By Samuel Strait – October 4, 2020
faux Russian election interference, failed Presidential impeachment,
Covid-19, and riots over the angels caught up in police violence, it is
not surprising that the “climate change” extremists are feeling a little
out of sorts and side lined. Never fear, The Church of the Extremist
Environmentalist on Climate Change is at your service to set your world
right. In a recent sermon for the faithful, published by the local
newspaper, the Triplicate, the Reverend, Dr. William Gorham, Ph.D. who
titles himself Co-facilitator, Coastal SOCAM, (Southern Oregon Climate
Action Now) has attempted to re engage the faithful in the ongoing
struggle to educate the masses on the impending doom of the planet from
human induced climate change.The sermon begins with a nod to Covid-19, then rapidly moves on to an
eclectic mix of activist propaganda about those foul villains, human
beings, and their despicable efforts to poison earth’s atmosphere with
CO2 and other trace gases. While the Reverend Gorham, Ph.D. seems to
be some what illiterate when it comes to the history of weather events
in the United States, he never the less forges on with a few anecdotal
weather events, then proceeds to rewrite modern weather history with
claims of bigger, stronger, and more frequent storms, with a dash of
increased flooding, and record wild fires in the west all with the
intent of laying the blame at the feet of those justifiably the cause of
this mayhem, the humans that have despoiled the planet with the
indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. What cads!
What is truly unfortunate for the Reverend Gorham, Ph.D, is that none of
his anecdotal examples of extreme weather is in fact extreme. I am
astonished that he did not include glaciers melting and rising sea
levels. He continues on with his efforts to persuade the faithful of
the perils of catastrophic climate change by morphing into global
warming (currently plus 0.385 degrees Celsius) as his core belief for
impending doom. As his rhetoric begins to warm to the task of green
house gas induced heating, he does not seem to understand that while the
theory is well known, its effects on heating seem to have become
problematic. He finishes his plea with these conditions will “worsen
until we do something”.
As we wait with baited breath, for the Reverend Gorham, Ph.D., to tell
us what that “something” is, we are not left in the dark for very much
longer as he generously lists three options , but only allows for one,
eliminating the cause, fossil fuels. The Reverend airily continues on
as if eliminating fossil fuels is the simplest thing in the world and a
ready made alternative is waiting in the wings. Unfortunately, that is
not the case, and it may be years for that to come about. Wind, Solar,
and even including geothermal are but token players in the energy
market( about 8%). Given all of the issues surrounding these sources,
it is a pure fantasy that these will replace current technology any time
soon.
But wait a minute, we have been told seventeen times in the last twenty
five years, that we are beyond recovery, the earth is doomed, yet there
have been only minute changes in the world’s climate. No appreciable
warming, no appreciable sea level rise, the only change in storm and
flooding activity has been the inflation of the repair bill. So, why
should we pay any attention to the Reverend William Gorham, Ph.D, at
all. Even the west coast fires are now being associated with extreme
environmentalism and poor forest management, not climate change. So
what is William Gorham, Ph.D. all about.
It seems that he is really not about doing something about Climate
Change himself, it is the GOVERNMENT’S job to fulfill the Reverend’s
wishes, by force if necessary. In a Green New Dealesque fashion we are
all to be mandated to revert to a pre-industrialized society. Of course,
I am sure that the Reverend William Gorham, Ph.D., Co-facilitator of
SOCAM, doesn’t include himself in the masses he is subjecting to that
state, for he is far to important.
Most sensible scientists today, recognize climate as variable and not of
the extreme nature as preached in Mr. Gorham’s sermon. Many feel that
the obsession with “climate change” has been taken too far in the
extreme. In doing so many other problems of far greater importance have
been ignored. Thus far there is very little evidence that William
Gorham’s world is in our future. We have already spent a sizable
fortune flailing away at “climate change” for no reason, with very
little to show for it. If Mr. Gorham has any compassion for our less
fortunate, his agenda for climate change is not that….. Climate
change is far from settled, and should be viewed in that light. For him
to dismiss debate is not credible science, as there are numerous
historic examples of “settled” science that gets turned on its head with
further debate.
Two websites one should visit with regard to climate change:
http://www.350.org
http://www.naomiklein.org/on-fire/
Naomi Klein has written a profound book “This Changes Everything–Capitalism vs The Climate”, now in softcover.
