An Atmospheric Crisis – Facts and Science Be Damned

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During his campaign, Joe Biden, alarmist at heart, tied every adverse weather activity to global warming. Rich Lowry in NRO gives examples of Mr. Biden’s catastrophic climate observations.

Contrasting Mr. Biden’s views, Mr. Lowry cites Bjorn Lomborg, author of “The Skeptical Environmentalist.” Mr. Lomborg’s focus is on the reality of climate change, especially the economic and political approaches taken (or not taken) to meet the challenges of that climate change.

Flooding in the Midwest

• Biden: Climate change.
• Lomborg: The U.N. isn’t sure whether flooding overall is getting more or less frequent.

Draught in the Midwest

• Biden: Climate change.
• Lomborg: “… drought has decreased over much of the continental United States in association with long-term increases in precipitation.”

California Wildfires

• Biden: Caused by upward trend in global temps
• Lomborg: Probably is a factor, but the amount of land that is buring around the globe has fallen sharply since the late 19th century in response to changing human behavior (e.g., more cultivation of the land).

Hurricane Laura (category 4/made landfall in Louisiana)

• Biden: Proof of more climate-driven extreme weather.
• Lomborg: Studies show more storm activity in the Atlantic, although not necessarily from climate change. Meanwhile, there’s no global trend in tropical cyclones.

Biden admits to feelings of dread and anxiety over climate change even though there is no proof that it exists at all. Rather than assuage fears, Mr. Biden seeks to stoke it, argues Mr. Lowry. And if that requires distorting the scientific consensus, then so be it.

There is no doubt that human activity contributes to climate change. It is a long-term challenge that we should seek to understand better and prepare to address through adaption and innovation should the worst come decades from now.

But that’s not enough for Biden. He doesn’t want to get us thinking about climate change, but rather to suspend all rational thought about the issue — especially about the downsides of costly measures to crimp the U.S. economy in the name of saving the planet.