Climate: Big guns sometimes off target

One has to appreciate what Bill Irving shares; after all he is quoting the big guns. Surely they know what they are talking about.

But, then, the big guys have been wrong in the past. Just because they handle and spend a lot of money does not necessarily mean they are also great scientists?

We had the big guns telling us that we were going to be in serious trouble when the year 2,000 arrived. Some folk built big firewood piles to be ready for the big collapse of our energy system. But, nothing happened.

We heard a lot about the ozone hole, but not so much information lately. Has the hole gone away?

There are a couple of things that Bill said that need some comment. First he said: “We’ve all noticed more rain and warmer than usual winter temperatures compared to the past.”

What past? One common expression here in Idaho is that “I can’t remember” when it was “ever this cold” or “ever this warm.” The official climate records seem to tell us that it has really not been that warm. In fact forest fires are caused more from poor management than from climate change (search Bob Zybach, who spent the past 40 years studying forest fires).

We are told that the Earth has warmed one degree, but even just walking from one room to another it is hard to tell the difference of one degree.

What we need is some common sense. If it gets up to 100 degrees in summer and down to minus 30 in the winter, common sense ought to tell us that one degree change is not going to affect anything very much.

In fact, warmer weather is better than colder weather. Common sense tells us that. It is why those who can afford it go south for the winter. Common sense also teaches us that we can do something about it when it is too hot or too cold.

I have just written a book that is plain common sense; common sense about the weather and our climate. “Climate Change: A Convenient Truth.” It is written for kids to help overcome some of the fiction they seem to be getting in school. It is available most places that books are sold, even the local Christian book store.

All the climate programs have one thing in common: They will lead to a larger government and higher taxes.

One thing I have found very interesting is the drive to “leave it in the ground.” Little thought is given to what we would do without oil, the base for all our plastics. No cars, no furniture and even no toothbrushes. Common sense ought to show us the many things that are made from plastic and oil. And natural gas, used to heat our homes, is also used to make many things such as fertilizer, and important in the refinement of iron to make steel.

Even a little history would show us that oil and coal have made America the greatest country in the world, able to help others in need. Without all that oil we could not help anyone. And, don’t forget that the oil in foreign countries was developed by American companies.

One little girl came home from school crying because she heard that the world was going to end and she couldn’t do anything about it. But, common sense demonstrates that it simply is not so.

We learned in junior high school that carbon dioxide was beneficial to all plant life. The cycle we learned is that animals produce carbon dioxide, and take in oxygen and that plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Common sense ought to teach us that this process is good. More carbon dioxide means more green vegetation. Carbon dioxide is dry ice, used in fire extinguishers, and in the making of bread.

The answer is simple: Even big corporations have a tendency to listen to other corporations and not do their own research. It is the tragedy of our age. In England if you show Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” you also have to point out the many errors found in the film.

We are surrounded by people who would deny us the use of our own reason, but common sense is enough to begin to show us the truth. Don’t trust what others are saying but depend on your own common sense. Question? jimhollingsworth@frontier.com.

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Jim Hollingsworth is a Hayden resident.