Is This Paris Thing A Big Deal?

Climate change. I must be the only resident that’s still living on planet Earth. Everyone else seems to be experiencing weather or climate in some alternate universe.

The one two-part question no one seems to be able to answer definitively is: “Is the climate changing, and who or what’s responsible for it?”

I’m betting on the sun as the guilty party.

You Can’t Deny Science – Or Can You?

I was born in the morning, but it wasn’t yesterday morning. Is Bozeman, Montana different from San Francisco, California?

I’m not talking about the climate or the temperatures of the two cities, I’m asking are they different?

The correct answer is, yes, they are different in a variety of ways. So why are we to believe that one cookie cutter theory seems to work for the entire planet?

The official highest recorded temperature is 56.7°C (134°F), which was measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California, USA.

The coldest temperature of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K) was measured at the Soviet Vostok Station, on the Antarctic Plateau, on July 21, 1983.

But, as all of the thermometer huggers will point out, those facts are temperatures — not climate.

Ninety-nine percent of scientists agree that the climate is changing? Changing how? Did they all sign their names to one paper based on the identical factual sources?

Do they all agree on the same hypothesis? Or is this a propaganda stunt designed and implemented for a small group of people around the world to make a quick buck?

Does Propaganda Fit With Climate Change?

The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over. Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success. (Source: War on Propaganda, Volume 1, Chapter 6, of Mein Kampf (1925), by Adolf Hitler)

Sure sounds to me that Adolf had a valid point.

Tell people of the world, long enough and loud enough, that the climate is changing, using the same set of facts over and over, even if contradictory facts are available, and eventually you’ll win them over.

It’s way too much trouble to do the research on your own. Who has that kind of time?

We Get Out Of The Paris Accord — So What?

Does anyone believe for a single second that we’re going to stop our march to clean up the environment in the US?

Leonardo DiCaprio would become apoplectic.

In fact a pretty strong case could be made that we’ve done more to help the planet than most other countries that are gung ho to sign onto the accord.

Didn’t the US:

• Create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Nixon?
• Outlaw aerosol sprays to help heal the ozone layer?
• Outlaw the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs?
• Put emission regulations on cars and trucks and mileage requirements?

Do I even need to mention ethanol?

Are there no wind farms in the US? No solar panels? Didn’t the US require low flow toilets and shower heads in all federal buildings, at least the newer ones? Can you buy a major appliance today without an energy efficiency rating? Isn't every business in the US trying to cut their energy costs?

Will any of these things change because we’re not going to Paris? Is there any doubt we’ll probably increase our cleanup efforts in the coming years, regardless of what other countries do or say?

So why the big deal about staying home and saving super polluting Air Force One for a trip that might actually mean something?

Some Final Thoughts

One of my more liberal friends always tells me to “follow the money” unless of course it’s a liberal cause then it’s just “give me the money.”

I think the US has carried the water for the rest of the world long enough. While the US is a major planet polluter, we are making a visible effort to change things.

I don’t see any effort on the same scale in India or China where paint masks are a fashion statement in most Chinese cities.

Am I worried about climate change?

Get back to me when glaciers start threatening the northern border of Montana or people start bursting into flames at the equator. Until then my advice is to invest in sunscreen. Keep cool.

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