For most of my adult life, climate alarmists have ruled the day as they have methodically and successfully injected their relentless fearmongering and bogus science throughout academia, the mainstream media, Hollywood, and just about every other major, powerful cultural institution. While this has paid giant dividends in recent years, it has also fueled a backlash that we are finally starting to see bubble to the surface.
Let’s begin by briefly recapping how the climate alarmists were able to hypnotize so many people into believing that climate change was an existential crisis—which it is not—in the first place.
At the end of the twentieth century and into the dawn of the twenty-first century, we began to see more and more calls for international bodies to address what they initially deemed “global warming.” In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was born, which was intended to combat “dangerous human interference with the climate system.”
Since then, the United Nations and several other influential international organizations have pounded the climate change message while weaving a spiderweb of agreements, treaties, and protocols to mitigate the so-called climate crisis.
While these powerful global institutions were ringing the alarm bell that the future of the planet was in immediate jeopardy due to humanity’s use of fossil fuels, a network of grifters emerged who were more than ready to capitalize on the alarmist narrative.
From former Vice President Al Gore to scores of scientists, it became clear that if one jumped on the climate alarmist bandwagon in these early days, there was money to be made and government grants to be gotten.
Not much later, we began to witness high-ranking political officials from both sides of the aisle succumb to the climate alarmist narrative. For instance, way back in 2001, then-President George W. Bush was touting his administration’s climate change agenda.
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Then came the cultural deluge as K-12 educators, professors, actors and actresses, TV and radio personalities, social media influencers, and even uneducated child activists from Sweden persistently peddled the climate alarmist narrative.
However, what goes up must come down.
After more than two decades of unyielding climate alarmism, climate realism is slowly starting to take hold.
How do I know this? Because ordinary, hard-working Americans are no longer buying into climate alarmism hook, line, and sinker.
According to multiple polls, climate change is no longer a top concern for the vast majority of Americans.
Americans are finally starting to understand the truth about climate change while simultaneously becoming aware that climate alarmists have ulterior motives at hand, many of which are in direct opposition to the fundamental best interests of everyday Americans.
Thanks to courageous truth seekers like my colleagues at The Heartland Institute and many allied organizations, Americans are more able than ever to receive accurate information dispelling common myths and lies pushed by climate alarmists. As anyone can read at ClimateRealism.com, the seas are not rising and weather events like hurricanes, heatwaves, droughts, etc. are not becoming more frequent nor deadlier. In fact, in many cases, the exact opposite is occurring.
Another huge factor that helped Americans realize the dubiousness of the climate alarmist narrative is that their solutions make no sense, do not address the so-called problems, and all too often end with less liberty and more government. Apparently, Americans are beginning to understand that climate justice, for instance, is mostly about wealth redistribution and has little to do with a cleaner environment.
A few weeks ago, Americans went to the polls and clearly rejected the climate alarmist nonsense that has been hoisted upon the nation over the past four years. Without a doubt, the Biden-Harris administration has been the most zealous when it comes to climate alarmism. From nixing the Keystone XL Pipeline to mandating electric vehicles to deciding the type of appliances Americans can purchase, the Biden-Harris administration has been all-in on climate alarmism.
But this is not what the American people want. To be clear, nearly all Americans want to protect the environment and desire clean air and water.
They just don’t want their lives upended and their bank accounts drained under the guise of saving the planet. They want reliable and affordable electricity. They want cheap gasoline. And, they want the U.S. government to take full advantage of the abundant energy reserves right under our feet. This is at least partly why President-elect Donald Trump won the White House and the GOP took control of the U.S. Senate.
With Trump back in the Oval Office, we can expect U.S. energy dominance, not climate alarmism, to rule the day. That is welcome news for hard-working Americans, albeit a total nightmare for climate alarmists and the cottage industry it has spawned.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.
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