In his novel “State of Fear” Crichton creates a storyline around Drake who is frustrated about the public’s lack of enthusiasm for funding NERF, an environmental organization devoted to reversing climate change. Drake decides he needs to put on a high-profile climate conference on abrupt climate change. To emphasize the validity of his theory he hires the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) to develop and implement a series of environmental catastrophes that coincide with the conference to impress the general public that global warming is a pressing concern.
The counter plot involves a millionaire philanthropist George Morton who has contributed significantly to Drake's organization, NERF. Morton becomes suspicious that Drake has mishandled his contributions. Coincidentally, John Kenner and Sanjong Thapa visit Morton who are international law enforcement agents tracking an eco-terrorist group ELF. Morton disappears in a faked car accident. Evans, Morton’s lawyer, Kenner, Thapa and Morton’s assistant Sarah Jones join forces to go on a mission to thwart the various ELF manufactured disasters. The storyline with the many adventures to thwart the disasters provide the backdrop to portray the use of fear, scientific bias, and media manipulation to drive an agenda and shape public opinion. The major characters serve to portray differing viewpoints on the topic of global warming. The general conclusion is that the environmental side, holding to the climate change theory, is on a quest to create an emergency status for the theory of global warming and is committed to do what is necessary to achieve this goal.
The comparison to our present moment is the long-term effort by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and associated NGO environmental groups to create such an emergency status for climate change. The stated purpose is to save the planet which is doomed to overheating which creates the basis for this fear. If we don’t meet the target of restraining temperature rise to 1.5 C, its off the chart on what humanity will experience. The media has increased the use of extreme weather events to heighten the fear of climate change. For example, the extreme cold, large dumps of snow in the Sierras and Buffalo, NY, and hurricane Ian in Florida this year are examples used to make the claim that things will get worse as temperatures rise due to fossil fuel use. During the summer the same claim was made about forest fires, more and worse fires will come with rising temperatures.
However, global temperature is not rising as claimed 1 2. Global temperature has been declining since the 2016 high point. This does not discount the existence of localized heatwaves or their extent over time, but heat waves are not indicators of climate change.
Other factors besides greenhouse gases must be considered that influence climate, temperature or drought. The relationship between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation 3 4 has shown these two phenomena interact to affect temperature, drought and wet years. The AMO is presently in a warm phase and the PDO is in a cool phase. These are similar conditions to the Dust Bowl period in the early 20th Century. The high temperatures and drought we see today are matching many of the temperature and drought conditions of the 1930’s. These events have cyclically happened in the past. The relationship of increased greenhouse gases on these cycles is not established. 5
Trends in other climate emergency claims are also headed in the opposite direction. Wildfires while dramatic due to collateral damage, are decreasing in acres burned from over 50 million acres in the 1930’s to less than 10 million acres from 1960 to the present. 6 Historical tornado data shows that the number of all categories of tornadoes has been declining and the number of strong tornadoes, F3 or higher, have been declining for the past 45 years 7 8 9. These climate trend indicators of concern are not showing a worsening trend as claimed. Any indication of global climate change that is associated with extreme events are not scientifically based because such claims confuse association of an event with causation. It takes over 30 years of data to detect a climate trend. 10
The current propaganda advocating the climate change agenda supported by the US Climate Alliance in coordination with our federal government and the media is deafening. Articles, blogs and ads on Facebook are seeking to change our way of living: If you are concerned about saving the planet, don’t have children, climate change and COVID are interconnected, 11 or go vegan to save the planet. Domestic cattle are a cause of global warming because they belch methane so don’t eat meat. However other ruminants like buffalo are not contributing to global warming. The same contradiction occurs with composting, its bad for the environment 12. The problem with criticizing raising cattle and composting is that they are merely recycling carbon dioxide and methane already pre-existent in the plants being eaten or composted. No new greenhouse gases are contributed to the environment. Yet in the effort to account for every carbon atom all natural and human processes and associated activities are suspect.
Collectively the exaggeration of climate trends, propaganda and the government climate agenda has created a state of fear and economic chaos one would expect with extreme climate. The problem is intentional and human caused. The US Climate Alliance in cooperation with the federal government and associated NGO’s have enacted regulations and policies to create this very situation. Fingering the energy sector was a key move in the climate action from Executive Orders 13990 and 14008. These orders limits access to oil and gas leases, and punishes coal extraction for the claimed superior electrification of energy through zero carbon alternatives like wind and solar. The incentives to use alternative energy has promoted premature shut down of carbon energy sources which has reduced the electric energy sector’s ability to provide sufficient electricity during high demands, have resulted in governments curtailing charging electric cars, caused rolling black outs, and threatens the health and welfare of families that rely on electricity, natural gas or fuel oil to heat their homes. The associated shortages of fuel in the transportation and agriculture sector created by executive action have paralyzed the ability to recover from the pandemic shut downs which has shown up in empty store shelves, the inability to have parts for new products or repairs and the ability to have fertilizer to produce sufficient food. While our government administration tinkers with interest rates and printing fiat money to offset these consequences and blames the Ukraine war; recession, limited energy and goods and services continue to belie the real cause, the hyped-up rise of excessive federalism expressed in the intent to free us of fossil fuels.
Life will become preoccupied with the social cost of carbon. This is the integrating principle being used to encourage banks to not lend to energy companies, to focus securities investments and companies to unify with the federal agenda through Ecological, Sociological and Governmental investing (ESG). The intent of such measures is enumerated in EO 13990: An accurate social cost is essential to enforce changes in agricultural productivity, human health, property damage from increased flood risk and the value of ecosystem services.
However, such ad hoc measures, gain of function research, rewilding the environment and the movement towards socialism are creating many of the hardships climate activists claim will happen with climate change. Marginal security in the power grid and limited electrical energy, wild fires, flooding, food shortages, disruption in supply chains could be addressed with better management of resources, honoring of private property and personal rights, improving our power grid and reliable low-cost energy and adaptive measure to cope with climate extremes. The flooding in California due to the atmospheric river of water and the growing snow pack is showing that California has not built adequate off stream storage for the excess water. The water that could be available to address the drought, is being lost to the ocean. In the mean time greater economic inequity is growing despite the claims along with socialism that these changes will result in environmental justice and equity for all.
Rather than a climate emergency we have a rogue government and institutions to thank for our present state of our union.
- Climate Alarmists Conceal Global Temperature Anomaly Measurement Declines Despite Increasing Atmospheric CO2 - ClimateRealism
- Worldwide: Milloy 13 million-view tweets sends Aussie fake news media into meltdown – JunkScience.com
- Schubert - On the Cause of 1930s Dust Bowl (PDF)
- Cowan - Ocean and land forcing of the record-breaking Dust Bowl heatwaves across central United States
- After pummeling, scientists say California storms were more hype than climate change (msn.com)
- Increase in U.S. Wildfires Due to Climate Change – Everything Climate
- Tornado Page | Watts Up With That?
- U.S.: number of tornadoes 2021 | Statista
- EF3 and stronger tornadoes are running near historic lows in 2015 - ustornadoes.com
- Koonin, Steve E.: Unsettled: what climate science tells us, what it doesn’t and why it matters; Benbella books, 2021 pp. 97-126
- How climate change and the coronavirus are linked | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
- Does Composting Contribute to Climate Change? - Garden Myths