The madness of apocalyptic hysteria

Section topics: The myth of pristine nature defiled by corrupt humanity (nature becoming trapped in dead-ends); The meta-myth fallacy of too few resources, too many people; Decline or Rise: The actual trajectory of life; Short version of Old Story Themes, New Story Alternatives; and more…

Read this article from Spiked and get a sense of the madness that is climate alarmism. It is the world’s latest eruption of apocalyptic hysteria gone completely mad with politicians, media, celebrities, and other prophets trying to outdo one another with bizarre descriptions of the looming “end-of-days”.

Climate Derangement Syndrome

Note this link to data on the 96% decline in climate related deaths over the past century when we had a mild 1 degree C of warming. Remembering that 10 times more people die from cold every year than die from warmth, perhaps the correlation speaks to the benefits of warming, among other things.

Global yearly climate-related deaths

Another bad idea infecting public consciousness (add this to the list of 18 bad ideas below)

A notable theme from primitive mythology that persists today in environmentalism or Green religion- i.e. the belief that nature began as a pure, innocent, noble reality (original paradise) that has been “defiled and corrupted” by fallen, evil humanity. Hence the contemporary project of environmentalism to protect nature from humanity, to prevent human engagement with nature and human use of natural resources.

The project to prohibit human engagement of nature varies across a continuum from the extremism of no engagement at all, to varied levels of protection willing to compromise with sustainable levels of human engagement and change of nature. I once took part in a discussion group with a scientist who believed that all human use of nature since the onset of agriculture some 10,000 years ago has been, in his words, the “destruction of nature”. He believed that Earth should support only a few hundred million people- hunter gatherers- who would be limited to plucking fruit/nuts from trees/plants but not permitted to make changes to nature such as plowing ground and growing crops. Nature must remain entirely unchanged by “destructive human engagement”. His was an unworkable extremist position.

The belief in nature as inherently good, even to the extent of being deified (Gaia, Mother Earth), contradicts the reality that nature exhibits more the character of a “wicked old witch” replete with viruses, parasites, thorns, and the violence of predation and natural disasters. Remember that nature by itself has destroyed over 95% of all species across the history of life, while compassionate humanity today works to prevent further extinctions. See, for example, ‘Dark Nature’ by Lyall Watson, or Greg Easterbrook’s ‘A Moment on the Earth’ that details the many dead-ends that nature, as a mindless, random, chaotic system, becomes trapped within. Blind nature cannot foresee the outcomes of the trends that it follows and needs the foresight capability of creative human minds and human problem-solving skills. Easterbrook is right to conclude that nature desperately needs humanity and human intervention/stewardship.

While we preserve natural spaces for recreational and other uses, recognizing that those are critical human values that must be respected, such preservation must be balanced with the human right to use nature for other purposes that also contribute to human improvement. Nature is not a god (Gaia, Mother Earth) to be placed above human welfare.

An example of nature becoming trapped in a destructive dead-end that resulted in our “CO2 starvation era”:

The long-term decline in CO2 levels is an example of nature becoming dead-ended and locked into a trajectory that would eventually destroy all life. Patrick Moore has provided detail on this in ‘Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom’, p. 43-45. “We are at the tail-end of a 150-million-year decline of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, caused primarily by multiple species of shelled-marine organisms consuming millions of billions of tons of CO2 out of the ocean that resulted in the production of rocks”.

“Marine calcifying species such as clams, corals, crabs, and microscopic plankton… evolved the ability to produce protective armour for their soft bodies by combining CO2 with calcium to make calcium carbonate”. When these life forms died, they sank to the ocean bottom to become carbonaceous rocks. The result over the last 150 million years was that CO2 was removed from the atmosphere and the carbon in CO2 was sequestered and unavailable for life. The deposits of carbon in carbonaceous rocks contains 118,000 times as much carbon (100 million billion tons) as in the Earth’s atmosphere. Other carbon was removed by land plants, then buried and stored as fossil fuels.

The result of nature sequestering carbon was the decline of CO2 levels to just 185 ppm some 20,000 years ago. That is barely above the level at which all plant life dies- 150 ppm. We just missed a true apocalyptic decline and ending.

Human discovery and use of fossil fuels is now restoring balance to the global carbon cycle. “This has the promise to bring CO2 back to historic levels that are much more beneficial to nearly all plants and therefore all life”. Moore is right that “we are actually the saviors of life, not its destroyers as is claimed by the catastrophists”.

Fortunately, we are now seeing CO2 levels rise back to the healthy, optimal levels of most past history (i.e. multiple-thousands of ppm) and life is once again thriving in response, with a 14% increase in green vegetation across the Earth over just the past 40 years. Life is loving more of its basic food- CO2. (Remember also that at higher atmospheric levels the warming influence of CO2 declines logarithmically and adds very little to further warming. Climate physicists (i.e. William Happer, Richard Lindzen) state that the CO2 effect is now “saturated” and will not contribute much more influence to warming climate.)

The real “catastrophe” in our world is that CO2 has long been at dangerously low levels. We are still in a “CO2 starvation era”. Additionally, we are still recovering from the Little Ice Age of 1300-1850 and our world is still abnormally cold. We continue in a multi-million year “ice-age era” where average temperatures are 5-plus degrees C below long term historical averages. There is still not enough warming as evidenced by the fact that 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. Over most of past history, life thrived in a world with more of its basic food and much more warmth.

Point? There is no rational reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.

A detailed response to the claim that there is a “97% consensus” that climate change is caused by humanity.

“97% Consensus” — What Consensus?

Climate briefs, Wendell Krossa (a reposting): Response to latest eruption of climate hysteria and COP26 (another in an endless series of “end-of-days” conferences)

Yes, climate is changing but the warming has been mild (about 0.5 degree C since 1975) and is not “catastrophic”. The bigger threat is still cold that annually kills ten times more people than heat does. A few more degrees of warming will be further net beneficial in a still abnormally cold world that is 5-plus degrees C below long-term historical averages. During past warmer eras life flourished and civilizations thrived.

