“Apocalyptic mythology has always made fools of normally bright people”.
Fascinating report on the possible origin of Covid:
https://nicholaswade.medium.com/origin-of-covid-following-the-clues-6f03564c038
Note: Martin Seligman in ‘Learned Optimism’ noted the post-WW2 reaction in US academia to “Boosterism”- the enthusiastic promotion of something. Academics came to believe that pessimism was deep, while optimism was shallow.
Science facts: Keep the larger paleo-climate context in mind in order to understand the “true state of things.” Wendell Krossa
Some interesting research has shown that the previous interglacial, the Eemian of some 130-115,000 years ago, was at least 1 degree C. warmer than our current Holocene interglacial. Others, like Patrick Moore, say the Eemian was 2-4 degrees C warmer. Both of the previous two interglacials were warmer than our Holocene interglacial. We are on a long-term cooling trend.
Add here that the warmer interglacials that punctuate glaciations also experience repeated episodes of warming and cooling periods. There is no such thing as stasis in climate. There are numerous natural shifts in climate that occur in cyclical patterns over decades, centuries, and millennia. Before blaming humanity, we ought to educate ourselves regarding these facts.
Over the 10,000 years of our interglacial there has been a long-term cooling trend with regard to the warm periods of our interglacial. The Holocene Optimum (roughly 7000 to 3000 BCE) was at least 1 degree warmer than our current modern warm period. Some say the Holocene Optimum was 3 degrees C warmer but that may refer to different local situations during that time. And the Roman (250 BCE to 400 CE) and Medieval (950 to 1250 CE) warm periods were at least 1 degree C warmer than today.
Over the last 5000 years since the Holocene Optimum ended, we have been on a long-term cooling trend, the “Neo-Glacial Period”. Each warm period is now cooler than previous ones. We are on a long-term climate trend that is declining toward a cooler future, not warmer. Cooling, not warming, ought to be our greater concern. After all, 15-20 times more people die from cold every year, than die from warmth.
Qualifier: Being a polite Canadian (“Sorry, eh”) I am conflicted over using potentially offense-inciting terms like “insanity, lunacy, craziness”. But how else to describe what is happening with climate alarmism today? Sorry, eh. But…
Stand back and observe...
Stand back for a moment and survey the public scene today, notably the alarmist movement that hysterically claims we face an existential “climate crisis”. Try to get some sense of the profound irrationality that has possessed so many people, irrationality that stems from the apocalyptic-porn narratives that now dominate the worldviews of many scientists, celebrities, politicians, and members of news media. A daily outpouring of madness.
The very basic food of all life- CO2- has been in historically short supply, at dangerously low levels in the pre-industrial era. Some 20,000 years ago it even dipped below 200 ppm, down to 185 ppm, just 35 ppm above the level at which all plant life dies- 150 ppm. Life on Earth was suffering from a long-term “CO2 starvation era”. See Patrick Moore’s excellent treatment of this paleo-climate history in his latest book “Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom” and his excellent essay on the same topic at-
http://ecosense.me/ecosense-wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CO2-Emissions.pdf
Now that CO2 has slightly recovered to 400-plus ppm, the planet has greened immensely, adding green vegetation equal to twice the size of the continental US over the past 40 years. However, CO2 is still far below the healthier levels of most of past history when CO2 was in the multiple-thousands of ppm. Life thrived during such eras. CO2 was at 7000 ppm during the Cambrian Explosion when the proto-forms of all modern life emerged.
Yet alarmists, duped by a fact-distorting apocalyptic worldview, have demonized the food of life as a “pollutant/poison” that threatens life and must be purged from the atmosphere. That is unscientific and irrational nonsense. And where has this alarmist narrative taken populations? Down a rabbit hole where black is white, and white is black. Upside down madness.
Temperatures are also still at historically dangerous lows compared to most of past history. 15 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. Several more degrees of warming will also help life to thrive more with expanded habitats for animal and human life.
Here is a reposting of previous article, now revised.
The nihilist-like Western death wish, Wendell Krossa (“Nihilism” in the sense of extreme pessimism and the impulse to destroy)
(Note: Exaggerated fear feeds crowd hysteria and results in states of mass delusion- populations willing to believe absurdities and embrace policies that are self-destructive. The material below comments on the outcomes of the Chicken Little narratives that now dominate climate science.)
Politicians, celebrities, alarmist scientists, and too-often-hysterical mass media have captured world attention with a stunningly false narrative.
The Declinism narrative (i.e. life declining toward something worse) now dominates world consciousness. The ideology of Declinism in given expression in the widespread claim that we are heading toward an “existential crisis… a climate crisis”. Climate alarmists tell us that in just a few years (2030 has been set as one date for the end of the world) we will face a climate catastrophe, environmental collapse, and even the end of life. The Declinist narrative is further affirmed with claims of approaching catastrophes like “species holocaust”, or that we are losing the “lungs of the planet”, and more. (Insert note: “(Declinism) has become arguably the single most dominant and influential theme in culture and politics in the twentieth century”, Arthur Herman, ‘The Idea of Decline in Western History’.)
Every twitch in weather today, every heat wave or cold spell, every storm, has become more proffered evidence of looming apocalypse. Despite the fact that such things have been a natural part of life over all history, and despite the fact that such events were more frequent and more severe in the past. Note, for example, that climate changes were far more severe over the last 30-40,000 years of the glaciation just before our inter-glacial began (i.e. the ‘Wisconsin’ glaciation in North America). The climate change swings (warming, cooling) during our Holocene inter-glacial have been mild in comparison to those previous eras.
See the graph of climate changes over the past 50,000 years on page 33 in Professor Ian Plimer’s “Heaven And Earth”, a detailed treatment of paleo-climate history. Paleo-climate history is the “big picture” that enables us to understand our experiences in full context, to understand the “true state” of things.
Alarmists have identified what they believe is the single most dominant causal factor (the enemy) that will bring on the climate apocalypse- i.e. CO2 as the marker of human excess in industrial society. Alarmists claim that rising CO2 represents too many people enjoying the good life too much, a life based on inexpensive fossil fuels. The very thing that has led to unprecedented improvement of the human condition, and improvement of all life, has been demonized as the great threat to life.
