Christopher Calder posted an article on climate change and end times. His comments prompted this article, in hopes of answering his questions in more detail, and getting a little practice in writing an article as quickly as I could. DG

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This is my response to Christopher Calder in regards climate change and "end times." His original article is in regular print; my replies are in bold, italic. 

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that what is now commonly referred to as "Climate Change," a.k.a. global warming, has become a faith-based doomsday religion.  The Left has embraced Climate Change philosophy with a certain amount of glee.    

Support for this? It is the most depressing issue facing humankind, from virtually anyone who has studied the issue.  

Climate Change proves that free markets are bad, that governments know best, and that industrialized society is somehow sinful.  But if one looks at the actual facts, it is certain that government efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions have largely been economic, environmental, and humanitarian disasters.  In addition, greenhouse-gas emissions have increased worldwide despite all the rules, regulations, and costly renewable energy projects.  

There are so many assumptions in here that it is painful to read. I do not see one ounce of support for anything, except, from countless articles I've read, that governments have done virtually nothing serious to reduce greenhouse emissions.  

It is generally accepted in the scientific community that the Earth has not warmed since about 1998,  

One link here to a bona fide source would revamp understanding of the world .  

yet greenhouse-gas emissions have significantly increased since then, an acceleration due in part to biofuel farming, which has dramatically increased the production of CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases.  So why did global warming stop in 1998 while greenhouse-gas emissions accelerated?    

See comment above, kindly provide link that may be actually examined and responded to.  

Where I live in Oregon, we have had a long string of cool years, one right after another, with below-normal rainfall.  Global-warming theory predicts that Oregon should be getting much warmer and wetter, not cooler and dryer.    

The term "global warming" was changed to "climate change" to accommodate folks who make these kinds of statements and demonstrate that they do not understand the concept of varying conditions in various places.  

Something is wrong with global-warming theory as stated by Al Gore and others, and I know this by simply stepping outside and feeling the record-breaking low temperatures.    

Please see above comment.  

The tactics of Climate Change true believers are getting interesting.  They keep changing the advertised symptoms of global warming, which now mysteriously includes unusual cooling.  No matter what the weather is doing, Climate Change alarmists can find an explanation that shows that human-created pollution is at fault.  Any weather forecast has thus become a win-win validation of their belief system.  

Utterly unsupported paragraph.  

The Earth has been experiencing unusually low hurricane activity recently, which is exactly the opposite of what Climate Change theology predicts.  According to the popular news media, Typhoon Haiyan, which recently hit the Philippines, somehow validates Climate Change theory despite a lack of any confirming statistical data to back up that claim.    

Sweeping generalizations continue without an iota of support .  

Quoting from well known energy-policy analyst, Bjorn Lomborg:  

"Even when measured by total energy of hurricanes, the so-called Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), the Philippines' area is below the norm, even after Haiyan.  The Atlantic has had no major hurricanes and the global total ACE is at its lowest since the 1970s. You cannot take Haiyan and claim it is caused by global warming, without -- incorrectly -- claiming that the lack of global hurricanes is also caused by climate change."   

Link to Bjorn Lomborg errors: http://www.lomborg-errors.dk/  

There are a number of documentary films that point out glaring mistakes in the popular global-warming theories.  A very thoughtful, well-crafted example is "Global Warming: Doomsday Called Off," now on YouTube.  

Gabriele Mogni's professional background in weather studies:   http://www.linkedin.com/pub/gabriele-mogni/64/910/b79  

I have done no direct research into Earth weather patterns myself.    

Christopher's background in weather patterns, as noted by himself.  

I do know with certainty, however, that Al Gore and other famous global-warming gurus have been dreadfully wrong about many important issues.    

And the reason for that would be?  

Al Gore enthusiastically supported biofuels as a replacement for oil, but later admitted that corn ethanol was "not a good policy."    

Some of us learn new information and are honest about our prior errors.  

Al Gore, like T. Boone Pickens, championed wind power as a way to save the world and our economy, but industrial wind-energy schemes have proven to be both an economic and ecological disaster wherever they have been tried.  T. Boone Pickens finally gave up on wind power and stated that "He (Obama) needs to explain to his people, 'Hey, we can get on everything green.  We can get on everything renewable.  Then the cost of power will go up ten times.'"     

President Barack Obama, the world's biggest advocate of biofuels, has now financed a scheme to use windmills to manufacture a new generation of hydrogen bombs.  The Pantex Renewable Energy Project, built on 1,500 acres of government-owned land in the Texas panhandle, will be the federal government's largest wind farm when completed in the summer of 2014.  Empty green symbolism has been pushed to an Orwellian extreme.  Nuclear war, mass starvation, and death are now somehow "green," and surreal absurdity is government policy.     