Yes, CO2 contributes to warming climate but it appears that its contribution is very small, has reached “saturation” (i.e. ability to absorb and re-emit infrared radiation), and is now declining rapidly (a logarithmic decline with increasing levels in the atmosphere). You cannot turn a CO2 knob and control climate. That is King Canute-like irrationality.

The benefits of more CO2 have been significant, notably in the 15% increase in green vegetation across the Earth over the past 40 years. That has meant more food for animal life and increased crop production for humans (crop production records are surpassed every year).

Climate Change Contributes to Another Year of Record Crop Production in India

Overall, human life has been improved immensely thanks to fossil fuels and climate has not been harmed by fossil fuels.

There is no sound reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies, an irrational and irresponsible policy response that is harming the poorest people with rising energy costs, declining energy supplies, and electrical grids destabilized by unreliable renewables.

From an article by Eric Worrall– “Drug Inquiry: Fear of Climate Change is Destroying the Lives of Young People” at

Drug Inquiry: Fear of Climate Change is Destroying the Lives of Young People

Quotes from Gerald Warner at https://reaction.life/cop26-costly-cult-could-lead-to-the-overthrow-of-the-elites/

“The earth has warmed by up to 1°C since the pre-industrial age. Certainly that is something to take into consideration, while trying, neutrally and calmly, to assess its possible consequences. If, as claimed, greenhouse gases are contributing to likely further warming, what is the composition of the greenhouse effect. Alarmists claim that CO2, both natural and man-made, is responsible for 72.3 per cent of the greenhouse effect. But that calculation excludes the largest component of the greenhouse effect, water vapour, accounting for around 95 per cent.

“When the totality of greenhouse gases is assessed, CO2 accounts for only 3.6 per cent of the greenhouse effect, of which just 4 per cent is generated by human activity; alarmists claim that figure is 29 per cent. That is immaterial: eliminating 29 per cent of 3.6 per cent of the greenhouse effect would hardly have significant consequences. When water vapour is factored in (and why would it not be, when it is the largest part of the greenhouse effect?), if every nation on earth achieved Net Zero tomorrow, the result would be to eliminate between 0.14 per cent and 1.04 per cent of the greenhouse effect. Is that outcome worth beggaring the world and setting back human development?”

An important data report to counter the repetitive mantra of climate alarmism today regarding heatwaves as “The worst on record”.

Climate Alarmist Deception Distorting Long Established U.S. Heat Wave Data

“The “gold standard” for EPA heat wave established data in the U.S. over the last 125 years is the U.S. Annual Heat Wave Index for 1895-2020…

“The EPA notes the following description of the clearly obvious record high heat wave multi-day extreme heat event occurrences of the 1930s depicted in Figure 3 above as follows:

“Longer term records show that heat waves in 1930s remain the most severe in recorded U.S. history (see Figure 3). The spike in Figure 3 reflects extreme, persistent heat waves in the Great Plains region during a period known as the “Dust Bowl.”

“… the average duration of heat waves have declined by nearly 41% since the 1930s.

“it’s abundantly clear that heat waves over the last few decades – the ones publicized by the EPA – pale in comparison to those of the 1930s, and even those of other decades such as the 1910s and 1950s. The peak heat wave index in 1936 is a full three times higher than it was in 2012 and up to nine times higher than in many other years.”

Point- you cannot blame fossil fuels for those 1930s heatwaves and that calls into question the crusade to blame today’s warming on CO2.

The arguments in the comment below are not intended to downplay the obligation to care for and use resources responsibly, conserving them for future generations. The comment is intended to counter the irresponsible panic-mongering over population growth and environmental issues. The comment below is a response to doom/despair narratives that ignore the human success in caring for world resources and creatively finding alternatives to scarce resources. The true state of life is a narrative that affirms hope.

The great meta-myth fallacy of too few resources, too many people– Wendell Krossa (revised reposting)

A dark meta-narrative dominates much public consciousness today. It is doom-oriented and has a darkening and debilitating influence on the human spirit. It claims that too many people exist on Earth today, and they are greedily consuming Earth’s limited resources to the point of exhaustion, and thereby destroying the planet. Hence, the doom/despair narrative claims that overall “life is getting worse” (YouGov survey in Ten Global Trends). (PS- And you wonder why so many people, including many children, suffer from anxiety and depression today? Irresponsible alarmist exaggeration has a potent harmful impact on people.)

Proponents of this gloomy narrative look for negative incidents/events and iconic images that affirm the doom message. We have all seen the starving polar bear on the ice floe accompanied by the entirely wrong claim that polar bears were going extinct when in fact their populations are thriving. Media have repeatedly shown us burning patches of forest or piles of garbage somewhere followed by the misleading propaganda that such anomalies illustrate the decline of life toward disastrous ending. Additionally, extreme weather events, though not worse today (see data below), are obsessively trumpeted as “the worst ever” and further signs of the approaching end of the world. And no, I am not dismissing the problems of wildfires, deforestation, or careless disposal of waste. But those media portrayals (often anecdotal incidents/images) do not communicate the true state of those issues.

Further, negative anomalies in long-term trends (e.g. downturns, setbacks) do not affirm an overall trajectory of life declining toward disastrous ending.

Remember when oil prices rose in the mid-Oughts. Immediately, media were awash with renewed claims that we had reached “peak oil” and the final decline of that resource had then been initiated. The “end” was nigh, once again. Numerous claims have been made by prophets of doom over past decades that varied resources would become exhausted and mass-death would result.

Note these predictions made around 1970: https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year-3/

Harvard biologist George Wald said in 1970- “Civilization will end within 15-30 years”.

At that time Paul Ehrlich stated- “The death rate will increase at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years (1970-80)”. And “(between 1980 and 1989) some 4 billion people… would perish in the Great Die-Off”.

Peter Gunter said in 1970 that famine would cover the entire world except Western Europe, North America, and Australia. In 1970 Life magazine reported that scientists had evidence that city dwellers would have to wear gas masks to survive.