Alarmist prophets push themselves to center stage with lurid scenarios of looming death. Fear now dominates the consciousness of many people and exaggerated, unwarranted fear leads to the abandonment of rational thought. People then believe the most absurd things. The survival impulse takes precedence and consequently many now embrace the salvation plan offered by alarmist prophets- i.e. that we must ‘decarbonize’ our societies, in order to “save the world”. We are told that we know the enemy- greedy people using too much fossil fuel. And look, there is the plain evidence- CO2 keeps rising, obviously taking us to the end of the world. How can you unbelievers deny this? How can you still not believe our story?
To affirm their narrative of looming apocalypse, the climate alarm prophets endlessly set and reset dates that are equally endlessly passed because the end never arrives. The prophets terrorize populations by constantly emphasizing “imminence”. Much like religious prophets: “Repent, the end-of-days is nigh”. Their story-line that “we are rapidly running out of time” creates a sense of desperation and urgency.
That alarmist prophesying of imminent disaster then validates the unleashing of the totalitarian impulse of alarmists. Imminence affirms that there is no more time for normal democratic processes. Infidels that argue for open, free, and ongoing debate/discussion are blocking salvation and promoting murderous delay. The saviors of life, on a righteous crusade, cannot permit that. Instead, they demand coercive, even violent purging of the threat, and immediately. Not tomorrow after more debate or dissent. No. That is criminal as President Obama’s AG, Loretta Lynch, tried to assert in 2016. That is murderous delay. Evil.
Consequently, Declinism has been promoted to terrorize and traumatize public consciousness. And it has succeeded. Surveys affirm that most people believe that life is getting worse. A ‘YouGov’ survey of 17 countries, in 2015, found that 58% of respondents believed the world was getting worse with only 11% believing that it was getting better. 65% of Americans believed the world was getting worse with only 6% thinking it was getting better (See Introduction, ‘Ten Global Trends’, by Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy).
And so the death wish of Western society continues. As climate physicist Richard Lindzen said, “Decarbonization… is to plan for the suicide of industrial society”.
How does the Western death wish work itself out in populations? Promoting apocalyptic mythology unhinges people with fear and renders them susceptible to nihilist-like solutions to save themselves. The salvation schemes of climate apocalyptics are destructive in the extreme. So yes, they do amount to a death wish. Read, for example, the apocalyptic millennial scholars and be stunned to see that the very same apocalyptic millennial themes that incited the mass-death movements of the past century- Marxism and Nazism- are now driving environmental alarmism. (Sources: Arthur Herman’s “The Idea of Decline in Western History”, Richard Landes’ “Heaven On Earth”, Arthur Mendel’s “Vision and Violence”, and David Redles’ “Hitler’s Millennial Reich”.)
The madness of the climate crisis hysteria is highlighted by the amassed evidence that affirms an entirely contrary story of life- that life has never been better and it continues to improve.
Consider: The food of all life- CO2- had been declining over past millions of years till life had reached a desperate situation just 20,000 years ago, just before our Holocene inter-glacial began. Plant life was becoming more stressed and was on its way to a mass die-off as CO2 levels dipped below 200 ppm (see paleo-climate detail in Patrick Moore’s “Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom”). Plants die when CO2 sinks to 150 ppm. Humanity has now contributed to the recovery of CO2 levels with the initiation of industrial society and its use of fossil fuels. Our contribution is helping CO2 levels rise back toward the healthier levels of past eras when life flourished with more of its basic plant food.
(Note that the Cambrian Explosion occurred when CO2 levels were above 5000 ppm. For much of the emergence and development of life over past history, CO2 levels were in the multiple-thousands of ppm. Plants prefer levels of 1000-1500 ppm.)
Now that CO2 levels are recovering, this food of all life has greened the world. There has been a 15% increase in green vegetation biomass over just the past 40 years. That is an area of green vegetation twice the size of the continental US. Animals are loving more food. And humanity now produces 25% more food than we need, enough to feed 10 billion people. Crop production continues to break annual records. Despite this amazing evidence of life prospering, alarmists would have us believe we are facing some imagined “existential crisis”. And CO2 levels are still far below the much higher and healthier levels of most past history.
Further, the world has also just recovered a bit from the destructive cold of the Little Ice Age of 1645-1725. However, we are still far below the warmer average temperatures of the past hundreds of millions of years when life thrived in a much warmer world. 15 times more people still die from cold every year than die from warmth. A bit more warmth in our ice age era has been positive. Further mild warmth of several degrees will be even better and will further enhance life.
More warmth does not mean that currently tropical areas will get hotter because added heat energy, through atmospheric and ocean convection currents, is distributed more to colder regions like the poles. That means expanded animal and human habitats. Heat is also distributed to colder seasons and to colder times of day (i.e. night time).
Try to embrace some sense of the insanity of the alarmist narrative that so entirely contradicts the true state of things. Alarmists insist on claiming that the food of all life, in short supply and now recovering slightly, is purportedly going to destroy life? Even as life shows immense improvement now from getting more food? More plant food is a threat to life? How insane has this climate alarmist narrative become that demonizes the very basis of life- CO2?
Note carefully the many lines of good evidence that contradict the climate alarmism narrative. Severe storms have not increased (due to lessening gradients between cold and warm areas). Tornadoes have declined over past decades. Sea level rise continues at a small annual increase (2.0- 3.6 mm) just as it has risen gradually across past centuries and millennia, notably during inter-glacials. Wildfires are on a declining trend across the world.
The hottest years on record were during the 1930s, not during the past decade as alarmists have claimed. And it has been much warmer for most of this Holocene interglacial (i.e. during the Holocene Optimum, and Roman and Medieval Warm Periods that preceded our modern mild warming period). Over the past 5 millennia we have been on a long-term cooling trend as our present warm period has been cooler than previous warm periods (again, the Roman and Medieval warm periods were 1 degree C. warmer than our recent warming).
