A True Believer Falls From Grace: "What I Learned about Climate Change: The Science is not Settled"

From Medium:

More than thirty years ago, I became vegan because I believed it was healthier (it’s not), and I’ve stayed vegan because I believe it’s better for the environment (it is). I haven’t owned a car in ten years. I love animals; I’ll gladly fly halfway around the world to take photos of them in their natural habitats. I’m a Democrat: I think governments play a key role in helping preserve our environment for the future in the most cost-effective way possible. 

Over the years, I built a set of assumptions: that Al Gore was right about global warming, that he was the David going up against the industrial Goliath. In 1993, I even wrote a book about it. Recently, a friend challenged those assumptions. At first, I was annoyed, because I thought the science really was settled. 

As I started to look at the data and read about climate science, I was surprised, then shocked. As I learned more, I changed my mind. 

I now think there probably is no climate crisis and that the focus on CO2 takes funding and attention from critical environmental problems. 

I’ll start by making ten short statements that should challenge your assumptions and then back them up with an essay.

GO READ THE WHOLE THING. 

I am so happy for this man.

Yes, the AGW movement, and the Green Movement out of which it came, are Trojan Horses which are being used to introduce Socialist ideas into Western political systems. 

AND, they are something even worse than that; they are a voice whispering in the ears of generations of people that it would be better had they never existed at all.

Why do I say that? I will explain.

But first, and just for the record, the reason I don't believe Global Warming is going to kill us is because, at 50+ years of age, I have been Chicken-Littled by scientists far too many times. 

During the course of my lifetime, I have been told 

1) we were overpopulating the earth (it turns out all of our problems with food have to do with distribution, not shortages) 

2) we would eat each other like rats in cages (I have yet to see evidence of mass cannibalism caused by overcrowding) 

3) we were polluting ourselves to death (the USA is cleaner than when I was a kid, but the third world is more polluted, proving the solution to pollution is not less productivity but more Capitalism)  
4) we were destroying all the forests and would run out of oxygen (the US is more forested now than in the 1800's) 

5) we were going to choke the earth with plastics (I have yet to see the Earth huffing and puffing for its last breath) 

6) we were going to run out of oil (I had several professors in college in the early 80's who promised me we would run out of oil by the early 1990's - we actually have MORE KNOWN RESERVES NOW THAN AT ANY TIME IN HISTORY - AND IT IS ALL BUT A PROVEN SCIENTIFIC FACT THAT OIL IS NOT A FOSSIL FUEL, BUT IS INSTEAD A NATURAL OCCURRING SUBSTANCE) 

And now, these malevolent, insane scientists are telling us we are destroying the Earth with CO2, which they say causes Global Warming. Why would anyone believe them, after all they've been wrong about? 

AND, THE MOST AMAZING THING IS I HAVE NEVER HEARD AN APOLOGY FROM ANY SCIENTIST FOR ANYTHING THAT THEY HAVE BEEN WRONG ABOUT. 

Why do you think that is? 

And note this, have you ever heard any apologies from the Left for having been wrong about Stalin, the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan's strategy for destroying the Soviet Union, the idea that Reagan would start a nuclear war, etc.? 

No, there are no apologies from the Scientists who have been wrong. And, there are no apologies from the Leftists who were wrong about Communism and its death toll, nor about how to destroy the USSR. 

And, why do you think these two groups refuse to apologize when they have terrorized us with their never-ending bullshit? Because, the Leftists and the Scientists share the same goal, and that is they want to do away with consumption, capitalism, and ultimately, human beings in large numbers. 

They hate life. And, they want to drag all of us down with them. 

How it is that scientists make all these mistakes, terrorize us with predictions about the end of the world, and then refuse to apologize when they are proven wrong. 

Additionally, we need to consider why it is that the answers scientists come up with to solve all these problems have always involved totalitarian government intervention. 

For instance, Obama's Czar John Holdren prescribed forced abortions and mass sterilization to deal with the overpopulation "problem" (which has turned out to be a complete myth). John Holdren has never taken his words back, nor has he apologized. 

And, consider this, when people are constantly taught the world is coming to an end, how are they to plan for the future? How are they supposed to have hope? 

And, if people believe our population is too high, why should they have children? 

Is not life less joyful, less full of love and hope, if we have less children? 

And, if people believe consumerism inevitably leads to more Global Warming then, once again, why should people have children? After all, every child added to the world is yet another consumer, who will inevitably make the Earth even warmer. 

If we are to take these scientists seriously, we must consider 

1) what the psychological effect is on human beings who are told the world is ending (damages our ability to live with hope and joy) 

and 

2) what our society would look like if we actually decided to use the prescriptions of these insane totalitarian scientists ... 

Imagine if we took their prescriptions for public policy. Most of you under the age of 35 probably would NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN. 

If we do not consider these questions, then we are being complacent, and intellectually dishonest. Not just about science, but about the reality of the prescriptions, and about the reality of the mass psychological damage to human beings. 

Do not be complacent about these questions, becaue they are fundamental questions which go right to the heart of the love, joy, and hope. They are questions which force us to consider whether we can even afford to enjoy life. 

And that is at least as important as Global Warming.