The Price of Ignorance

Commentary“Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”—Lillian Smith Today, about two hours outside Berlin, residents of a small town in Germany are foraging for wood in a nearby forest. In Poland, people are lined up in front of coal mines, hoping to buy fuel for the coming winter. In France, President Emmanuel Macron, an ardent supporter of the fraudulent global warming hypothesis, has announced that France may have to ration energy this winter. In fact, the EU recently announced that member countries had agreed to a voluntary reduction of 15 percent of historical gas consumption. “Saving gas now will improve preparedness. The winter will be much cheaper and easier for EU’s citizens and industry,” Jozef Sikela, the Czech minister of industry and trade, said in a European Council statement in July. The EU agreement exempts those countries whose electric grid or gas distribution systems aren’t connected to other EU countries. In addition, the agreement provides for member states to be relieved of their reduction obligations for a variety of reasons, including “if they have overshot their gas storage filling targets, if they are heavily dependent on gas as a feedstock for critical industries or if their gas consumption has increased by at least 8% in the past year compared to the average of the past five years.” If you think that this agreement will have any effect whatsoever in reducing gas consumption and make the “winter so much easier and cheaper for the EU’s citizens and industry,” then you should stop reading this article now. In mid-August 2022, the price of electricity in Germany was around $700 per megawatt hour (MWh), a record high. Two weeks later, the 12-month futures for electricity in Germany (a European benchmark) exceeded $1,000 per MWh. In 2000, the installed fossil-fuel-powered (primarily coal) electric generating capacity in the EU and China was essentially the same: 200,000 MW. In 2021, The EU had reduced its coal-fired electric generating capacity to 150,000 MW, with plans to phase out all fossil fuel plants by 2030. By 2021, China had increased its coal-fired electric generating capacity to 1,000,000 MW. In 2020, China built three times as many coal-fired power plants as the rest of the world combined. Does anyone think that the leaders of China intend to stop burning coal? Do those who would eliminate fossil-fueled power plants in Europe realize that the Chinese atmosphere is connected to the atmosphere in Europe? In my book “Global Warming: The Great Deception,” I present published, peer-reviewed research using first principles of science, involving the disciplines of thermodynamics, spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, and atmospheric physics, to prove that an increase of 120 parts per million in the concentration of CO2 in the Earth’s troposphere (the first five miles of the atmosphere) has a de minimis effect on the Earth’s climate. None of the world’s temperature databases for the troposphere, oceans, or land mass depict significant warming. In fact, from 1979 to 1998, the temperature anomaly for the lower troposphere, as measured by NOAA satellites using microwave-sounding technology, depicted an average decrease of around 0.3 degrees C (0.5 degrees F) per year for the 20-year period. That fact, in and of itself, is sufficient to falsify the fraudulent man-made global warming hypothesis. The carbon atom has been the boon of humanity since time immemorial. Man first burned wood in a campfire to release the energy stored by photosynthesis for cooking and warmth. The combustion of fossil fuels such as lignite, peat, and coal heated man’s hearths, powered his steam engines, and later generated electricity. Oil and its distillates, such as kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, and aviation fuel, lit man’s home, powered locomotives, trucks, and cars, and fueled ships, airplanes, and rocket ships. The products of the combustion of fossil fuels include CO2, which is necessary for plant photosynthesis. All living plant matter absorbs CO2 and emits oxygen in the process of photosynthesis. It’s the very process necessary to support human, animal, and plant life (including agriculture) on Earth. So why, after so many millennia of faithful service to mankind, has the carbon atom and the hydrocarbon bond come under attack? The answer is simple: ignorance of scientific facts. Aside from ignorance, there are two more reasons advocates of the fraudulent global warming hypothesis promote it: money and power. It’s about money for the U.N. for climate research and the transfer of wealth from developed nations to developing nations under the guise of addressing climate change. It’s about power for certain U.S. and world politicians to control the electorate. Money follows power in politics. For global investment firms, it’s the profit from trading carbon credits and offs

Sep 9, 2022 - 05:38

Commentary

“Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”—Lillian Smith

Today, about two hours outside Berlin, residents of a small town in Germany are foraging for wood in a nearby forest. In Poland, people are lined up in front of coal mines, hoping to buy fuel for the coming winter. In France, President Emmanuel Macron, an ardent supporter of the fraudulent global warming hypothesis, has announced that France may have to ration energy this winter. In fact, the EU recently announced that member countries had agreed to a voluntary reduction of 15 percent of historical gas consumption.