“From about 5,000 years ago our interglacial began a long-term cooling trend (the “Neoglacial” period)”. See “The True State of Life”, just below.
Further: Species extinctions are declining (again, see ‘The True State of Life on Earth’, below). Forest cover has increased over the past 70 years from 3.8 billion to 4.1 billion hectares. Ocean fisheries are not being decimated. Human violence has declined across history. Deaths from climate or other natural disasters are at all time lows (95% decline since 1900).
There are many problems on Earth to solve, but we are doing well in responding to them. So why all this hysteria and fear over changes in the natural world? The evidence on the state of our world undermines the alarmist narrative entirely. We are left to conclude that the alarmist narrative must serve some ideological purpose. That has to do with the use of fear for the purpose of political manipulation as H. L. Mencken stated well, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” See also David Altheide’s “Creating Fear: News and the construction of crisis”.
I would argue that the origins of this Western death wish are located further back than just 19th Century Declinist ideology, far back in the primitive mythology of our ancestors. Our ancestors long ago embraced the primitive mythological themes of ‘apocalyptic millennialism’. Those include the beliefs that there was a deity that had created an originally perfect world. But early corrupted people committed an original sin and ruined the paradise. The creating deity became pissed at human imperfection/sin and threatened to punish and destroy people for ruining his originally perfect world. That angry deity then demanded an appeasing sacrifice along with the violent purging of the sinful people (and their society) that had become the great threat to life.
Many people today continue to embrace and advocate these primitive ideas. We see them throughout the current alarmist narrative that distorts entirely the true story of life. Alarmism is an entirely false narrative of reality and life. It has to be exposed for what it really is- primitive apocalyptic thinking that promotes salvation schemes that amount to destructive nihilistic death wishes.
Highly recommended… “The Positive Impact of Human CO2 Emissions on the Survival of Life on Earth”, Patrick Moore http://ecosense.me/ecosense-wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CO2-Emissions.pdf
The big picture of paleo-climate gets us to “the true state of things”. Quotes from Moore essay…
“• This study looks at the positive environmental effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a topic which has been well established in the scientific literature but which is far too often ignored in the current discussions about climate change policy.
“• All life is carbon based and the primary source of this carbon is the CO2 in the global atmosphere.
“• As recently as 18,000 years ago, at the height of the most recent major glaciation, CO2 dipped to its lowest level in recorded history at 180 ppm, low enough to stunt plant growth. This is only 30 ppm above a level that would result in the death of plants due to CO2 starvation.
“• It is calculated that if the decline in CO2 levels were to continue at the same rate as it has over the past 140 million years, life on Earth would begin to die as soon as two million years from now and would slowly perish almost entirely as carbon continued to be lost to the deep ocean sediments.
“• The combustion of fossil fuels for energy to power human civilization has reversed the downward trend in CO2 and promises to bring it back to levels that are likely to foster a considerable increase in the growth rate and biomass of plants, including food crops and trees.
“• Human emissions of CO2 have restored a balance to the global carbon cycle, thereby ensuring the long-term continuation of life on Earth.
“• This extremely positive aspect of human CO2 emissions must be weighed against the unproven hypothesis that human CO2 emissions will cause a catastrophic warming of the climate in coming years.
“• The one-sided political treatment of CO2 as a pollutant that should be radically reduced must be corrected in light of the indisputable scientific evidence that it is essential to life on Earth…
Further quotes from the Moore study…
“Then after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, there began a 50-million-year cooling trend in global temperature to the current era. (See Figure 5) The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum saw an average global temperature as much as 16°C higher than the temperature today. Yet, the ancestors of every species living today must have survived through this period, as they had also survived through previous much colder climates. It is instructive to note that despite the numerous periods of extreme climatic conditions and cataclysmic events, every species alive today is descended from species that survived those conditions. This leads one to question the predictions of mass species extinction and the collapse of human civilization if the average global temperature exceeds a rise of 2°C above today’s level…
“Figure 5. Global surface temperature from 65 million YBP showing the major cooling trend over the past 50 million years. While the poles were considerably warmer than they are today, there was much less warming in the tropics, which remained habitable throughout. The Earth is in one of the coldest periods during the past 600 million years.
“It may seem surprising that the average global temperature could have been 16°C higher in previous ages, as this would appear to render parts of the Earth that are warm today virtually uninhabitable. The key to understanding this is that when the Earth warms, it does so disproportionally, depending on the latitude. While the Arctic and Antarctic experience considerable warming, there is much less warming in the tropics. Thus, the tropical regions remain habitable while the high latitudes shift from polar to temperate, and during the warmest ages, they shift to a tropical climate. It is clear from the 800,000-year Antarctic ice core record that the coldest periods during major glaciations coincide with the lowest levels of CO2 in the atmosphere…
“It is not widely known that greenhouse operators worldwide inject additional CO2 into their greenhouses in order to increase the growth and yield of their crops. Among horticulturalists, it is well known that this practice can increase growth by 40 per cent or more. This is because the optimum level of CO2 for plant growth is between 1,000 ppm and 3,000 ppm in air, much higher than the 400 ppm in the global atmosphere today. Every species on Earth, including our own, is descended from ancestors that thrived in climates with much higher levels of CO2 than are present today…
“The debate about climate change has one side insisting that the “science is settled.” Yet, there is no scientific proof that increased CO2 will result in disaster, as CO2 has been higher during most of the history of life on Earth than it is today. On the other hand, it can be stated without a doubt that if CO2 once again falls to the level it was only 18,000 years ago, or lower, there would be a catastrophe unlike any known in human history. We are advised by many scientists that we should be worried about CO2 levels climbing higher when, in fact, we should actually be worried about CO2 levels sinking lower.
(Earth now on a long-term cooling trend)
“The present Holocene interglacial has already endured longer than some previous interglacial periods. The Holocene is also somewhat cooler than previous interglacial periods.