Ehrlich also claimed that life expectancy would decline to 42 years by 1980. Kenneth Watt declared that by 2000 there would be no more crude oil. Harrison Brown predicted that humanity would run out of key metals by 1990 (Ehrlich affirmed the same). Senator Gaylord Nelson claimed that by the mid-90s between 75-80 percent of all species of animals would be extinct.

And a few more: William Yeatman noted that “In 1986, (Obama science advisor John Holdren) claimed that global warming would cause the deaths of 1 billion people by 2020”. Yeatman’s source- “Ehrlich attributes this claim to Holdren in The Machinery of Nature (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1986), p. 274.”

https://cei.org/sites/default/files/William%20Yeatman%20-%20Holdren%20WebMemo.pdf

In 2009 James Hansen claimed there were only “four years to save the Earth”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/jan/18/jim-hansen-obama

And on and on the doom predictions go and where they stop no one knows. These apocalyptic prophets affirm their message by endlessly and repeatedly setting the dates for the ‘end-of-days’.

This doom narrative distorts entirely the true state of life. It is a message of despair that incites fear and fortifies a sense of tribal exclusion and stinginess, even hoarding. It tells people that nature is stingy, resources are limited, and there are too many people clamoring for those limited resources, so fight for your own survival/success and that of your tribe. The doom narrative promotes the “limited good” fallacy of primitive societies- that if some are getting more, then others must be losing out. The fallacy of limited resources generates fear, envy, resentment, desperation, and collectivist activism that views the only solution to the problems of life as confiscating the resources of successful people and redistributing them.

And on the other hand…

The true state of life affirms an entirely different narrative. All the main indicators of resources on Earth show stunning abundance in the natural world, even superabundance, and natural generosity that is overwhelming (Marion Tupy of Humanprogress.org is preparing to publish a book on ‘Superabundance’). With more people arriving on Earth, we gain endless new exhibitions of creative action to solve problems and find solutions that benefit all. More people continue to produce inventive new technologies (goods and services) to improve the human condition and the natural world also. The result has been ongoing improvement in all the major features of life. Consequently, there has been no limit to the resources that humanity needs.

Joanna Szurmak and Pierre Desrochers in their brilliant evidence-based response to population alarmism (Population Bombed) detail some of the main indicators of the real state of the world and life.

They note that people live longer and healthier lives and are wealthier and better educated. Reserves of oil are more abundant than ever, air and water quality are better, and forest cover has expanded significantly over recent decades. Critical to note in their book- “economic prosperity and a cleaner environment are the direct results of both population growth and humanity’s increased use of fossil fuels” (p.xvi).

They add further, taking cues from the earlier research of Julian Simon, that more people are more hands to work and more brains to innovate. Also, people are able to decouple from local limits through trade. They conclude that the pessimist narrative has been proven entirely wrong. Two centuries of evidence has disproven the pessimist narrative on population growth and resources. More people on Earth has resulted in economies of scale, more efficiency and productivity, and progressively less damaging ways of doing things (i.e. better outputs with fewer inputs).

We see the evidence of this widespread improvement of life in the fact that with billions more people there has not been mass starvation as the prophets of doom claimed but, instead, a stunning and ongoing increase in crop production with no limits in sight. More people, means more Norman Borlaugs to invent hi-yield crops and feed far more people, while saving more forest because hi-yield crops mean more agricultural product on the same or less land. And more people contributing to more human creativity and technological improvement feeds into ongoing trends like “de-materialization” which is the declining per capita use of material resources. (Note that 100 million acres of agricultural land was returned to nature last century in the US as it was no longer needed- see detail in Greg Easterbrook’s “A Moment On The Earth”)

Others (i.e. Julian Simon) note the historical evidence of a process that kicks in to solve apparent resource scarcities if people are left free to solve problems. When there is a shortage of some resource, prices rise and that incentivizes people to discover more reserves of that resource, or to find/create alternatives. We saw this process operate in the 19th Century transition from whale oil to fossil fuels, in the discovery of fracking that opened massive new reserves of fossil fuels, and we are now watching this process operate in the ongoing discoveries regarding portable nuclear and fusion technologies (e.g. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mini-nuclear-reactors-offer-promise-of-cheaper-clean-power-11613055608). And what about futurist Arthur Clarke predicting that we would tap into dark energy in this century, giving us an infinitely unlimited source of energy?

Who knows what human creativity will break open for the future. Past long-term trends (our track record) affirm the hope that we will continue to solve problems, invent new technologies that cannot even be imagined yet, and ultimately create a better world and future. As Julian Simon said, we (humanity) have been more creators than destroyers. And we have done well in improving life (the human condition and nature) over the long-term.

Further, observe the natural beneficence of nature. As Bob Brinsmead often reminds us, “Think of the sunshine that radiates the earth with abundance that never runs out. Think of the prodigious world of nature- how plants do not merely reproduce but reproduce an overflow from which all creatures feed. The generosity of nature is such that the harvest tends to be far greater than the sowing.”

An example of this profligate generosity of nature: One seed of corn will produce 2-4 new cobs of corn, each with 600-800 seeds. That is 1 seed of corn producing roughly 2000 new seeds of corn. And nature does most of the work once the seed is planted, with sun and rain provided freely for growth.

It is incontrovertible that there is a superabundance and generosity built into life, and with the addition of conscious human creativity and innovation tapping into that abundance, the result is endless and unlimited improvement over the long term. The human mind introduces the limitless element into the mix because human freedom and creative thought opens infinite potential in all directions (Freeman Dyson).

This narrative of superabundance and ongoing improvement of life inspires hope, love, generosity, and should encourage the affirmation of human freedom to innovate, invent, and create. The narrative of hope undermines the stingy tribal reaction that views others as threats to one’s survival and incites the hoarding of resources from others. The narrative of unlimited generosity encourages more freedom to share the abundance of the world.

For extensive detail and data sources that affirm that more people are a benefit to life, and that human creativity transcends limits on resources, see the research of Julian Simon (Ultimate Resource) and Desrocher and Szurmak in Population Bombed, among others.

