By Lee Gerhard
Climate scientists would be less likely to issue dire warnings about our planet's demise if they gave more credence to the geologic history of the past million years. Instead, they rely on computer models influenced by the biases of their manipulators and unable to account for the myriad factors that influence global temperatures.
A tiny recent warming, whatever the cause, is of no significance given the long record of data from Antarctic ice cores stretching back 800,000 years. The bottom line is that the Earth is almost 3 degrees Celsius colder than it was 3,000 years ago and is currently entering its longest cold period in the last 10,000 years. Bright headlines about the record heat waves of the last 100 years are meaningless, hysterical babble.
A deeper look into geological history – based in part on millions of years of records stored in deep-sea sediments – shows that today's carbon dioxide concentrations of 420 parts per million are only a fraction of previous levels, which reached 5,000 parts per million and above. Carbon dioxide levels are near their lowest levels since plant life began so many millions of years ago and well below the optimal level for the health of most plants.
In fact, the mid-19th century concentration of 280 ppm is disturbingly close to the point at which plant life dies – below 150 ppm. Given that all life depends on sufficient quantities of this gas, proposals to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide are downright reckless.
Any global increase in carbon dioxide will be beneficial and will have almost no impact on future temperatures. In contrast, in the “bible” of human history and climate change compiled by the late Professor Hubert Lamb of the University of East Anglia, cold kills.
During the Little Ice Age in parts of England, “the annual number of burials exceeded births from 1660 to about 1730,” he reported.
So why do so many demonize fossil fuels? The wealth made possible by coal, oil and natural gas has given many researchers the leisure – and funding – to focus on climate change rather than fighting for survival. Global society is absolutely dependent on cheap and plentiful energy for its survival. Why would some demand that civilization withdraw from useful energy sources in order to bring back mass starvation, poverty and horse-drawn carriages?
Dreaming of a utopian world may be admirable, but causing society suffering through ignorance of science is deplorable.
Humanity is being deprived of valuable knowledge when so many choose the ideology and scaremongering of climate alarmists over the meticulous research of eminent physicists such as Richard Alley, a professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, who pioneered the study of ice cores, and Richard Lindzen, a professor Meteorologist Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who explored the incredible complexity of atmospheric physics.
We could easily name dozens of others with similar qualifications who are largely unknown outside the scientific community.
The public is “protected” from empirical data by old censors and social media censors who eagerly promote the supposed need to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Celsius – artificial constructs with no scientific basis.
We therefore suffer the consequences of unjustified regulatory interventions in daily life, be it restrictions on heating, air conditioning, dishwashers and stoves or the increased price and reduced availability of electricity. The effects range from annoying to life-threatening.
There is no global climate emergency. However, there is a widespread knowledge crisis.
This commentary was first published in The Washington Times on May 1, 2024.
Lee Gerhard is senior scientist emeritus at the University of Kansas, former director of the Kansas Geological Survey, member of the CO2 Coalition, retired Getty Professor of Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, and co-author of “Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change.” He has a doctorate in geology.
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