“Since the Holocene Optimum began about 9,000 years before present (ka BP), global temperature has fallen by ~1°C, though CO2 concentration rose throughout…
“There is a strong argument to be made that the Earth is already in a cooling trend that is descending into the next 100,000-year cycle of major glaciation. See Figure 4 and note that in the three preceding interglacial periods, there was a sharp peak followed by a steady downward trend in temperature. The peak temperature in this Holocene interglacial period was during the Holocene Optimum between 5,000 and 9,000 years ago. Since then, the warming peaks have been diminishing, and the cool periods have been colder. The Little Ice Age, which peaked about 300 years ago, was likely the coldest period of climate since the Holocene Optimum…
“It is clear from the preceding discussion that rather than bringing on a catastrophic climate condition, human CO2 emissions are serving to reinstate a balance to the global carbon cycle. By reversing the 140-million-year decline in atmospheric CO2, we are helping to ensure the continuation of carbon-based life on Earth.”
Where Is The “Climate Emergency”? by Willis Eschenbach April 25, 2021
Here are the main points from this report, illustrated in the many data graphs included at…
“Deaths from climate-related phenomena are at an all-time low.
“Storminess has not gone up, and there’s been no increase in hurricane strength or frequency.
“Even the IPCC says there’s only one chance in five (“low confidence”) that global droughts are increasing. There is no flood or drought emergency.
“Droughts in the US have been decreasing, not increasing.
“There is no change in total ice mass in Greenland or Antarctica.
“Tide gauges show no increase in the rate of sea-level rise.
“Polar bears, once considered to be the “canary in the coal mine” for the “climate emergency”, are doing very well.
“Yields of all major food crops continue to rise, and humans are better fed, clothed, and housed against the vagaries of weather than at any time in the past.
“Land temperatures have already risen more than the dreaded 2°C, with no cataclysmic consequences.
“None of the endless serial doomcasts from the climate alarmists have come true.
“There has been no global increase in the number of wildfires.
“Increasing CO2 is causing increased plant growth all around the globe, which is increasing the food supplies of humans and animals alike.
“Very hot days in the US, over 100°F (38°F) were much higher in the 1930s than at any other time in the last 125 years.
“There’s no sign of the “50 million climate refugees by 2010” confidently predicted by the United Nations in 2005.
“Coral atolls are not sinking below the seas, in fact many are increasing in size.
“Strong tornadoes in the US are decreasing.
“There’s no sign of the fabled “Sixth Wave Of Extinctions”.
“Climate models have routinely predicted far greater warming than has actually occurred.
“Next, all of the weather risks dramatically foretold by climate alarmists have been with us forever—flood, fire, famine, drought, heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, all are as ancient as the hills. We are protected from the vagaries of weather by one thing—wealth. It is the poorest of the world who are most at risk from flood, fire, and famine. When I was born, about three-quarters of the world lived on less than $1.90 per day. Now, it is less than 10% of the world living in those conditions. This increase in wealth has been driven and fueled by one thing … energy, mostly in the form of fossil fuels.
“So if we wish to keep insulating people from the age-old destructive effects of weather, we need to maintain and increase the amount of cheap energy available, especially to the poor. If you insist on fighting the imaginary climate menace, at least have the kindness and the human decency not to do it on the backs of the poor by increasing energy costs, whether by “carbon taxes” or in any other way.”
Conclusion: There is no “climate emergency”.
“Decarbonization... (is) to plan for the suicide of industrial society”, climate physicist Richard Lindzen.
And this from Joel Kotkin at Spiked, “The Green New Deal will impoverish America”…
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/23/the-green-new-deal-will-impoverish-america/?mc_cid=98f7be9b02&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f
Slay the real monster in life- threat mythology, Wendell Krossa
The main goal of this site has always been to bring down a monster, the monster of exaggerated threat and fear. I have approached this project by tackling the climate alarmism movement and its apocalyptic narrative. This project requires that I then proceed to tackle the core ideas/themes behind environmental alarmism movements- i.e. the complex of apocalyptic millennial themes. The mythology/religion behind what poses as “secular” ideology.
The apocalyptic complex still dominates the world religions and ideologies like Declinism, and its offspring- environmental alarmism. As Joseph Campbell said, the same basic mythical themes have been repeated all across human history and across all the cultures of the world.
Tackling the mythology behind contemporary environmental alarmism gets us to the real monster, the all-too-common belief that there is some punitive, destroying Force or Spirit behind the natural world that punishes humanity via natural disaster, disease, or the predatory cruelty of others (animals, humans). The religious version has long been framed as an angry God punishing sinners. Contemporary “secular” versions include vengeful Gaia, angry planet/Mother Earth, or retributive Universe all punishing humanity the cancer/virus on the planet. Add payback karma to this complex of pathological ideas.
My counter? There is no such reality as some threatening Force or Spirit behind nature and never has been. While there are natural and social consequences to life, there is no ultimate or divine threat behind life. It is all a great lie and always has been.
My response to this greatest of all mental pathologies- angry deity punishing human sin- is that there is only love behind reality and life- a stunningly ‘no conditions’ or unconditional love- and we are that same love in our essential self or spirit. We are not the essentially fallen or sinful beings of religious mythology and we do not deserve punishment or destruction as per religious mythology. More detail below. These two themes alone- a core love behind reality and love at the core of the human spirit- explode humanity’s inherited mythical worldviews and religious narratives entirely.
My project isolates the worst ideas ever embraced by human minds. These ideas still infect/plague human consciousness across the world. I offer alternatives based on the best of human science and spiritual insight. See Old Story Themes, New Story Alternatives in sections below.
Let me interject here that I value science as highly as anyone and appreciate what it has done to improve human understanding and life. But science by its mandate and method is limited to physical reality and therefore limited in its goals and conclusions. And much science has become dominated by philosophical materialism with its essential meaninglessness. Dogmatic materialism, especially, is a philosophy of ultimate despair. Its dogmatism mirrors the very same dogmatism of the religious extremism that it rejects on the opposite pole.
Materialist science does not provide the final answers to humanity’s most important questions. And science does not point to materialist conclusions as many materialists so confidently assume and preach. Science only takes us so far and then we are each on our own to make our own conclusions about reality and life, and what it all means, its point and purpose.