So “J” you have sent us to a radical leftist site on climate change, no science, but supports the “New Green Deal”, what is your point? The other “Source” is a leftist Canadian reporter for New York Times, not a “scientist” by any measure, that also supports the”New Green Deal”. Again, what is your point? I see no evidence that either site can dispute the fact that there has been no surge in numbers of storms, flooding, sea level rise, continued warming, or fires associated to accelerated climate change. Neither site points to any actual evidence that carbon concentration in the atmosphere has continued or accelerated or that the core argument behind extreme climate change is that the world has or is expected to warm significantly since 1995. The data that has been produced over the last twenty five years and all of the projections made during that time have not supported the claims made by 350.org or Naomi Klein. Actually, William Gorham,PH.D, appears to be much more main stream than either of your sources and he does not produce anything to support his agenda other than a couple of anecdotal incidents. So, how have you elevated this discussion? I suspect that I could find on the Internet any number of sources that would claim climate is immutable, and doesn’t change, or hasn’t changed at all. What should be clear in my article, is that is not the position that I hold. Read what I have said again, as you will find that, while this is not a position I hold alone, it does represent a position that mirrors the collected data far more closely than radicals like 350.org, Naomi Klein, and William Gorham, PH.D. Extreme Climate Change has been elevated to the state of crisis on the basis of the regular application of anecdotal information inorder to allow purveyors of “only the government” can provide the solutions to our problems. It is not historically accurate! How has local governments in Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles measured up when dealing with their problems? Not well, and this is the place you want us to go? Your turn….
Samual,
Did you think the COVID-19 was a hoax too?
Actually, if you had read the article carefully, Bob, you will note that, I never used the word “hoax” about “climate change”. What I said is that I believe in a variable climate safely within parameters long established(climate change on a much more realistic level than the hysteria of Dr. Gorham) that has thus far proven to be a much more accurate description of what is going on in the world today. Furthermore, I do believe that Covid-19 has proven not to be another end of the world killer of all humanity virus, as has been born out as we learn more about it. It now appears to have mortality rate of not much more than the common flu according to the World Health Organization. If I may Bob, historically, and I am big on history Bob, no country has behaved and continues to behave as the world has over this virus ever before. Hoax, Bob, No, Bob, just another highly communicable virus with an unfortunate outcome for some people, how many, we probably will never know.
Thankyou Sam for your very Articulate Article although it was far above my pay grade (or what I can Comprehend) I’ll let the Scientists with their ideas give us different ideas and Facts But what I wold like to say is that I truly feel there are some people who have banded together to START FIRES in California and we need desperately to put a STOP to this Amazing how most of the Fires have been Started next TO Freeways and roads all within walking distance to CARS. This alone is Creating many problems for people (especially older people with COPD or other Lung problems). Millions of Acres have burned and thousands of homes also! So if anyone sees anything that is out of the Ordinary please call the proper Authorities! Sorry I went off subject!
Can you tell me what freeways run thru Hoopa, Slater/Devils fire. The Red Salmon complex in the middle of 3 National forest’s. The August complex in the Medocino national forest. The Glass fire on the east side of Silverado trail, Napa. The Zog fire East of Redding. I could go on and on and explain that most of these and more of the fires burning in California were stated by lightning and down power lines in extreme wind event’s, But you probably wouldn’t believe it.
Actually, there isn’t much in the way of fires being started by downed PG&E power lines this year in an extreme wind event. You might let us know where you got that information. While you might be correct in saying a majority of this year’s fires came from natural events, dry lightning, there is evidence that more than a few fires were the results of arson, and human related causes, fireworks, cigarettes, etc. Five of the six arson related arrests were along the Interstate 5 corridor.
One other thing to note, is that prior to humans coming to the west coast in numbers, California averaged 4,000,000 plus acres of forest burned every year naturally. Forests routinely experienced a natural fire cleansing every 7 to 25 years to promote new growth. The redwood forests required this natural burning cycle to clear the ground for new tree starts. Scientific studies have shown that recent hands off forest policies are actually detrimental to healthy forests. It is pretty hard for Climate Change activists to claim Climate Change is now responsible for the state’s fires when science and history say otherwise.
I remain interested in where you got that PG&E downed power lines in an extended wind event was responsible for fires this year, hadn’t heard that one.