No Loss for Words

It’s hard to comment about things related to climate change these days because some people de-compensate at the mention.  Having said that, I am willing to spin a few minds into a tizzy.

Let me say from the beginning that I am not a climatologist or a meteorologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express the other night.

Here’s what I think I know.  The weather is changing all the time.  Climate is a reflection of weather changes over time.  Climate is changing all the time.

We are growing grapes in the state of Washington where we couldn’t fifty years ago.  Climate changes in California are affecting the crops they can grow today that were staples fifty years ago.  Over that time, farmers have adapted their practices to take into consideration the changes.

For me and most other people, I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.  Al Gore is like Chicken Little warning us that the sky will fall.  Our own Jay Inslee characterized his Presidential campaign as a “War against Climate Change”.  As far as I can tell, the people he intends to wage war against are you and me.

From a scientific perspective the climatologists study the evolving climate, but they don’t ever suggest we can manage it.  The current craze is to reduce Green House gases and the movement is to identify those man-made sources of Green House gases and slash them.

The thing I don’t hear from reputable scientists is that efforts in the US will have a measurable impact on the problem.

The countries producing the most pollution contributing to the problem have no intention to slash production of Green House gases if the cost of doing so trashes their economy.  China and India are by far the largest populations on the planet and they produce the most pollution.  Unless we can twist their arm to get them to play ball, we accomplish nothing by trashing our own economy.

I’m not suggesting that we don’t undertake an effort to reduce environmental impacts that contribute to climate change, but we must keep in mind that everything comes with a cost.  For the Al Gores and the Jay Inslees of the world, they don’t mind that you bear the burden of a Climate Change War even knowing up front there will be no victory.

The thing that pushes their zealotry is guilt for America’s past abuses.  American excesses over the past sixty years coming from a very successful economy create an appearance to the rest of the world that Americans are selfish squanderers of the world’s resources.  Creating a Climate Change movement focusing on American behavior only, contributes nothing to measurable change in the climate but a catastrophic impact to the American economy.

When Obama talked about fundamental change to America, this is the tool that will make it happen.  Inslee’s war will be a war of ideas to convince us that we are bad people who should be ashamed of our success and as a result we should beat our selves to death for penance.

If the environment on the planet changes, our best strategy is to be adaptive.  If we have huge population centers located on low elevation seacoast areas subject to flooding if the oceans rise, then maybe we should be talking about moving to higher ground. Just look at New Orleans if you think you can hold back the sea.  That city is sinking and the government is spending a fortune to prevent the relentless flood.  Move away from the low land, quit building homes in flood prone areas, quit putting people’s lives in danger by allowing residences in “future flood” designated areas.

We’ve learned that mankind is fairly insignificant to mother nature.  It is only in our feeble minds that we think we can alter the weather.

I know I always advise my clients to buy property at least fifty feet above sea level.  Who knows, at some time that property might be on the beach.

Adopting modest changes to our behavior at modest prices is probably a good thing, but taxes to change your behavior has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with power over you.  Think about that.