We have other and better alternatives that honor the long history of human awareness of “spiritual” reality beyond the material. By “spiritual” I do not mean religious (“Consciousness is actually a preferable term to ‘spiritual’). And yes, there is the element of speculation in appeal to the spiritual so recognize where that exists and have your reasons and arguments for appeal to that. Remember also that materialist speculation is prominent throughout even the most basic science- physics (i.e. crossing the science/philosophy boundary). See, for example, Sabine Hossenfelder’s “Lost In Math” or Jim Baggott’s “Farewell To Reality”. It is a natural human impulse to reach beyond what our physical senses perceive in order to fulfil the more fundamental human impulse for meaning/purpose. Just recognize what you are doing when you do such.
The real monster of humanity has always been a spiritual reality (threat theology/mythology) and must be slain at that level of human awareness (mental/emotional). This is just as true for so-called “secular” worldviews like climate alarmism as it is for more overtly religious worldviews. Remember Nancy Pelosi in 2020 stating, “Mother Earth is angry” over an environmental situation. She re-affirmed the spiritual beliefs of many self-identifying secular or materialist types. Even the most hard-core materialist types are not as “secular” as they like to imagine. The core themes that we hold in our worldviews determine our actual positions on these issues.
End note: Evidence that most materialists, even atheists, are not as secular as they like to claim? Most embrace the climate apocalypse myth. My reasoning on this (that most believe the environmental alarmism narrative) is based on the proxy evidence from surveys that show a majority of people accept the ideology of Declinism (i.e. believe that the world is heading toward something worse- see, for example, the YouGov survey in “Ten Global Trends” by Bailey and Tupy). Climate apocalypse is a version of the larger environmental alarmism narrative, and that is the offspring of historically earlier myths of decline toward catastrophic ending. All such declinist “ideologies” can be traced back to primitive mythical/religious versions that have long promoted the same core themes.
It cannot be emphasized enough that these apocalyptic declinist themes are entirely contrary to the long-term improving trajectory of life and civilization. That is to say (for clarity’s sake)- they present an entirely false narrative of life.
Another: All religions have ‘threat theology’ theories- i.e. ultimate punishment or destruction by deities or similar Forces such as Karma. It may be the punitive, destroying deities of Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism (Lord Shiva the Destroyer), and Islam. Or it may be the threat that bad behavior has negative consequences in future lives, as per Buddhism and Sikhism.
Threat mythology generates additional unnecessary psychic fear that intensifies the intolerable burden from already excessive human suffering due to natural and social agencies.
Joe and democracy
Joe Biden, in his first State of the Union speech (April 28, 2021), said that he wants to prove to the world that the best counter to expanding autocracies is democracy. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-can-t-stop-thinking-about-china-and-the-future-of-american-democracy/ar-BB1gbhqi?ocid=uxbndlbing
Joe wants to show the world that democracy works better. But Joe, consider that the genius of democracy is the protection of individual freedom and rights not the expansion of government into all areas of human life to control more and more of life as the Green New Deal does, along with other government expansion initiatives (i.e. now re-regulating areas like energy, etc.).
But then if you embrace the myth of climate apocalyptic as Joe does, with its alarmist scenarios of looming (imminent) apocalypse, then that mythology demands the coercive purging of the alarmist’s imagined threat. And because the dates for the end-of-days are always set just a decade or two up ahead then alarmists claim that there is no more time for the normal processes of democracy. You have to silence, ban, and criminalize any who challenge your apocalyptic scenarios, just as Pres. Obama’s AG, Loretta Lynch, tried to criminalize skeptical science in 2016. There is no more time for open and free debate. So demonize your skeptical opponents as “deniers, unbelievers” spreading dangerous “misinformation” that must be criminalized or cancelled.
Democracy Joe? Nonsense. Your solution, notably your Green New Deal, appears to lean toward the very same autocratic impulses as that of the autocrats you challenge. Your proposals to expand government control over citizens lives is not so different in principle from what China or Russia does.
Yes Joe, understand that the genius of Classic Liberal democracy was to limit monarchal/state intervention in average citizen’s lives, to protect average citizens from government interference and control. See Daniel Hannan’s “Inventing Freedom” for the history of emerging institutions and laws that protect individual’s rights and freedoms. It means smaller government that respects individual freedom and self-determination, not expanding government that overrules human freedom.
See ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, episode 1639 with guest Dave Smith, for some great discussion of the “creeping totalitarianism” in our societies today under guise of necessary response to crises that take precedence over basic human rights. Rogan is free on Spotify. This is about our being all too willing to give up freedom without full and ongoing debate over the reasons for doing so and the consequences.
Caution: Unscientific/unproven assumptions, Wendell Krossa
We hear repeatedly in media that we must “limit climate change to 1-2 degrees Centigrade”. But that is based on several unproven assumptions regarding the role of CO2. It assumes that CO2 is the main driver of climate change and that our industrial society is the major contributor to rising CO2 levels. The assumed human ability to limit climate change presumes that we can turn a CO2 knob and control climate.
But good evidence points to the fact that CO2 is a “bit player” in climate change and other natural factors play a much larger role. And we do not know how much our CO2 emissions contribute to rising CO2 levels when natural sources massively overwhelm our output.
Most critical, much good evidence now affirms that rising levels of CO2 are contributing to a significant greening of our planet and that is benefitting both animal and human life with more food. The benefits of more of life’s basic food have been amazing. (See detail and sources throughout this site)
The unproven ‘leaps of assumption’ regarding the role of CO2 in climate change and the assumption that CO2 is causing a “climate crisis”, and potential apocalypse, have led many to demonize CO2 as a dangerous pollutant, even poison. Such people have then embraced decarbonization schemes that are already harming millions of poor people with rising energy/electricity costs. More damage is coming.
Decarbonization is based on unproven assumptions regarding the role of CO2 in climate change. Yet few publicly challenge these unproven assumptions.
While CO2 does have a warming influence on climate, an influence that logarithmically declines with more CO2 in the atmosphere, there is no sound evidence that limiting human emissions of CO2 will have any effect on climate.