Doom narratives fail to grasp and present the true state of life because they ignore the fundamental goodness and generosity of people and they dismiss the unlimited creative potential of human minds.

Note: Feel free to toy with the idea that the generosity of nature speaks to the stunning generosity of metaphysical reality behind nature.

Note: The themes of doom narratives are currently manifest in the hysteria eruption over “natural climate change”.

Further note: Its the story that matters:

Varied scientists have bemoaned the fact that detailed scientific evidence, critical as it is to human understanding of reality, does not change the minds of those trapped in doom narratives. This is because there are subconscious factors involved- i.e. deeply embedded themes and impulses that intuitively orient people to embrace apocalyptic doom narratives. Those deeply embedded mythical themes, primitive ideas, still dominate the world religions and are widely embraced in the “secular” ideologies of today, and even in science.

Here is a partial list of archetypical themes of apocalyptic-like narratives (see full lists below- “Old Story Themes, New Story Alternatives”)

(1) There was a better past but (2) corrupt people (i.e. fallen humanity, original sin) ruined the original paradise world. (3) Life is now declining toward something worse, toward collapse and ending/apocalypse. Hence, (4) the need for salvation and redemption and (5) the obligation to punish humanity and purge the evil threat to life in order to save the world. Then (6) paradise can be restored. (7) Dualism is also a prominent feature of doom narratives and that incites the tribal impulse in people. People are called to courageously fight for their tribe in a “righteous battle” against their “evil” enemies.

I have noted elsewhere on this site, that scientific detail does not move many people because most people live by story and story themes. Hence, the need for a counter narrative/story to doom and despair narratives. A story with an authentic hero’s journey and quest. A story that offers some monster to conquer and a salvation scheme or justice project that makes things right. Something to engage the human spirit and its dreaming impulse, its imagination, and its desires for heroic conquest. But a story based on empirical reality, affirmed with good evidence on the true state of life.

Doom narratives abuse the human spirit and distort the basic features of human story by appeal to the dark side, by inciting our basest impulses with threat and fear. Yes, doom narratives also offer a righteous battle and salvation scheme but it is tribally-oriented righteousness that is framed by the base feature of primitive dualism (us versus “enemies”).

The key differences between doom and hope narratives have to do with features like the evaluation of humanity. In doom narratives people are considered essentially corrupt/evil and deserving of punishment. Consequently, humanity is threatened with destruction/apocalypse- with the ending of life in disaster. Doom narratives are essentially stories of nihilist meaninglessness.

Hope narratives affirm humanity as fundamentally good, not deserving punishment, but instead, deserving of the generous bounty of this world. And the heroic struggle of humanity (the righteous battle) is to make this imperfect world something better, to contribute something to make life more beautiful. That is the true “salvation” of our world. Humanity’s true quest is to conquer problems/imperfections and take life into an open and infinitely better future. The authentic hero’s journey is about making some unique personal contribution to this overall human quest of improving life. And the best evidence affirms that we are doing this successfully.

Is “madness” too strong a pejorative to describe what is happening in the climate alarmism movement? To claim there is a “climate crisis” when we have had only a mild 1 degree C warming over the past century in an abnormally cold world is exaggeration that distorts the true state of things. That alarmist exaggeration is based on discredited computer models that overstated the role of CO2 in climate change with predictions of up to 3-6 degrees C more warming over coming decades. These models are now acknowledged to be “running too hot” as real-world data shows no such rise in temperatures (aside from the fact that a few more degrees of warming would still be net beneficial in our cold world where 10 times more people die of cold every year than die of warmth).

So we can understand climate alarmism as partly due to the cognitive dissonance and denial that comes from living in the virtual reality world of reality-distorting models while ignoring the real world outside. We can also excuse such denial of factual evidence as due to things like ideological dogmatism.

But to then advocate to decarbonize our societies and shift hurriedly to unreliable renewables, a crusade that has resulted in blocked investment in oil/gas, energy shortages and rising energy costs, and destabilized electrical grids, well that is rightly termed “madness”. Take a look at what is happening in Europe, China and other places, as a cold winter approaches, and tell me that is not madness. And many advocates of decarbonization want to overturn industrial civilization itself and return humanity to primitivism. Many of the poorest people are now suffering from high energy costs, fuel poverty, and excessive death rates from cold. Madness is the only proper way to describe what is happening with climate alarmism.

Here’s another warning– cold is the real threat that we face. Far more people die every year from cold than die from warmth.

Europe’s Energy Crisis Better Wake America Up

And you cannot limit warming to 1.5 degrees because the minute trace gas CO2 does not control climate. You cannot turn a CO2 knob (decarbonization policies) and control climate. CO2 is not a significant influence on climate. Look at the major factors that actually influence climate change: i.e. cloud cover related to solar influence, multi-decadal shifts in ocean currents.

Swiss Analysis: Climate Models Running Too Warm, Falsely Calibrated…IPCC Needs “To Review Its Findings”

Further, it is doubtful that we will get much further warming as the warming trend from 1975-98 has basically flatlined since (except for two El Nino years in 2015-16). Computer models prophesying 3-6 degrees more warming over this century have been discredited by actual observed reality. And the mild warming that we have experienced over the past century (1 degree C) has been beneficial to all life. We are not in the midst of a “climate crisis”.

This from a recent WUWT report noting that climate models used by climate alarmists to prophesy looming climate catastrophe are “running too hot”. Quote: “Michaels points out that many in and out of government are insisting that we must “follow the science” and change energy policies to fit global climate models. The models are being used to change our way of life. Yet, the models have wrong input, the unrealistic extreme carbon dioxide emissions used by the UN IPCC; the models run far too hot, greatly overestimating the warming of the planet; and we are living on a modestly warming, greener planet, nothing to be feared.”

Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #477

Swiss Analysis: Climate Models Running Too Warm, Falsely Calibrated…IPCC Needs “To Review Its Findings”

On claims of majority “consensus” in climate science…

The Irrelevancy of Lynas ‘99.9 Percent Certainty Climate Change’ Consensus

Ignorance Is Strength, Dissent Is Stalinist

Quote from “Google, YouTube, and the Climate Inquisition: A slippery slope toward censorship and intellectual tyranny” https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/30/google-youtube-and-the-climate-inquisition/?mc_cid=b09b155365&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f

“Physicist Dr. Ralph Alexander also criticized the UN’s climate report. He said, “there’s no scientific evidence that global warming triggers extreme weather, or even that weather extremes are becoming more frequent. Anomalous weather events, such as heatwaves, hurricanes, floods, droughts and tornadoes, show no long-term trend over more than a century of reliable data.”

Background bits: Going after environmental alarmism does not make one anti-environment

I spent 11 years (1975-86) living with some of the poorest people on the planet, the upland Manobo tribal groups of Mindanao (rainforest areas of Davao del Norte, Agusan del Sur). Manobo friends granted me the privilege of joining them to work on literacy/education, medical care/training, water systems, erosion control, agroforestry training and projects (most Manobo farm steep mountain slopes), and diverse general livelihood projects (pig breeding, cacao and coffee plant growth and distribution).

Following the Philippine revolution of 1986, I returned to Canada to take 6-plus years of further education (undergrad, grad) with plans to return to work further on development issues. During my education I focused on environmental and human development themes, but a return to Asia did not work out. And unfortunately, I wasted several years sidetracked in a grad program led by an apocalyptic prophet- Bill Rees of UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning (author of the Ecological Footprint model). It took a few subsequent years to clear my head of the mythological/ideological nonsense that is environmental apocalyptic (it exaggerates real problems far beyond their true state).

Like Julian Simon and others, when I replaced my environmental apocalypse narrative with good data on the true state of life, I found that my depression lifted and has never returned. That data? Notably, “Ultimate Resource” by Julian Simon, followed in later years by books like “A Moment on the Earth” by Greg Easterbrook, “Skeptical Environmentalist” by Bjorn Lomborg, “The Improving State of the World” by Indur Goklany, “Population Bombed” by Desrochers and Szurmak, “The End of Doom” by Ronald Bailey, “Rational Optimist” by Matt Ridley, and many more…

Over the past few years, I have actively engaged local “reforestation”, planting over 40 Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Giant Sequoia, and Meta-Sequoia (from China) on my current property, also nurturing the natural growth of many other similar trees. I am also currently caring for the salmon stream that runs through my property. Many such small streams contribute significantly to overall salmon stocks. Along with most other people I am an “environmental activist” and tree/nature lover. I find it very satisfying that despite the increase of world population to almost 8 billion people, forest cover on Earth today is more extensive than in the 1950s, expanding from 3.8 billion hectares to over 4.1 billion hectares.

We (humanity) are doing well in caring for our world. As Simon said, “We are more creators than destroyers”. The results are evident in all the improving indicators of life on Earth. There is no looming “environmental catastrophe”, whether climate or other.

Climate alarmists continue to traumatize public consciousness with exaggerated claims of a looming “climate crisis/catastrophe”. That irresponsible and irrational panic-mongering has led to a worldwide energy crisis with fossil fuel shortages (declining investment in new oil/gas resources), rising energy costs that harm the poorest people the most, and the threat of destabilized electrical grids too dependent on unreliable renewables. Rushed decarbonization is already proving a foolish policy trajectory and the worst is yet to come.

‘Father’ of modern environmentalism, James Lovelock, rejects climate alarmism

I do not agree with some of Lovelock’s statements on climate but appreciate his integrity in rejecting his former alarmist exaggeration over the issue…

‘Gaia’ scientist James Lovelock: I was ‘alarmist’ about climate change

In his pullback from climate alarmism, he would have been more scientific to state that the mild 1 degree C of warming over the past century has been hugely beneficial to all life and a few more degrees would be further net beneficial. And as rising CO2 is not the main driver of climate change (its only a “bit player”) we must look more at the natural factors that do drive climate, factors that may actually cause climate cooling over the next decades, not further warming.

This means that we have to adapt to whatever climate change occurs, and end the irrational project to try to control climate by trying to turn a CO2 knob (i.e. decarbonization). The war against CO2 is a battle against life itself as CO2 is the food of plant life and over past millennia CO2 levels have been dangerously low, leaving plant life in a “CO2 starvation era”. Plant life is loving more CO2 with a 15% increase in green vegetation across the Earth over the past 40 years.

Quotes from link above: “James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.”

He notes the pause in warming since the early Oughts: “The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising —

“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.

Weather today

Moments of conscious reflection (mindfulness) bring a realization of the absurdity of what is happening today as climate alarmists claim a trace greenhouse gas is causing “catastrophic climate change” and the world must immediately cease using fossil fuels and transition to expensive and unreliable renewables. Countries around the world are being coerced to abandon the inexpensive fossil fuels that have enabled billions to escape poverty and have led to immense improvement of the human condition. The irrational decarbonization policies pushed by climate alarmists are now driving countries off the road and into an energy crisis.

Today, weather events common across all history, whether heat waves, cold spells, storms, floods, droughts, extreme or not, are all attributed to “climate change”. All things weather are used to affirm the apocalyptic narrative- “human-caused climate change that is becoming ‘catastrophic’”. As someone noted, no event in weather is due to natural causes anymore. Everything in weather (and most of the rest of nature) is claimed to be the consequence of people using fossil fuels and weather events are obsessively proclaimed to be “the worst on record”, despite evidence to the contrary (see below).

Think about the larger context of our entire interglacial, the Holocene. Earth descended into the bitter cold of the Little Ice Age from roughly 1350-1850. That was the coldest time over our interglacial. Summers were missed in Europe, crops failed, and people died of starvation. It was bitterly cold. Now we have recovered just a little from that pre-industrial cold, gaining a mild 1 degree C of warming since. A good thing for all life. But we are still below the average temperatures of most of our interglacial.

The previous warm periods of this interglacial (the Holocene Optimum/Minoan, Roman, and Medieval warm periods) were all warmer than today’s “Modern Warm Period”. Our modern warming has only lasted roughly from 1975-1995. Since the early Oughts, world surface temperatures have basically flatlined, except for two El Nino years in 2015-16. El Ninos are events in trend lines and do not define the entire trend.

