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[47]Wednesday, August 11, 2021
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[tr?id=224132531296438&ev=PageView&noscript=1]

It's the end of the world as the IPCC knows it, and we feel fine

by [92]Washington Examiner
| August 11, 2021 12:00 AM
*
*

Print this article

In response to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
report on global warming, the Western world’s newspapers seemed to be
competing to publish the most apocalyptic headlines possible. But
behind all the talk of “catastrophe,” the celebrities and
environmentalist leaders [93]who fly to every conference in their
carbon-spewing private jets really [94]don’t believe a word of the
panic. Nor should they.

Yes, there is consensus that human activity has increased the carbon
dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere. This has already
raised world average temperatures by just over 1 degree Celsius since
1880. There is consensus, as of this IPCC report, that the temperature
rise could reach as high as 4 degrees Celsius (that's lower than
previous IPCC projections), although the IPCC considers 3 C to be a
better estimate. There’s also consensus that it’s not good for humans
to change Earth’s climate, as the results could be unpredictable.

But that’s where the consensus ends. There is no consensus that Earth
is doomed by global warming. And there won't be such a consensus, no
matter how much the authors of the report's summary choose to hype
things up with alarming language.

You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but neither the data in
the new IPCC report nor science as a whole endorses the logical fallacy
that every adverse weather event we see is a consequence of rising
atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. For example, you probably haven't
read anywhere that the United Nations report specifically throws cold
water on the idea recent flooding in Europe was related to climate
change. This is true of nearly all recent weather phenomena because
climate isn't weather. Yet, in their coverage of this report, the media
endlessly indulge this classic fallacy.

Usually, bad weather is just that — even if you try to dress it up with
charged terms, such as “extreme climate event.” Bad and extreme weather
has been happening for millennia, and it used to cause a lot more
damage and death than it does today. As environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg
pointed out [95]in a recent op-ed, the slight rise in global
temperatures attributed to global warming is currently saving a net
283,000 lives each year, simply because extreme cold causes more than
three times as many deaths as extreme heat.

The media and the environmental extremists whose views they promote are
employing shocking disaster conjectures and other forms of what can
only be called “panic pornography.” They aim to turn the boring reality
of gradual global warming by a few degrees over a century into
something with a bit of science fiction pizzazz that can capture the
public’s imagination. Thus, environmental extremists habitually say
things to shock people, dressing up their unwarranted alarmism with
scientific jargon.

Hence RFK Jr.’s dire predictions about Washingtonians never seeing snow
again, Paul Ehrlich’s now-laughable warnings about impending [96]water
and food rationing by 1980, and further bogus claims that both [97]the
Maldives and [98]New York City’s West Side Highway would be underwater
by 2008.

What’s funny is that, for all of their Chicken Little predictions, the
most prominent doomsayers don’t take practical measures that could
bring a quick end to most carbon emissions almost overnight. That’s
because their real aim is to force humanity into a poorer lifestyle and
to impede what they view as an evil capitalist system and its economic
development.

If carbon pollution were truly their chief concern, they would
zealously support fracking so that natural gas becomes an ever-cheaper
reliable substitute for coal. After all, natural gas emits half the
carbon, and its adoption has done more to reduce carbon emissions than
all of the environmentalists in history combined.

They would pursue rapid expansion of reliable nuclear and hydroelectric
power. After all, endangered salmon will not survive if the Earth
perishes. And even the thorny issue of nuclear waste would pale in
significance to the possibility that we have only 12 — or, sorry, 10 —
[99]years left to act before Earth cannot be saved.

Fortunately, there is no scientific basis for any of these dire
predictions. And just as fortunately, the discerning reader has by now
learned to tune out most news reports about climate change.

[100]Editorials
[101]Climate Change
[102]Weather
[103]Global Warming
[104]Energy
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Share your thoughts with friends.

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[106]Biden asks global oil cartel OPEC+ to boost production as pump prices
spike
[107]Josh Siegel
Wednesday August 11, 2021
The Biden administration is calling on OPEC and its allies to
pump more oil in order to counter rising gasoline prices that
could crimp the global economic recovery from the pandemic.
+ [108]Kevin Cramer - 030519

[109]Republicans call on Biden to fend off EU's 'green protectionism' carbon
tariffs
[110]Josh Siegel
Tuesday August 10, 2021
A group of 19 Senate Republicans is calling on President Joe
Biden to “safeguard” U.S. commercial interests and oppose the
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countries that lack aggressive emissions-reduction policies.
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[112]Biden’s radical remaking of America
[113]Washington Examiner
Tuesday August 10, 2021
Senate Democrats released a 92-page outline of President Joe
Biden’s agenda Monday morning. It is nothing short of a
blueprint for a far-left, radical remaking of the United
States.
+ [114]Former Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the
Boston Climate Summit in Boston on June 7.

[115]Kerry jets to Obama's birthday bash while his boss makes everyone else
mask up (again)
[116]Tiana Lowe
Monday August 09, 2021
Despite his claim that his 60th birthday bonanza would be
scaled back to "include only family and close friends," Barack
Obama, an infamous introvert and politician peerless in his
disdain for beltway backslapping, went forward with a massive
rager at his Martha's Vineyard mansion. The former president
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Chrissy Teigen and George Clooney, but also that it would be
outdoors.
+ [117]Xi Jinping

[118]China has used the 21st century’s three defining crises to steal a move
on its rivals
[119]Robert Blohm
Monday August 09, 2021
China is suing for a return to detente despite its
fist-tightening. But "cooperation while respecting
differences" with China is a bear hug over rivals abroad.
China constantly worms away at global institutions,
principles, and populations. This is evident in how China has
used the 21st century’s three defining crises to steal
economic growth to the detriment of its rivals.
+ [120]Chuck Schumer

[121]Democrats outline plan to cut emissions in half by 2030 without GOP
votes
[122]Josh Siegel
Monday August 09, 2021
Senate Democrats unveiled plans Monday to pass legislation,
without Republican votes, to put the United States on track to
meet President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas
emissions in half by 2030.
+ [123]Pacific Northwest-Heat Wave-Immigrant Dies

[124]Free community college, preschool, and amnesty for millions: Senate
unveils $3.5 trillion budget plan
[125]Susan Ferrechio
Monday August 09, 2021
Senate Democrats this week plan to begin debating a $3.5
trillion budget resolution that would pay for universal
preschool, free community college, paid family and medical
leave, and expanded Medicare benefits as well as provide a
pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

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