When will America realize that climate change is a hoax?
By “climate change,” I mean the idea of an overwhelmingly anthropogenic and sudden rise in the Earth’s temperature to catastrophic levels. I have not seen convincing proof of climate change in this sense.
I have lived for almost 80 years, and I have not witnessed any perceptible change. The summers are hot, as they were when I was a child. The winters are cold, much too cold for my taste, just as they were when I was out sledding, building snow forts, and throwing snowballs at my friends. There is still plenty of snow to do so.
So where is the evidence of global warming?
Those who believe that man-made warming is devastating the economy will have a hard time proving it. Living standards today are far better than in the1940s, with U.S. GDP in 1940 at $8,824 per person in inflation-adjusted dollars. As of 2023, it was $82,769. With regard to the climate, the only thing that seems to have changed is the rise of a powerful and orchestrated climate change lobby intent on taking over the energy sector in order to vastly increase government power and reduce human freedom.
The real question is, do you believe your own eyes or the report of a government-funded academic whose salary depends on providing evidence of warming? Much of America is now experiencing a polar vortex and blizzard of major proportions. Reportedly, every state in the continental U.S. will be affected by this storm, with most of the East hit by cold, snow, and ice, and the Southern states experiencing thunderstorms and cold rain. According to APnews, it “may be the highest snowfall in at least a decade.”
Like the Emperor’s New Clothes, climate change experts will say that this major storm is further evidence of global warming, “as warming in the arctic increases the likelihood that frigid, polar air can sweep southward.” So, according to the experts, if it is frightfully cold and continues to get colder each winter, this is just evidence of global warming. At what point does it just become cooling?
As I see it, the greatest damage is caused by climate alarmists who wish to restrict fossil fuel production, thus driving up costs for ordinary Americans, along with those who at COP29 pledged to send $300 billion to developing countries at the expense of everyday workers in developed countries; those in the U.S. who insist on spending $93 trillion on the Green New Deal; those who force E.V.s on consumers who don’t want them; and those who insist that wind and solar are enough to power the electric grid, resulting in loss of power in the midst of winter or summer.
The commonsense approach is to continue the attempt to make alternative fuels more efficient and reliable while allowing the market to decide what works best. Natural gas is an efficient, reliable, inexpensive, clean fuel, and with U.S. gas reserves “at their highest reported level on record,” there is no foreseeable shortage. To the extent that a shortage exists, it is the shortage of transmission pipelines caused by green politics. Even in a state like Texas, which holds huge natural gas reserves, winter storm Uri caused millions of Americans to lose power in 2021 because of inadequate energy transmission. Uri was followed by winter storm Elliott in 2022. Americans suffered, and some died, as a result of these storms. What will 2025 bring?
Winter storm Uri was a catastrophic storm that caused the deaths of 246 people. In 2022, 3,571 people died of the cold. Adequate transmission of natural gas and electricity would have prevented many of these deaths. How many will die during outages this year?
According to the United States Energy Association, the U.S. will need 24,000 new miles of natural gas transmission pipelines by 2035 just to keep the heat on in many areas, but under Biden, new construction has come to a halt. This restriction is not the result of practical impediments; it is the result of green politics.
In a much publicized move, Biden’s first act as president was to shut down the Keystone pipeline, but his administration placed restrictions on all oil and gas development and transmission, setting the country back by years. It also closed down new exporting of liquefied natural gas, thereby causing potential shortages in other countries and driving them to our adversaries for supplies — all in the name of an anti–fossil fuel ideology that seems to make no sense.
It’s not necessary to rely on climate experts to know if it’s cold outside. Just open the door and step outside. It is cold, and the fact that one says so doesn’t make one a “denier,” as many on the left claim. And the fact that one wishes to remain warm and cozy — and to have the energy infrastructure to ensure it — doesn’t make one an “opponent” of anything. It is just a natural response to the cold.
The climate alarmists wish to convince us that the cold weather of 2025 isn’t really that cold, and that if our heat goes out, we are not really freezing. But it is cold, and I do not want to freeze. That’s one reason why I support the unrestricted development of all forms of energy and of the necessary means of transmission. We have the capacity to heat our homes and businesses, if only we will use it.
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture.
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