Further, varied scientists are warning that we could be entering an extended cooling period. That ought to be of more concern than any warming because 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth.

And important to note again- recent heatwaves and wildfires are not record-breaking. The record for most hot days/waves was in the 1930s. Also, wildfires have declined significantly over the last century. See more data below.

Important climate fact: 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth: (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150520193831.htm or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673614621140?via%3Dihub) And you are afraid of more warming? A couple of more degrees warming in a still abnormally cold world will not be “catastrophic warming” but will benefit all life.

This site continues the project to counter irrational fear with the amassed evidence that there is no looming “climate crisis” and it is entirely safe for humanity to continue using abundant fossil fuels that have enabled us to improve the overall human condition and to care for nature. While a mild warming occurred from 1975-95 (0.5 degree C) our world is still abnormally cold and, as noted above, we could use several more degrees of warming.

And while CO2 contributes to warming, climate physicists tell us that its influence on climate is small and has reached “saturation” in terms of its ability to absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. More CO2 in the atmosphere will contribute very little to any further warming. These facts affirm my position that there is no need to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies. And our best response to any climate change is adaptation, not futile efforts at mitigation (i.e. trying to control climate by turning a CO2 knob- the irrational claim that if we stop using fossil fuels we can limit warming to 1.5 degrees C).

My arguments with climate alarmism are very much part of a larger project to counter the irrational madness that is apocalyptic mythology. Apocalyptic dominates a wider set of bad religious ideas that have burdened and traumatized human consciousness for millennia. Yes, climate alarmism is a profoundly religious movement.

On the renewed claim that there is “consensus” on “human-caused climate change”….

Cooked Up Consensus: Lynas et al “Should Rather Be Classified As Propaganda, Bad Science”…”Truly Brazen”

Decline or rise: What is the actual trajectory of life on Earth? (Getting the true narrative of life right) Wendell Krossa

For most of human history, including today, the human understanding of life of Earth has been dominated by the myth of decline- that life has degenerated from an original golden age and has become worse and will eventually end in disaster, apocalypse.

The common belief in life becoming worse and ending in apocalypse was already present in the earliest human writing/mythology- i.e. Sumerian Flood myth, Egyptian myths of The Destruction of Mankind and Return to Chaos, the great Hindu cycles of rise and then decline to disastrous ending, and even Buddhist beliefs in the decreasing human life-span (Mircea Eliade in History of Religious Ideas).

Life declining toward disastrous ending was formalized in the theology of the Persian sage Zoroaster/Zarathustra. His apocalyptic religion then structured the core themes of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with the same declinist perspective.

Christian apocalyptic (i.e. Paul’s apocalyptic Christ myth- Thessalonian letters) eventually shaped 19th Century Declinism and in that belief system primitive mythology was transformed into “secular ideology” for the modern world. The themes of primitive mythologies were given new “secular” expression in an ideology. But at its core Declinism was still the same old profoundly religious belief system as ever before.

Declinism promoted the narrative that ancient pure and strong people (hunter/gatherers, rural man connected more to nature) had become corrupted and were degenerating in human civilization, notably in industrial/commercial civilization.

Declinism then subsequently shaped Marxism, Nazism, and now shapes environmentalism in projects like climate alarmism with its obsessively repetitious apocalyptic scenarios. (Note: The end-of-days never arrives in an ever-improving world so prophets must endlessly reset the end-times dates, usually about 10-15 years in the future.)

Overwhelming evidence affirms that the long-term trajectory of life has been a trend of improvement and life becoming ever better, a story of life and civilization rising toward something ever better. If there is a “bending arc of history” it is not toward the alarmist vision of a worsening world that ends in apocalyptic catastrophe. The arc of history rises toward more improvement over the long-term. And yes, in any long-term trajectory there are downturns and setbacks along the way, but it is the direction of the overall long-term trend that tells us the true state of life and where life is heading.

An over-abundance of good evidence affirms the trend of improvement across history. I have repeatedly listed here the best sources of data that support such a hopeful vision of the future- James Payne’s History of Force, Stephen Pinker’s Better Angels of Our Nature, Julian Simon’s Ultimate Resource, Greg Easterbrook’s A Moment On The Earth, Bjorn Lomborg’s Skeptical Environmentalist, Ronald Bailey’s The End of Doom, Indur Goklany’s The Improving State of the World, Matt Ridley’s Rational Optimist, Desrochers and Szurmak’s Population Bombed, Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, Bailey and Tupy’s Ten Global Trends, and others.

Further comment on the mythology/ideology of Declinism Wendell Krossa

I mention Declinism regularly here because it is a dominant theme in the worldviews of many people (see YouGov survey noting that a majority of the world population believe “the world is getting worse”, in Ten Global Trends by Tupy and Bailey).

A main element in Declinism is the belief in the inevitable decline of humanity from an original power and purity in pre-civilization existence to decadence, weakness, and degeneration in modern civilization. Declinism also affirms the inevitable decline of human civilization and the decline of life overall, i.e. the ultimate ascendancy of the Second Law/entropy.

Others raise the contrary point that life has emerged and become more complex and advanced against the fact of entropy. Physicists Huber and Mills (Bottomless Well) argue that the use and dissipation of energy is “virtuous” and necessary for creating more order, and higher forms of order. The Second Law/entropy is essential to the progress of life and civilization.

Many continue to embrace Declinism as the dominant/defining feature of reality despite overwhelming evidence of ongoing improvement, over the long-term, in all the main features and trends of life. See, for example, the varied studies at Humanprogress.org. Also the research of Simon, Lomborg, Bailey, Goklany, Desrochers and Szurmak, and many others.

If you want to understand why so many still believe that things are getting worse when life overall is improving, then read Arthur Herman’s “The Idea of Decline in Western History”. Herman details the historical development of the 19th Century Declinist narrative that humanity degenerates in industrial civilization, that humanity declines from a previous noble state where people had a strong connection with nature in more rural societies. Declinist ideology states that people have become weakened and corrupted by the good life in the modern world. Declinism claims that civilization overall declines toward some disastrous ending.

