In the mid-14th century, Italian officials and scientists became convinced that the paint in frescoes covering the inside walls of many churches was causing the Black Plague, then ravaging Europe. Desperate to “do something,” leaders ordered the frescoes whitewashed.
The Plague was unaffected, of course, but frescoes painted by great medieval artists, including Lorenzetti and Giotto di Bondone, were destroyed. Ironically, some masterpieces survived only because parishes couldn’t afford whitewash.
I thought of that futility when I read that Houghton students attended a New York City climate-rally. Environmentalists claim that human-produced CO2 is overheating Earth and altering the climate. Al Gore – who has made gazllions preaching Apocalypse – says the climate-science is “settled.” Some scientists agree; many others do not. 24/7 news coverage makes people think hurricanes, tornadoes and floods are worsening, but the data do not support this.
I lack credentials to judge climate science, but I know something about computational models. A career in simulation and modeling taught me that models are only as good as the mathematical representations and empirical data informing them. “Garbage in, garbage out” was our watchword. Experts admit that current models can’t correctly predict contemporary weather-patterns. Yet draconian government-policies, costing billions, are based on those models.
Renowned climate scientist James Lovelock recanted his earlier warnings, admitting his models were “primitive.” Judith Curry, president of the Climate Forecast Applications Network, wrote in the Wall Street Journal (Oct. 9, 2014) that the climate warming “hiatus,” since 1998, “…raises serious questions as to whether the climate-model projections of 21st century temperatures are fit for making public policy decisions.”
Climate-activism has been called a “new morality.” The NYC marchers believe they occupy that morality’s high ground, but do they realize they could be just as wrong as those long-ago whitewashers? And do they understand what their advocacy might cost the poorest of the world’s poor, as well as themselves?
This new climate-morality has a “dark side” – unknown to most Americans and seldom mentioned by mainstream media. President Obama disclosed it in his recent UN speech, when he asked poor countries to remain undeveloped to combat climate-change.
African delegates must have thought Mr. Obama mad. No sane politician wants his country to stay primitive and dirt-poor. Yet Western governments have agreed to block Third World development on alarmists’ tenuous predictions. This grotesque conspiracy should arouse every Christian’s indignation.
Worldwide, 2 billion people lack reliable electricity. Most cook and heat with smoky, open fires, burning wood or dung. In these unhealthy environments, 4 million children a year die from respiratory ailments. There is no electricity for lights, hot water, refrigeration, heat, or cooling. Industrial development is impossible. The modernity Americans expect simply doesn’t exist.
One African official said, “The West cannot imagine how hard life is without electricity.” He bitterly denounced “romanticizing” primitive African existence that no westerners (including students!) would tolerate. It’s racism at its ugliest, most degenerate level – truly, a cause to march for. But is it even mentioned on college campuses?
Africa’s vast energy resources could enrich the continent and improve its people’s lives: oil reserves of 975 billion barrels (a 100-year world-supply); 484 trillion cubic feet of natural gas; incalculable coal reserves. Western engineers and technicians could develop Africa’s resources and industry, making it an emerging powerhouse. Its potential is virtually unlimited.
Environmentalists and western politicians want Africa limited to solar panels and windmills, although electricity so generated is unreliable and three times as expensive as from coal-fired plants. Rich countries can afford to experiment, observed the above-mentioned official, while poor countries must use the most expensive, inefficient forms of power-generation. He added:
“The African dream is to develop. You might power a light bulb with a solar panel, but you can’t run steel mills and factories with power generated that way.”
European leaders want Africa kept primitive because they fear the economic threat that Africa’s huge resources and 800 million nutrition-and-work-starved people represent to Europe’s declining populations and stagnant economies. Economic Imperialism is the Climate movement’s really dirty secret.
Fundamentally, the Green movement is anti-human. Its strategists consider people “the problem.” Their vision is a green, non-industrial Earth – sparsely populated by hunters, gatherers, and hand-tillers of the soil. One doubts that stock-brokers, car salesmen, bankers, doctors, lawyers, or politicians will be among them.
Ordinary citizens consider the movement benign – like pollution-cleanup. Green is hip. Businesses cheerfully offer to “save the planet” by eliminating paper bags and charging extra for plastic. The danger is great because the movement’s true aims are concealed.
Climate politics seem invincible. Opposition is stomped or ignored. Both political parties ride the Climate Bandwagon. The US Environmental Protection Agency regulations will destroy the coal industry, send fuel and electricity rates soaring, cripple the American economy and impoverish our most vulnerable citizens. It’s a politician’s dream-issue because its effectiveness (or not) won’t be discernible for 100 years.
Mr. Obama promises more “aid” for desperate Third World countries. But we should be spending any available bucks to help those nations develop – not waste it on foolish attempts to affect the climate that will do nothing except burn up precious funds.
If primitive Africa is ever going to escape squalor, disease and hunger, it must use every available resource. Windmills, solar panels, dirt-floor huts, rats running around, and smoky fires burning buffalo crap won’t do it. I’m ashamed that we’re involved in crippling Third World development. I urge Houghton students to view all aspects of the climate issue with a very critical eye.
Follow the money.
-Woody Zimmerman
Woody is a ’64 Houghton Alumnus.
