Sunday evening, Dutch public TV featured a new Backlight episode on a fossil fuel free world, on climate change, on a US fossil fuel divestment organisation called 350, and on “stranded assets“. If you think that only people in denial of climate change are scary then you are in for a surprise. The broadcast featured people for whom climate change is like a Belief system. These people treat the Earth as a dead rather than a living organism and view any change in its temperature as a global treat. Also see my3 May 2015 blog on this topic: Climate change – Science as a Belief system.
Ironically, both groups of climate dogmatists deny historical facts: one group claims that climate change does not even exist, while the other group claims that the cooling down and the warming up of Earth is abnormal. Well climate change is a fact and so are the changes in the Earth’s temperature. In 2012, the remains of a tropical rainforest were discovered on the South Pole (HP, Nature, SA). In between Earth’s known 5 Ice Ages, the polar ice sheets have melted several times over the last 5 billion years (my 22 June 2015 blog, Wikipedia).
While everyone is talking about the warming up of the Earth, nobody is talking about the new Ice Age which is expected in some 80,000 years. And while it’s quite likely that we can survive a gradual rise of global sea water, it’s very unlikely that homo sapiens can survive a new Ice Age unless all billions of them emigrate to Kenya by then. After each Ice Age, a new species of humans emerged. Given Kenya’s location on the Earth’s equator, it would indeed be a logical place that would allow the continuation of human life during another Ice Age. Also see my 23 June 2015 blog.
There is no consensus in Science whether the accelerated warming up of the Earth would accelerate – or delay – the forthcoming new Ice Age. There is however consensus that a new Ice Age will emerge, regardless of “climate change”. (NYT)
Despite all of the above, the transfer from fossil fuel to sustainable energy like solar power, is good and welcome for Earth’s ecology. Nevertheless, we must not ignore that this will also have massive geopolitical consequences as oil producing countries like Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia will face collapsing economies and political instability.
The entire climate change debate is “fear driven” and also thrives on ignorance regarding scientific facts. Fear is by far the best manipulator for affecting human behaviour. The climate terrorism plot in Michael Crichton‘s novel State of Fear (2004) may actually become reality in the years to come. The climate dogmatists will just argue that their means will justify their Cause. The Truth will be their key Belief system – even more than Science. Also see my 15 November 2015 blog.
The UN climate summit in Paris may decide to spend billions of real money on the false idea that we are able to contain climate change. Hopefully this “investment” will delay the forthcoming Ice Age which will once again eradicate mankind – this time it’s homo sapiens. Possibly this “investment” will even accelerate the human demise. I am quite curious how the successors of homo sapiens will look back at us. This view may well be similar as our (former) view on the Neanderthal: ignorant people.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. Quote by Terry Pratchett
The Pretenders – I Go to Sleep (1981) – artists, lyrics, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
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