Acknowledging my “reverse engineering” impulse, I ask myself- Where do these declinist ideas come from? They have long dominated world religions like Christianity which still perpetuates myths of an original paradise where pure humans (Adam, Eve) were untainted by sin or death. A subsequent “Fall” ruined the original paradise and sent life declining toward eventual collapse and ending as detailed in the apocalypse of Revelation. These Declinism ideas trace even further back to the Persian narrative of life degenerating toward disastrous ending in Zoroastrian apocalypse. And the very same proto-Declinist ideas are found in the earlier mythologies of Sumeria, Egypt, and other ancient cultures.

It is irresponsible to continue to deny factual evidence and propagate these primitive declinist ideas when we have overwhelming evidence of ongoing improvement on all the main features of life. Note, for example, the improvement in the decline of violence across human history (James Payne- History of Force, Stephen Pinker- Better Angels of Our Nature). And note particularly the almost-exponential improvement in the human condition over past centuries as (1) infant mortality has undergone a striking decline, (2) human lifespans and health continue to improve, (3) poverty continues to decline with most people across the planet now attaining middle class status, (4) modern technology brings relief from hard labor and grants numerous other comforts and securities to life, (5) deaths from natural disasters have declined 96% over the past century, and (6) there is environmental improvement across the main resources of our world. The list of improving features of life is long and soundly hope-affirming.

Conclusion: The long-term trajectory of life is not declining toward something worse but is rising toward something ever better. The actual “decline” is that the bad things in life (i.e. disease, violence, physical hardship and suffering) are falling off trending charts while good things are experiencing rising trend lines. Again, see sources like ‘Humanprogress.org’.

Herman, though it was not his stated intention, has shown how primitive mythology was transformed into modern “secular” ideology in Declinism. Despite that project to give Declinism intellectual respectability, Declinism ideology is merely repeating the same old themes of primitive apocalyptic mythology. Declinism misrepresents the true state of life entirely.

Alarmism over life continues to plague public consciousness because the belief systems of most people (religious and “secular”) continue to embrace the basic themes of Declinism and promote those in varied narratives and forums (i.e. Hollywood’s obsession with apocalyptic narratives, the political classes use of panic-mongering to gain votes, news media’s obsession with crisis narratives, etc.).

Modern Declinism is a profoundly religious system at core, perpetuating the most primitive of mythical themes, despite its use of contemporary secular and scientific terminology.

Apocalyptic hysteria, notable in its latest version- climate change “crisis”- continues to erupt and surge to new heights of madness while life on earth continues to improve on all its major features. Why this profound disconnect with reality? This site argues that primitive mythological themes persist in contemporary worldviews and this is due in large part to a collection of ideas that have long been beaten into human consciousness, and are now deeply embedded as subconscious ‘archetypes’. I’ve listed 18 below. See if they resonate with your own belief system, whether religious or “secular/ideological”.

The list (further below) includes some of the most fundamental ideas that people across history have created to explain reality and life. Many of these primitive mythical ideas continue to dominate human narratives and human consciousness with harmful impacts and outcomes. Yes, that’s the argument: Primitive mythological themes continue to shape human outlook, emotion, and response/behavior. Mythological themes even shape so-called “secular/ideological” systems of thought/belief. This explains the continuing domination of “Declinism” ideology in our world today (the idea that life is becoming worse and declining toward a great collapse and ending).

As Arthur Herman noted, Declinism has become the most dominant and influential theme in modern society. Declinism is nothing more than myth transformed into ideology. Read Herman’s “The Idea of Decline in Western History” if you want to fully understand modern life and why so many people still respond to apocalyptic scenarios and embrace the irrational salvation schemes of apocalyptic movements (e.g. “decarbonization” to “save the world”).

Short-form list of Old story myths, New story alternatives (long-form available in sections below)

Joseph Campbell noted that a prominent set of myths has been repeated all across human history and across all the cultures of the world. These myths are primitive and profound distortions of reality and life. They do not express the true state of things. Nonetheless, they continue to dominate human narratives and consciousness today.

These ideas have long been the central beliefs of the world religions. They are now also embraced in “secular” ideological belief systems like Declinism, the belief that life is becoming worse and declining toward catastrophe and ending. These ideas have even found expression in “scientific” versions. But at core they are the same old primitive pathologies as ever before.

We need to confront these ideas and find better alternatives because they have always deformed human consciousness and life with unnecessary fear, anxiety, shame/guilt, despair, depression, and violence. How we think (the ideas that we hold) shapes how we view life, how we feel about things, and how we respond and act.

Example: If you believe that God will judge, punish, and destroy your enemies (i.e. send them to Hell) then you will inevitably end up treating your opponents in the same manner (judging, condemning, excluding, punishing). We become just like the God or Ultimate Reality that we believe in. This “behavior based on belief” relationship operates in both religious and “secular” environments. Our beliefs lead us into self-fulfilling prophesy outcomes.

Insert note: Climate alarmism, with its apocalyptic scenarios and salvation schemes, is a profoundly religious movement fraudulently presented as secular ideology and even science.

Old story themes, new story alternatives, Wendell Krossa (revised)

1. Old story myth: The idea of deity as a judging, punishing, and destroying reality. Contemporary “secular” versions of judging, punishing deity include “Vengeful Gaia, angry Planet/Mother Earth, retributive Universe, and payback karma”.

Alternative: The new theology of deity as a stunningly no conditions reality (no conditions love). There is no threat from an unconditional God, no judgment, no exclusion of anyone, and no ultimate punishment or destruction.

2. Old story myth: The idea of a perfect beginning (Eden) and a God obsessed with perfection, enraged at the loss of perfection, and demanding punishment of imperfection.

Alternative: The world was purposefully created as originally imperfect in order to serve as an arena for human struggle, learning, and development. Deity has no problem with imperfection.

