The ongoing mantra of global warming zealots has a quasi-religious tone to it: “the science is settled and people who question this rigid dogma are a new kind of infidel known as a denier.”
I am not an expert in the field of science, but I used to view scientific methodology as an open-minded process in which every variable is thoroughly considered before anything is settled. This basic principle does not appear to apply to climate change (formerly known as global cooling and warming-depending upon the decade).
We now live in an age where science is used as a political club to beat up opponents who dare to question the gospel according to manmade global warming. It is also known as anthropogenic climate change by disciples armed with a thesaurus and a pointless need to assume intellectual high ground via a beefed-up vocabulary.
The Notley and Trudeau governments have decided to save the world with a new tax on energy in our subarctic climate country that produces about one per cent of the planet’s C02. Sylvan Lake MLA Don MacIntyre questioned the need for a carbon tax and also dared to question whether the science was settled on the climate issue.
I am glad MacIntyre had the courage to pose an honest question in a world gone mad with heavy-handed political correctness. We need to rule out every variable in our planet’s ultra-complex climate system before we can legitimately conclude that human beings have the ability to produce drastic climate changes through our CO2 discharges. Anything less is an insult to science.
We need to ask whether sun activity, ocean current activity, volcanoes and a myriad of other factors have exerted any influence on past, present and future climate. Bear in mind the last major ice age only ended about 10,000 years ago — considerably less than a heartbeat in geological time.
We cannot simply ignore any possible non-CO2 factor as an inconvenient truth when it comes to a scientific approach to global warming.
We need to ask if human greed has crept into the climate change issue and turned it into a cash cow for cap/trade investors and climate researchers. Climate research and cap/trade commerce are now multi-billion dollar industries whose financial fortunes are best served by the manmade global warming message.
We need to ask whether a wealth transfer from developed countries to underdeveloped countries by purchasing their carbon tax credits does anything to solve the alleged CO2 problem put forth by the global warmists.
We need to ask whether famous hockey stick scientist Al Gore has accrued considerable personal wealth from global warming mania and whether fear of chinooks makes Leonardo DiCaprio a climate expert.
We need to ask whether semi-arid regions like California battled drought conditions long before the influx of millions of people who have drastically tipped the scale on water consumption.
We need to ask whether emaciated polar bears on ice floes are sick, old, injured or photo-shopped poster stars taken out of context to advance a skewed message.
We need to ask whether the computer climate models have demonstrated the same level of grossly inaccurate prescience as a shameless huckster with a crystal ball and tarot cards.
There are too many unanswered questions to simply accept the global warming issue as fact. Good on Don MacIntyre for speaking out in a world where eco-zealots are running the show and shaping the message.
The real inconvenient truth for warmists is Mr MacIntyre does not stand alone with his concerns.
Jim Sutherland is a long-time Red Deer resident.