Apocalyptic generating crowd madness
Environmental alarmism, especially in its current “climate crisis” version, has taken on the flavor of hysterical apocalypticism, like all past eruptions of similar religious fanaticism. This is evident in the alarmist obsession with setting dates for the end-of-days.
Check these lists of failed apocalyptic dates covering just the past 50 years or so. It is a stunning record of failed “last chance” warnings.
https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/473mjg7y7z/2
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/50-years-of-failed-doomsday-eco-pocalyptic-predictions-the-so-called-experts-are-0-50/
The end-time prophets don’t waste a moment to reset as “final dates” pass repeatedly. Without blinking they then set the next “last chance” or “end-of-days date”. Usually about 20 years out ahead, according to researchers. See “Apocalypse now? Communicating extreme forecasts”, David C. Rode at https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Apocalypse-Now-IJGW.pdf
Is it just me or do others get the sense that we are watching primitive apocalyptic mythology, once again, making fools of normally bright people? Think Chicken Little.
Note: We are all environmentalists, in the sense that we all care for our environment and want to contribute to solving genuine problems. But environmental alarmism is an extremist fringe movement that irresponsibly exaggerates problems out to apocalyptic-scale thereby distorting the true state of things and traumatizing populations with unwarranted fear. The consequence is that too many people then abandon rational thought to embrace harmful salvation schemes like decarbonization- the “suicide of industrial civilization”.
Quotes from https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/22/history-confirms-democrats-1988-senate-global-warming-hearing-got-everything-wrong-from-start-to-finish/
“Concerning negative impacts on global greening caused by increasing emissions of greenhouse gases NASA satellite observations reflect the opposite occurring as noted in the study below indicating that from a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetation lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years due to rising levels of CO2.
“Regarding negative impacts of greenhouse gases on global forests a recent study by the University of Maryland shows otherwise as noted below.
“News headlines report a world constantly beset by deforestation and desertification, but new research suggests the planet may not be as tree-damaged as once thought.
“Although agricultural expansion in the tropics has swallowed vast areas of the rainforest, climate change has allowed a greater number of new trees to grow in areas previously too cold to support them.
“Scientists at the University of Maryland analyzed satellite pictures showing how the use of land on Planet Earth has altered over a 35-year period. The study, published in Nature journal, is the largest of its kind ever conducted.
“The research suggests an area covering 2.24 million square kilometers – roughly the combined land surface of Texas and Alaska, two sizeable US states – has been added to global tree cover since 1982. This equates to 7% of the Earth’s surface covered by new trees”.
From climatologist Roy Spencer at
An Earth Day Reminder: “Global Warming” is Only ~50% of What Models Predict
“The claim by the Biden Administration that climate change has placed us in a moment of “profound crisis” ignores the fact that the energy policy changes being promoted are based upon computer model simulations which have produced average warming rates at least DOUBLE those observed in the last 40+ years.
“Just about every climate claim made by politicians, and even many vocal scientists, has been either an exaggeration or a lie.
“While it is easy for detractors… to claim I am in the scientific minority (true), or that I am a climate denier (not true; I do not deny some level of human-caused warming), the fact is that the “official” observations in recent decades are in disagreement with the “official” climate models being promoted for the purposes of implementing expensive, economically-damaging, and poverty-worsening energy policies…
“Why does it matter?
“It matters because there is no Climate Crisis. There is no Climate Emergency.
“Yes, irregular warming is occurring. Yes, it is at least partly due to human greenhouse gas emissions. But seldom are the benefits of a somewhat warmer climate system mentioned, or the benefits of more CO2 in the atmosphere (which is required for life on Earth to exist)…
“But if we waste trillions of dollars (that’s just here in the U.S. — meanwhile, China will always do what is in the best interests of China) then that is trillions of dollars not available for the real necessities of life.
“Prosperity will suffer, and for no good reason.”
And this from Ben Pile at Spiked
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/22/the-vanity-of-the-global-climate-talks/
“What’s more, the consequences of imposing harsh climate policies on an unwilling population are plain for all to see, including the governments of developed economies. Just look at the year-long protests on the streets of France that were initially provoked by green taxes. The revolt may have been subdued by the Covid-19 lockdowns, but they have made a Marine Le Pen victory at the next presidential election more likely than ever before. The rising costs of energy have already started to push industrial production away from Europe – a suicide mission that the US is set to follow. Mass protests, high energy prices, economic decline and de-industrialisation… these are the fruits of the climate agenda in the richest countries.”
Some added stuff:
Growth comes from experiencing and feeling failure and we hate that, but its necessary to grow. Joe Rogan and Dave Smith on Spotify.
During another line of conversation, Dave Smith responds to Rogan’s question of how we change things. Smith says that you need to get mass movements of people stating that they are not going to take it anymore and demanding change.
What kind of change? “No more stupid wars. Period. No more putting people in jail/cages for nonviolent crimes. Period. No more Covid lockdowns. No more corporate bailouts/welfare. End the drug war…”, Libertarian Dave Smith on The Joe Rogan Experience, episode 1639 (free on Spotify).
Post from discussion group:
Late in the above podcast Dave Smith goes into Joe Biden’s record, stating, “He is the architect of all the worst policies”. He recalls Biden’s partnering with Strom Thurmond, and his co-authoring the 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration of African Americans. Smith notes the time when Biden challenged Ronald Reagan for being too soft on crime. At one point Biden bragged that he wanted to give people “life in jail for everything short of jaywalking” (one of his exaggerated boasts). Biden pushed hard for the modern mass-incarceration state. Biden then, says Smith, partners with a prosecutor from Californian who was throwing people in jail for pot (Kamela Harris).
And Biden now says that we must really think about “systemic racism”. As Smith responds, “You motherfucker, you built this (i.e. the mass-incarceration state that disproportionately imprisons African Americans)”.
Smith adds that the best journalists out there today are guys like Glen Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, among others. He says, they are all Leftists but are doing a great job exposing the corruption of powerful people on their side- and where corporate media and Big Tech collude to hide that corruption and censor others trying to expose it.