BO has let the vast majority of those who voted for him completely down, and a review of polls and articles on OEN alone would reveal. Progressives, by definition, don't even listen to him, but for comic relief. And I suppose a lingering flicker of hope that he just might actually do something to help ordinary people.  

FOOD = ENERGY & ENERGY = FOOD is an equation I devised to remind people that it takes so much energy to produce, transport, and safely store food that any increase in the price of energy immediately results in food-cost inflation.    

OEN regularly has articles about growing your own food. Some of us have lived off the grid while doing so, at least as far back as the early eighties. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Living-on-Sunshine-Underg-by-Daniel-Geery-110318-547.html  At least one person I know has written a book about building solar greenhouses, back in the seventies: http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Greenhouses-Underground-Daniel-Geery/dp/0830612726  

Absurdly pricey wind and solar-power schemes, if implemented to any significant degree, will always result in absurdly pricey food that only the wealthy can afford to eat.  In my view, the renewable-energy fad is just another false religion created largely by the wealthy and by corrupt politicians pandering to greedy special-interest groups.    

I won't waste time noting that I have been posting links to solar energy and other alternative energy developments here for several years. If you're too lazy to read a few, it is not my fault. I expected more research from my sixth graders and usually got it.  

Their "green" ideas starve the poor yet produce no significant reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions as a benefit.  A study conducted by our federal government's own National Research Council states that windmills and solar schemes are not worth subsidizing because their real-world effectiveness at reducing greenhouse gas emissions is insignificant.  The study also says that biofuel production increases greenhouse-gas release.   

So are we criticizing the government or turning to it for advice? I would recommend www.rmi.org in a heartbeat, before turning to government studies. In fact, I have, on more occasions than I can possibly recall. And I would advise against just about any government funded study these days.  

Out-of-touch Al Gore, now a strict vegan, recently purchased yet another giant mansion, the newest one an $8,875,000 ocean-view villa in trendy Montecito, California.  Al Gore's jet-set lifestyle burns up far more fossil fuels per year than the unglamorous life of the average American survivin g on a low-paying job and food stamps.  Our own government and global-warming gurus clearly do not represent the views of the majority of American citizens.    

I have many criticisms of Mr. Gore, but what has this to do with the facts this article is allegedly about?  

As there has been no measurable global warming worldwide for many years, and there has been a recent increase in record low temperatures, some scientists are now worried about the possible onset of a new little ice age caused by reduced sunspot activity and reduced solar output.  Many scientists suggest that CO2 is much less effective at raising Earth temperatures than previously thought, and that ever-fluctuating solar output rules our weather.  As my own crystal ball is broken, I do not claim to know what future weather will be like.  I strongly suspect that no one can predict long-term weather accurately simply because there are too many unknown variables that affect climate.  

A ten second Google image search of "global warming charts and graphs" suggests that your first sentence is pure deception or a sign of brain damage. Your last sentence is partially correct, which is why so many scientists are now devoting their careers to this critical topic for the future of humankind. And their findings are just about daily showing that things are far worse than we thought. Check www.sciencedaily.com for starters.  

There are many other dangers to worry about besides Climate Change that do not get anywhere near the same amount of press coverage.  My number-one worry is the affordability and survivability of the human food supply, which Barack Obama seems adamant to destroy with his biofuel schemes.  Biofuel farming has raised the cost of fertilizer, farmland, and food all over the world.  The higher the cost of food, the more innocent people die of malnutrition and related illness worldwide, and the more Americans need food stamps just to survive.  The Democratic Party has disgraced and discredited itself by conspiring with Big Ethanol in a war against affordable food and their own grandchildren.  When we have eroded away all of our irreplaceable topsoil growing corn for engine-rotting, energy-inefficient ethanol, what will our grandchildren eat?    

I agree with you here, Christopher, as do the majority of environmentalists. What has this to do with whatever you are trying to say?

Nuclear war is still a major threat, and recombinant-DNA equipment has become so cheap and easily available that any mentally ill scientist could produce a doomsday virus in his own basement that could kill billions.  A number of synthetic killer viruses have already been created in the name of academic research.  The subconscious psychological motives for this dangerous genetic-engineering experimentation is deeply troubling.  What if a deadly super-virus escapes the laboratory by accident?    

To answer you last question, all our problems would likely be over in a hurry. The mutations just in bacteria alone, from global warming, are already happening at an alarming rate. So we don't even need mentally ill scientists, just mentally deficient folks hollering that there is no global warming. Thank you for your input here.  

The Yellowstone Park volcano is long overdue to erupt, a cataclysmic event that will destroy our food-growing capacity with volcanic ash, and by blocking out the Sun's light for years.  There are a number of giant super-volcanoes around the world that could reduce Earth's human population to a tiny few through starvation.  A world-killing asteroid could appear at any moment, and with little warning if it arrives from an orbit that hides itself from our telescopes.    