3. Old story myth: Humanity began as a more perfect species (the myth of primitive people as pure and noble hunter gatherers, “Adam/Eve”) but those early people became corrupted/sinful (i.e. the myth of the “Fall of mankind”). This myth has led to persistent anti-humanism- blaming humanity for all the imperfections and suffering in the world.

Alternative: Humanity emerged from the brutality of animal reality to gradually become more humane across history (a long-term trajectory of humanity rising/improving, not falling into a trajectory of degeneration/decline).

4. Old story myth: The world began as an original paradise but after the “Fall” the overall trajectory of life has been declining, degenerating toward something worse.

Alternative: The long-term trajectory of life does not decline but overall rises/improves toward something ever better.

5. Old story myth: The belief that natural disasters, disease, human cruelty, and death are expressions of divine punishment, and that humanity deserves punishment.

Alternative: While there are natural consequences all through life, there is no punitive, destroying deity behind the imperfections of life.

6. Old story Myth: The belief that humanity has been rejected by the Creator and we must be reconciled via blood sacrifice/suffering.

Alternative: No one has ever been rejected by the unconditional Love at the core of reality. No one has ever been separated from God. Ultimate Love does not demand appeasement/payment/atonement, or suffering as punishment for sin.

7. Old story myth: The idea of a cosmic dualism between Good and Evil (i.e. God versus Satan) now expressed in human dualisms (tribes of good people versus their enemies- the bad people).

Alternative: There is a fundamental Oneness at the core of all and we share that oneness. We all belong equally to the one human family and the ultimate Oneness that is God.

8. Old story myth: The belief in a looming apocalypse as the final judgment, ultimate punishment of wrong, and final destruction of all things.

Alternative: There are problems all through the world but there is no looming threat of final destruction and ending. Apocalypse is a great fraud and lie. There will be no apocalypse as in the religious version of divine intervention to punish humanity and destroy the world (i.e. New Testament book of Revelation).

9. Old story myth: The always “imminent” element in apocalyptic demands urgent action to save something, even the use of coercive violence to effect “instantaneous transformation”. (Arthur Mendel, in Vision and Violence, details the difference between the approaches of “instantaneous transformation” and “gradualism”.)

Alternative: There is no imminent “end of days” on the horizon, inciting the urgency to “save the world”. Rather, life improves through gradual democratic processes as creative humanity cooperatively solves problems.

10. Old story myth: The demand for a salvation plan, a required sacrifice or atonement (debt payment, punishment).

Alternative: Unconditional deity does not demand sacrifice, atonement, payment, or punishment as required for appeasement. Deity loves unconditionally.

11. Old story myth: The belief that retribution or payback is true “justice” (i.e. eye for eye, hurt for hurt, humiliation for humiliation, punishment for punishment).

Alternative: Unconditional love keeps no record of wrongs, forgives freely and without limit. And yes, there are natural consequences to bad behavior in this world, but all justice should be restorative/rehabilitative in response to human failure.

12. Old story myth: The belief in after-life judgment, exclusion, punishment, and destruction (i.e. hell). This pathology adds unnecessary sting to the human fear of death.

Alternative: Unconditional love does not threaten ultimate judgment, exclusion, punishment, or destruction.

13. Old story myth: The idea of a “hero” messiah who will use superior force to overthrow enemies, purge the world of wrong, and install a promised utopia.

Alternative: A God of authentic love does not intervene with overwhelming force that overrides human freedom and choice. It is up to maturing humanity to make the world a better place through gradualism processes that respect the freedom of others who differ.

14. Old story myth: The fallacy of biblicism- the belief that religious holy books are more special and authoritative than ordinary human literature, and the related fallacy that people are obligated to live according to the holy book as the revealed will, law, or specially inspired word of God.

Alternative: We evaluate all human writing according to basic criteria of right and wrong, good and bad, humane or inhumane. Holy books, written by fallible people like ourselves, are not exempted from this basic process of discernment.

15. Old story myth: The idea of God as King, Ruler, Lord, or Judge. This myth promotes the idea that God relates to humanity in domination/submission forms of relating. This is based on the primitive idea that humans were “created to serve the gods”.

Alternative: There is no domination/subservience relationship of humanity to God. True greatness is to relate horizontally to all as equals. The “greatness” of God is to relate to all as free equals, not to “lord over” others.

16. Old story myth: The idea that humanity is obligated to know, serve, or have a relationship with an invisible reality (deity), that we are to give primary loyalty to something separate from and above people.

Alternative: Our primary loyalty is to love and serve people around us. Their needs, here and now, take priority in life. Loyalty to realities placed above people (laws, institutions, or higher authorities) have always resulted in the neglect or abuse of people.

17. Old story myth: The perception that God is silent or absent during the horrors of life (i.e. Where was God during the Holocaust?). This myth of absent deity is based on the primitive belief that God is a sky deity (dwelling in heaven above), a deity that descends to intervene in life and change circumstances in order to save or protect people.

Alternative: There has never been a Sky God up above in some heaven. God has always been incarnated equally in all humanity and God has always been immediately present in all human suffering and is intimately present in all human raging and struggle against evil. God is inseparable from the human spirit in all of us and is expressed in all human action to prevent evil, to solve problems, and to improve life. We are the embodiments/incarnations of God in this world, and nothing saves us except our choices and actions to oppose wrong and to help one another.

18. Old story myth: The fallacy of “limited good” and the belief that too many people are consuming too much of Earth’s resources, and hence world resources are being exhausted.

Alternative: More people on Earth means more creative minds to solve problems. More consumption means more wealth to solve problems and enable us to make life better- i.e. enable us to improve the human condition and protect the natural world at the same time. Evidence affirms that human improvement and environmental improvement has been the outcome of more people on Earth. See “Population Bombed” by Desrochers and Szurmak, “Ultimate Resource” by Julian Simon, “Humanprogress.org”, and related studies.

Further, we are not exhausting Earth’s resources. With the emergence of some apparent resource scarcity, humanity through improving technology then works to discover more reserves of those scarce resources or makes the shift to alternative resources. There is a superabundance of resources in our world.

Add your own themes/ideas and alternatives.

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