter-of-fact, basic knowledge about climate change.
“WELT spoke to Bengtsson about his perspective on global warming.”