“Saving gas now will improve preparedness. The winter will be much cheaper and easier for EU’s citizens and industry,” Jozef Sikela, the Czech minister of industry and trade, said in a European Council statement in July.

The EU agreement exempts those countries whose electric grid or gas distribution systems aren’t connected to other EU countries. In addition, the agreement provides for member states to be relieved of their reduction obligations for a variety of reasons, including “if they have overshot their gas storage filling targets, if they are heavily dependent on gas as a feedstock for critical industries or if their gas consumption has increased by at least 8% in the past year compared to the average of the past five years.”

If you think that this agreement will have any effect whatsoever in reducing gas consumption and make the “winter so much easier and cheaper for the EU’s citizens and industry,” then you should stop reading this article now.

In mid-August 2022, the price of electricity in Germany was around $700 per megawatt hour (MWh), a record high. Two weeks later, the 12-month futures for electricity in Germany (a European benchmark) exceeded $1,000 per MWh.

In 2000, the installed fossil-fuel-powered (primarily coal) electric generating capacity in the EU and China was essentially the same: 200,000 MW. In 2021, The EU had reduced its coal-fired electric generating capacity to 150,000 MW, with plans to phase out all fossil fuel plants by 2030. By 2021, China had increased its coal-fired electric generating capacity to 1,000,000 MW. In 2020, China built three times as many coal-fired power plants as the rest of the world combined. Does anyone think that the leaders of China intend to stop burning coal? Do those who would eliminate fossil-fueled power plants in Europe realize that the Chinese atmosphere is connected to the atmosphere in Europe?

In my book “Global Warming: The Great Deception,” I present published, peer-reviewed research using first principles of science, involving the disciplines of thermodynamics, spectroscopy, quantum mechanics, and atmospheric physics, to prove that an increase of 120 parts per million in the concentration of CO2 in the Earth’s troposphere (the first five miles of the atmosphere) has a de minimis effect on the Earth’s climate.

None of the world’s temperature databases for the troposphere, oceans, or land mass depict significant warming. In fact, from 1979 to 1998, the temperature anomaly for the lower troposphere, as measured by NOAA satellites using microwave-sounding technology, depicted an average decrease of around 0.3 degrees C (0.5 degrees F) per year for the 20-year period. That fact, in and of itself, is sufficient to falsify the fraudulent man-made global warming hypothesis.

The carbon atom has been the boon of humanity since time immemorial. Man first burned wood in a campfire to release the energy stored by photosynthesis for cooking and warmth. The combustion of fossil fuels such as lignite, peat, and coal heated man’s hearths, powered his steam engines, and later generated electricity. Oil and its distillates, such as kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, and aviation fuel, lit man’s home, powered locomotives, trucks, and cars, and fueled ships, airplanes, and rocket ships.

The products of the combustion of fossil fuels include CO2, which is necessary for plant photosynthesis. All living plant matter absorbs CO2 and emits oxygen in the process of photosynthesis. It’s the very process necessary to support human, animal, and plant life (including agriculture) on Earth. So why, after so many millennia of faithful service to mankind, has the carbon atom and the hydrocarbon bond come under attack? The answer is simple: ignorance of scientific facts.

Aside from ignorance, there are two more reasons advocates of the fraudulent global warming hypothesis promote it: money and power.

It’s about money for the U.N. for climate research and the transfer of wealth from developed nations to developing nations under the guise of addressing climate change.

It’s about power for certain U.S. and world politicians to control the electorate. Money follows power in politics. For global investment firms, it’s the profit from trading carbon credits and offsets.

Unfortunately, the price of ignorance can be high. And the people who often pay for it are those who can least afford it. Residential customers in the EU will face exorbitant energy costs and an unreliable supply of electricity and gas. Businesses in the EU will see higher energy costs, which will affect their competitiveness in world markets and their ability to maintain current levels of employment. All power consumers face the prospect of energy rationing, including the prospect of rolling blackouts. It could be a winter of discontent in Europe.

Why should this happen when the world has abundant, relatively inexpensive fossil fuel reserves? Why should this happen when scientific research employing first principles of the relevant fields demonstrates that CO2 is not a threat but a benefit to humanity?

Mankind is surrounded by the facts concerning this issue. Why won’t people listen to those facts? Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Guy K. Mitchell, Jr. is the author of a new book titled “Global Warming: The Great Deception—The Triumph of Dollars and Politics Over Science and Why You Should Care.”