Theology/spirituality
The meaning of life is found in non-retaliatory love. This was summed up in a statement by Historical Jesus, a person entirely opposite to Christian ‘Jesus Christ’. He said, “No more eye for eye, but instead love your enemies, because God does”. Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy concluded that these “diamond/pearl” statements of Historical Jesus were still visible in the New Testament though mostly buried under the “dung/garbage” of Paul’s retaliation-oriented Christ myth that dominates the New Testament and Christian narrative. “Retaliation-oriented”? Yes. Note in Paul’s Thessalonian letters, and other places, where he speaks of Jesus Christ returning to punish and destroy his enemies in an apocalypse- the supreme expression of eye for eye retaliation. Entirely contrary to the central message of Historical Jesus.
Another element in the cancel culture mix
There is another interesting thing to note in the tribal wars of today- No matter how carefully you state your opinion on some issue, even with carefully worded qualifiers, hysterical cancellers intent only on vilification and harm will purposefully take words out of context, misstate your comments, ignore your intent, all with the apparent goal to “destroy” in the end.
Related: I used to observe what I felt was a kind of “sleazy” trick used in political debates. One debater would purposefully misconstrue and distort the comments of his opponent in the most extreme terms to put the opponent on the defensive. That opponent would then have to waste time in his next response segment trying to clarify his comments that had been distorted, instead of using his time to advance further arguments for his positions. It always seemed like a cheap, dishonest trick in debating.
This makes the closing comments of a regular contributor to Anthony Watts site “Wattsupwiththat.com” so important. Willis Eschenbach ends his posts with this: “I can defend my own words, but I can’t defend your interpretation of them. So if you comment, please quote the exact words you are discussing so we can all understand what you are referring to”. As we listen to others, we need to reframe what we hear from them and then ask them if our understanding of their words truly represents what they are saying. And more, we need to honor their stated intention behind what they say. Intention matters.
Still other have noted that climate alarmists often will not debate skeptics of the “Catastrophic Climate Change” narrative. Instead, the alarmists will simply resort to ad hominem attacks on those questioning their narrative (“ad hominem” as an argument or reaction- often vilifying- directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining). Others, willing to debate, have engaged in civil discussions as in the “American Physical Society workshop on climate change” (see link below).
Further, if our goal actually is truth, and not ideological/philosophical domination, then what do we have to fear from ongoing open discussion/debate on all issues? What do we have to fear from skeptics and questioners that challenge our positions and assumptions with counter evidence? Again, remember Julian Simon’s brilliant points to include all the data from the complete big picture and longest-term trends associated with any issue that we are looking at (Ultimate Resource). We all hold confirmation bias impulses and need the constraining patterns of good science to check such impulses.
Cowering, kowtowing (too strong?)
There is too much concession today to climate alarmism. An effort to appease (often by opposition politicians) that affirms the assumptions of the alarmist narrative that humans are mainly responsible for climate change. Science has not settled that issue. We cannot affirm the alarmist’s assumptions regarding the human impact on climate because we do not know with certainty what the human influence actually is, given the prominence of the varied other natural factors that overwhelmingly influence climate change. And there is far less evidence that any climate change will be “catastrophic”. See “Apocalypse Now? Communicating extreme forecasts” by David Rode on communicating uncertainty in science, notably climate science.
https://junkscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Apocalypse-Now-IJGW.pdf
And a quote from “A summary of the American Physical Society workshop on climate change” attended by climate physicist Richard Lindzen and others, at
A Summary of the APS Workshop on Climate Change
“The major theme of the day was the uncertainty in the (climate) forcings according to Dr. Koonin. They are larger than he imagined at first. I think everyone agreed with that conclusion.
“I was struck by the level of agreement on several key issues. First there is considerable uncertainty in the forcings, both natural and man-made. This means that the cause or causes of warming in the second half of the 20th Century are not known with any precision. Saying that man is responsible for more than 50% of the warming is not useful or defensible. We simply do not know, there is no observational evidence and the models are not accurate enough to tell us.”
A related point: In 2016, Pres. Obama’s AG, Loretta Lynch, tried to criminalize skeptical science via legislation. Thankfully, it did not pass. In response to that extremist proposal, I have often thought of the highly irresponsible promotion of panic by alarmists, panic that leads to the abandonment of rational thought in populations and the subsequent embrace of apocalyptic scenarios and destructive salvation schemes like decarbonization that will devastate economies and societies, as it has already been harming the poorest with rising energy/electricity costs.
So, when thinking of criminality, ask yourself- what about the harmful outcomes of the alarmist narrative, better known as the “panic-porn” movement?
Is that not almost criminal to create false fear in a world where amazing progress and improvement is taking place on all fronts? Improvement that inspires hope for the future and ought to be celebrated by populations. Where is news media reporting on how well we have done in caring for our world? Instead, we get media obsession with “Creating Fear: New and the construction of crisis” (David Altheide).
What a refreshing change it would be to hear reports that the planet is now greener by up to 30%, with added green vegetation or biomass over the past half century or more due to more basic plant food- CO2. Animal life is celebrating more plant food and humanity is now enjoying a surfeit of crop production records (producing 25% more food than we need). Or how about reports on how humanity has learned to create immense amounts of wealth that has greatly improved the human condition, as well as enabled humanity to care much better for the natural world.
The alarmist narrative denies this amazing progress and instead engages panic-porn that distorts the true state of life, generating crowd madness with exaggeration of remaining problems out to false apocalyptic-scale scenarios. Children are now traumatized with the fear of growing up in what is presented to them as a destroyed and collapsing world. They are terrified of dying themselves.
https://www.newsweek.com/eco-anxiety-climate-change-parent-fear-discussion-children-global-warming-depression-effects-1459731
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/jun/15/climate-change-children
And young couple are refusing to have children out of fear for the future on a dying planet.
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/it-doesn-t-feel-justifiable-the-couples-not-having-children-because-of-climate-change-20190913-p52qxu.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-birthstrikers-refuse-children-2019-3?op=1
Such are the outcomes of this great fraud of apocalyptic environmentalism with its fanatical zealotry to impose totalitarian control over all lives.