Should we worry that global warming or global cooling will set off the big volcano that is long overdue? Or that either warming or cooling will attract an asteroid? I don't quite get it.  

I do not welcome mass death, but many Christians who believe in End Times theology seem to long for it.  I cannot help but notice how much Climate Change enthusiasts and Christian doomsayers have in common.  Are they just tired of living?  Do they hate themselves and the world? 

Clearly, the latter do have a death wish. If you are saying that there are such folks as "climate change enthusiasts," I'd like to hear a few names and supporting links.  

The Earth's climate is always changing because it is driven by constantly fluctuating solar-energy output, an irregular Earth orbit around the Sun, and a million and one natural dynamic processes that are mainly beyond human control.    

For someone who doesn't know anything about weather patterns, isn't this a religious based conclusion?  

Climate change is happening now, has happened in the past since the Earth was first formed, and will happen into the future up to the moment the Earth is consumed by the Sun.  The Sun will eventually run out of hydrogen fuel and gradually turn itself into an expanding red giant star that will envelop the Earth and expand past the orbit of Mars.  

Yes, and who doesn't know this that is actually educated? That future time, last I heard, was four billion years away, so I'm personally not too worried about it. Are you?  

I do not deny that a future dangerous global-warming trend is entirely possible; I only deny that hysterical thinking is useful.  Shutting down debate by censoring and smearing critics is not good science.  There have been a number of credible and substantiated allegations that some scientists have tweaked and faked data to fit their beloved doomsday theology.  This kind of fraud is rather common among scientists testing drugs for pharmaceutical companies.  A strong profit motive or a heavy belief system bias is not helpful to the proper implementation of the scientific method, which requires neutrality and an open mind.  

Failing to read and think and pay attention is not good science either .      

Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions as a precautionary measure is a responsible idea that I fully support,  

I applaud your support for helping to save the earth.  

but the facts show that renewable-energy schemes other than hydroelectric and geothermal power are of little or no use for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.  [SeeGermany's Green energy Disaster.]   There are far better ways to reduce greenhouse-gas levels without costly government subsidies and dictatorial government mandates.  For those better energy solutions and links to resources, please visit my websites, The Fusion Revolution and The Renewable Energy Disaster.  

Cold fusion is an extraordinary possibility. But until it gets here, I'd say fill your tires properly, insulate your roof, fix up your windows, and put a better plug in your bathtub. And perhaps anything else that comes to mind. 

Your detailed, supported, researched, intelligibly written response very much welcomed, and, personally, I look forward to reading it. 

Authors Website: http://www.hyperblimp.com

Authors Bio:

In my run for U.S. Senate against Utah's Orrin Hatch, I posted many progressive ideas and principles that I internalized over the years. I'm leaving that site up indefinitely, since it describes what I believe most members of our species truly want: www.voteutah.us. I thank those who sent such wonderful comments, even though it forced me to go buy a few larger hats, which were among my top campaign expenses (just kidding).

My forever-to-write novel (now my favorite book for some unfathomable reason), A Summer with Freeman, finally got out the door, via Kindle and CreateSpace. Readers of this site, and anyone else with two or more brain cells who want some "serious humorous relief" may want to check it out: http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Summer-with-Freeman-nov-by-Daniel-Geery-130528-385.html

My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat would be much infinitely easier with off-the-shelf materials available now, though the bureaucracy holding us back is probably worse. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Living-on-Sunshine-Underg-by-Daniel-Geery-110318-547.html

I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list, but you can find used copies kicking around online. Just don't get the one I see for $250, being hawked by some capitalist... well, some capitalist.

I'm 68 with what is now a 26 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor--and get a heart transplant if you're over 50, unless your name is Dick Cheney.

I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).

I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!). http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_daniel_g_060716_alternatives_to_exti.htm

I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.

"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).

Along with others, I was honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use my airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen and are long overdue, for reasons that would probably not fit on the internet.

In 2010 I married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections. Christine wrote Heart Full of Hope, which many readers have raved about, as you may note on Amazon.

I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking and have read many books on it. I find many many of them insane and the source of much negativity on my part. My favorites these days are by Alan Cohen, who seems to speak my language, and likewise thinks a bit like Albert Einstein did (as do I on this note). Albert: "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent, in fact, I am religious."

Though I rapidly note that I've kept alive my deceased and "devout atheist" friend's book, http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Foundation-of-Religion-by-Daniel-Geery-110510-382.html

Lastly, kudos to Rob Kall and those who make OEN the site that it is: one of the last bastions of free speech.