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BY SKIP HELLEWELL
I have a childhood memory of my father reading Uncle Remus ’ s stories from the old South . They were didactic fables , meaning they taught a lesson . Father would vary his voice to portray characters like Br ’ er Rabbit in his contests with the tricky Br ’ er Fox . Br ’ er Fox , you might recall , once made a doll out of a ball of sticky tar . Br ’ er Rabbit happened by , greeted the Tar Baby , took offense when the doll didn ’ t reply , grabbed it and got tangled up as hands and feet stuck to the tar . The lesson , it seemed , was to avoid unneeded conflict .
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In a recent column , I commented on the unpredictability of Nature using the recent example of Hurricane Hillary and referenced scientist Dr . Kenneth Richard who in a peer-reviewed journal article asked the science community to stop predicting the end of the world due to anthropogenic climate change as 48 predictions in a row had all failed and it was giving science a bad name . He was right , for the climate is infinitely variable and I don ’ t suppose there have been two identical days in Earth ’ s 4.5-billion-year history though like Henny Penny , you can always find some oddity to worry others about .
Consider the sad story of William Miller , a preacher man who predicted the end of the world around 1843- 1844 . Though at first ignored , he energetically persisted and became a national , then international , movement called Millerism . It all ended sadly in what was called the Great Disappointment . Miller persisted in believing the end was near until his death — want-to-be prophets don ’ t easily give up — but the world continued to roll along .
Working under the banner of anthropogenic climate change , a vocal
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portion of the science community , joined by a gaggle of politicians and the like , have been predicting the end of life as we know it if we don ’ t take drastic action and spend trillions attempting to change the direction of nature , particularly the temperature of the earth . No one actually knows the mean temperature of the earth , so we ’ ll never know the outcome , but the imagined villain is said to be fossil fuels — the coal , oil , and gas with which the U . S . is so generously blessed and which have fueled modern civilization . To me , it ’ s Millerism redux .
The knee-jerk attack in the last Indy to my column followed the usual pattern : accusation of being a “ denier ” and ( a new term ) “ deflector ” ad hominin attacks on differing studies ( rather than facing the facts ) and references to the many pro-climatechange-scholars ( there ’ s always more because if you don ’ t agree with the climate change narrative it ’ s hard to get funded or published and scientists are smart enough to know where the bread is buttered ).
A reader sent some help , a reference to the work of physicist and 2022 Nobel prize winner Dr . John
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F . Clauser , who with 1,600 other science professionals , asserts there is no “ climate emergency ” and the much-repeated claims are simply “ bad science ,” in part because they ignore the great effect of highly variable cloud cover and exaggerate the effect of so-called greenhouse gases .
In contrast to the 48 failed climate change predictions , I ’ d like to make three sure to happen : One , the climate change lobby will continue because that ’ s their cause and often their source of income . Two , there will never be a definitive answer because of the enormous complexity of the issue confounded by the absence of thoughtful dialog . Three , those who will suffer most are regular people working to rear their families and make ends meet as energy gets ever more expensive . Oh , one other thing : I should pay attention to the lesson of Br ’ er Rabbit . There ’ s meaning in that .
Skip fell in love with Laguna on a ‘ 50s surfing trip . He ’ s a student of Laguna history and the author of “ Loving Laguna : A Local ’ s Guide to Laguna Beach .” Email : skip @ lovinglaguna . com .
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