Chronicles of Madness – Episode 39

In our episode 39 of Madness Chronicles, we will see the madness of climate change. Remember, insanity is a state of mental illness, gross and extremely foolish behavior, and a frenzied or chaotic form of activity. Let’s take a look at the insanity of believing what these people are predicting.

We are approaching the time of a new president in the United States who miraculously won an unlikely election, reopening to the excellent climate debate once again. The United Nations is already suddenly calling on all the nations of the world to declare a ‘climate emergency’. A reasonable person might ask, ‘on what basis?’ The answer is always ‘look at the science’.

Well, science comes from scientists, so what have they had to say? The Los Angeles Times reported in 1967, a warning from renowned Stanford University scientist Paul Ehrlich. He warned that it was too late to prevent a disastrous famine that would occur in 1975. Based on the current obesity statistics in the country, should we have dodged a bullet? Ehrlich, a population biologist, predicted in 1969 that by 1989 everyone on earth would disappear in a cloud of blue smoke. I guess he dodged the bullet this time when we all had to quit smoking.

Moving on, in 1970, we had a couple more beauties to worry about. The New York Times reported that pollution expert James P. Lodge Jr. said a new ice age is looming in the next five to ten years. Lodge’s endorsement was NASA’s SI Rasool, who predicted that the massive drop in temperatures would be severe enough to trigger an ice age. We could use some of that ‘ice’ here in 2020, according to experts anyway.

Since I was alive at the time, I can attest that I will not get colder than usual. However, scientists at Brown University wrote to President Nixon in 1972. After looking at the data on the ocean floor, they told the president that the looming global cooling would be an order of magnitude greater than anything that the world has ever seen. That sounds like a lot of ice, and Nixon had his own issues to deal with, so he ignored them.

Things were not cooling yet, but in 1974 the London Guardian ushered in the ice age with an article proclaiming that “the ice age is fast approaching.” The New York Times caught up in 1976, reviewing a book by Stephen Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Schneider warned that there were not enough food reserves to compensate for the upcoming famines. While Schneider didn’t say this, I can only assume that the famines will be caused by the ice age. And my guess must be correct because two years later, in 1978, the Associated Press reported that there was no end in sight for the ice age.

With no ice appearing, the predictions disappeared until a voice was heard from the Maldives. The ever-reliable Lansing State Journal warned people to prepare for ‘long, hot summers’. They then reported that Hussein Shihab, with no relation to Saddam, the Maldives’ Director of Environmental Affairs, claimed that the island nation would be underwater in 2018. While not confirmed, it is believed that reporters were struggling to find out where the hell they were. the Maldives and what would put them under water. Melt ice, maybe.

In 1989, the Associated Press once again warned Americans. They reported that New York City’s West Side Highway would be totally under water by 2019. Yet in another Festivus miracle, I think it’s still there and not even wet unless it’s raining. Try as I might, even with mighty Google, I couldn’t find an AP retraction of that “ice age” article from eleven years earlier.

Then we have Al Gore’s colossal pile of predictions that went nowhere. We would forgive Al because he is not a scientist, but he ripped us off and became a billionaire. Lately, we have the irascible Alexandria Ocasio-Communist who is sure that we will all be toasting, literally, in ten years at the most. But, she could have heard that at the bar, who knows?

I don’t know about you, but call me a climate skeptic because this, my friends, is the kind of “science” I could have done in high school. On the other hand, I skipped fifty-five days of school in my senior year; That couldn’t have been me

May we wake up from this madness before it is too late. I wish you good health, and until next time, have fun, enjoy life, and watch out for the madness between us. It’s 2020, look around you; It is outrageous.