More… (I was going to title this “The pathology of overwrought sensibilities and the impulse to control others”. Treatment of this disorder? Human diversity exists and should not just be tolerated but honored for the color it brings to life. So suck it up, eh.)
Speaking of appeasement apology. Does the fear of public vilification by extremists lead people to give the knee to mobs?
Examples: Early in the ‘Me Too’ movement, Matt Damon made the innocuous comment that not all offenses were the same. An entirely common-sense statement. The mobs then erupted in screaming offense and Damon backed right down, apologizing. Apologizing for moderation and caution.
So also Shania Twain when asked who she would have voted for in the 2016 US election. She responded that she would have picked the lesser of two evils- Trump. The mobs erupted at her innocuous statement of support for Trump. For just offering her off-the-cuff opinion. But she too backed off, apologizing. Concession, placation, appeasement.
This appeasement of extremist mobs has to stop. Too many of us are too quick to appease easily offended and outraged people. You will never satisfy such people. There are now too many prowling about, on the lookout to attack someone, anyone, with spiteful venom. They demand conformity and subservience to their prickly sensibilities as the sole acceptable standard for all others to follow. The outraged mobs have found public support from media to vent their worst impulses to meddle with and control others. To dominate others with their finicky scruples. Add crotchety demeanor (bad-tempered, cross) and their behavior has now become a direct attack on the freedom of all.
These offended people display the ugliest features of human nature- quick and merciless judgment of imperfect others, the harshest condemnation for slipups and misstatements, and consequent demands for excessively severe punishment. There is nothing of common human decency or love in the behavior of these people.
Today, majorities have become fearfully subject to screaming extremist minorities. Yes, majorities. Remember the Bill Maher comment re the survey that showed over 80% of Americans are sick and tired of PC culture (political correctness). And over 60% of Americans are afraid to express their opinions. Where is freedom in this? Where are the courageous people that will push back against the lunacy of wokeness and outrage/cancel culture?
Add here the tendency noted by Daniel Hannan in his book ‘Inventing Freedom’. He noted that Europeans were on the lookout for areas of life that were not yet regulated and would create new laws to govern those areas of life. To the contrary, Britishers were more inclined to leave unregulated areas of life alone, under the guidance of individual freedom of choice, not under more laws/rules/regulations. I also think of this in relation to outrage culture fanatics who want to criminalize more and more areas of life, even the minor faults of others. We need more pushback against this meddling tendency of some to control others with ever more law. It is an assault on freedom.
Reports on Tyler Perry’s Oscar speech, April 25, 2021
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/tyler-perrys-oscar-speech-goes-viral-my-mother-taught-me-to-refuse-hate
“Tyler Perry then accepted the second Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award given during the ceremony. The actor, who runs a massive television and movie studio in Atlanta, provided a significant memory of his from 17 years ago he helped a homeless woman who approached him asking for shoes.
“I recall her saying to me, ‘I thought you would hate me for asking.’ I said, ‘How could I hate you when I used to be you?” Perry recalled.
“He then discussed the importance of not being quick to judge another person, and called for everyone watching to refuse hate — something he learned from his mother.
“My mother taught me to refuse hate, she taught me to refuse blanket judgment. With all of these internet and social Internet algorithms, it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids to just refuse hate. Don’t hate anybody. I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican, or because they are Black or White or LGBTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian. I want to take this Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and dedicate it to whoever wants to stand in the middle. That’s where conversation happens, that’s where change happens.”
Another Perry report:
“Tyler Perry, the director who won the humanitarian honor at the Academy Awards, spoke of unity during his acceptance speech Sunday and said his mother taught him as a boy to refuse hate and refuse to succumb to “blanket judgments.”
“And in this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour new cycle…it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids, and I want to remember: just refuse hate. Don’t hate anybody.”
Getting past tribalism
People ask- How can we move forward from the hyper-partisan atmosphere of today’s politics? How do we get past the dehumanizing trends of woke and cancel culture extremism?
One answer is to encourage everyone to just practice the basic human values of love, kindness, and the generosity of spirit that grants the benefit of the doubt to others. Don’t react to every misstatement of imperfect others with rage, rushed judgment, harsh condemnation, and calls to punish or destroy the misspoken other. What happened to forgiveness? And 2nd, 3rd, and more chances? What happened to letting others change and grow? Or to positive affirmation that turns enemies into friends?
But if such humaneness is not forthcoming then we have to re-affirm, with public institutions and laws, the basic principles of Classic Liberalism with its protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals. Things like freedom of speech are the most fundamental of freedoms to protect. Freedom of speech ensures that all the other rights and freedoms will be protected also. Protecting individual rights and freedoms is the best protection against the totalitarian impulse that seeks to control others through the collectivist approach of centralizing power. The outcomes of such approaches have been horrific as the last century showed.
Freedom of speech means open and vigorous debate to let the wider public know the full diversity of information on any given issue. Especially critical here is more open and free debate on climate science. Continually emerging discoveries reveal that natural variation explains the climate change that we have seen over recent decades. And CO2 is only a “bit player” in relation to climate change. It is not the main or sole control knob for climate. Many other natural factors have far greater influence on climate.
The conclusion from this evidence? We should not be wasting such vast amounts of public money on renewables when we have safe resources like fossil fuels. There is no need to “decarbonize” our societies, a policy response that has already harmed the poorest people with rising energy/electricity costs. That policy response will only bring worse outcomes as the grid instability and rolling blackouts in California are showing. Electrical grid instability is also a growing problem in Germany and England, among other places.
From ‘The Manhattan Contrarian’, Francis Menton, “Ever Deeper and Deeper Into Climate Fantasy” April 24, 2021
“It never ceases to amaze me how the very mention of the word “climate” causes people to lose all touch with their rational faculties. And of course, I’m not talking here just about the ordinary man on the street, but also, indeed especially, about our elected leaders and government functionaries.”
Quote from below on climate alarmism (“Apocalyptic generating crowd madness”): “Is it just me or do others get the sense that we are watching primitive apocalyptic mythology, once again, making fools of normally bright people? Think Chicken Little.”