Commentary
Maintaining a strong military requires a strong economy. And a strong economy requires reasonable regulations that make sense from both an economic and scientific viewpoint. Unfortunately, many policymakers have bought into an extreme regulatory agenda driven by an ideology that does not make sense scientifically or economically, which is harming both our economy and our military.
This agenda was on display at the 2024 U.N. Climate Change Conference, also known as COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan from Nov. 11, 2024, to Nov. 22, 2024. The premise for the conference—and such agreements as the Paris Agreement—is that man-made climate change poises an existential threat to human existence. Further, it is claimed that, even now, climate change is wreaking havoc around the world and that regulations, mandates, and new technology will slow down and even reverse it.
Those pushing these beliefs also claim that it is the duty of more developed countries to transfer hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars to developing countries so that they can continue developing using so-called green technology vs. dirty old legacy technology.
Here in the United States, climate-change-driven policies and mandates are being rolled out on the premise or claim that climate change is, even now, disproportionately affecting the poor and disadvantaged. They also claim that man-caused climate change is negatively affecting gross domestic product.
In other words, if you don’t support draconic climate-change-driven policies and mandates, you support a weaker economy and have a callous disregard for how climate change is hurting those occupying the lower socioeconomic strata.
These claims, believed by many in academia and the media establishment, have taken on religious overtones, and consequently, there is little tolerance for opposing viewpoints in both academia and the legacy media. Be that as it may, many scientists, engineers, and other knowledgeable, extremely bright people don’t believe the rhetoric and have provided convincing arguments debunking what they believe to be pseudoscience.
One such group of distinguished academicians is the Climate Intel group (Clintel). And one of the most distinguished members of this group is Nobel Prize winner John F. Clauser, who, in August 2023, signed the Clintel Climate Declaration, which declares that there is no climate emergency. As of today, more than 1,600 scientists and experts have signed the declaration, with Nobel Prize winner Ivar Giaever being the first signee.
The declaration states that climate science has become politicized and is lacking scientifically. It notes that climate change models are fully dependent on what goes into them, including hypotheses, assumptions, relationships, parameterizations, stability constraints, and so forth.
“To believe the outcome of a climate model is to believe [blind faith] what the model makers have put in. This is precisely the problem of today’s climate discussion to which climate models are central. Climate science has degenerated into a discussion based on beliefs, not on sound self-critical science,” it reads.
Suffice it to say, the repeated failures of these models leaves plenty of room for doubt in the popular narrative on climate change. And given that the regulations and mandates aren’t actually stopping or even slowing climate change, we must question the wisdom of implementing regulations and mandates that cripple our economy and our military, even as China’s economy and military continue to expand, unhindered by such crippling mandates and regulations.
Still, for the past 15-plus years, the United States has led the world in reducing carbon emissions. The extent of its leadership can be found in the 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy, which shows that, over the past 15 years, the United States has experienced the largest decline in carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from energy, process emissions, methane, and flaring. Indeed, as compared with 2013, the United States has been able to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents by 8.5 percent, even as it has massively grown its economy through aggressive drilling for and using cleaner-burning natural gas, including natural gas from fracking instead of coal. During this same period, China’s CO2 equivalents went up by 20 percent to make China far and away the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
China also leads the world in plastics pollution, and only India beats China when it comes to the sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2) responsible for acid rain. Of note, when it comes to SO2 emissions, the United States produces about one-sixth that of China.
Hence, as of today, if the climate change narrative is correct, it is China that far and away is doing the most damage, and it is the United States that has done the most to combat it.
Consequently, with the United States already leading the developed world in reducing GHGs and with huge chunks of the world producing GHGs and other pollutants largely unabated, it hardly makes sense for the United States to voluntarily cripple its economy and military even as China and other potential adversaries pay lip service to the climate change narrative.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
