In his 1968 book The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich predicted mass famines in America and lots of other countries around the world before 1980, and that we would run out of lots of minerals by then, too. His predictions turned out false. He remains the idol of environmentalists worldwide. In 2007 Al Gore predicted, "“The North Polar ice cap ... could be completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.” That would have been 2014. In 2011, he said, “the entire North … [Read more...]
The Gory Facts about Solar vs. Coal Energy Employment
On Fox News Sunday with Mike Wallace June 4, former Vice President Al Gore said solar energy has created jobs 17 times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole. He also pointed out that solar now employs more people than coal. He saw those both as reasons to celebrate. The truth is the opposite. Why? Because solar jobs are a tragic waste of human labor. Gore's right that solar employs more than coal now---roughly twice as many. At the end of 2016, solar employed about 374,000, while … [Read more...]
A step toward restoring civility to climate-change debates?
For years people like Al Gore, Robert Kennedy Jr., John Cook, and others have labeled those who question one or another aspect of the case for belief in dangerous human-induced climate change as "science deniers," "climate deniers," "environmental criminals," and worse. Such rhetoric is far from helpful not only because it demonizes, making respectful dialogue difficult if not impossible, but also because it leads inexorably to misrepresentation, and consequently misunderstanding, as people with … [Read more...]
Al Gore Signs Open Letter Supporting Climate Skeptic Scott Pruitt for EPA Administrator
An open letter supporting the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator organized by The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation has attracted some very famous signers. U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairman Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the letter into the official record of Pruitt’s confirmation hearing January 18. Probably the highest name recognition worldwide would go to German … [Read more...]
Snarky—But Right
Okay, so most of the time here at the Cornwall Alliance we try to keep our language entirely civil, to avoid both formal and informal fallacies, and just stick to true premises and valid inferences to support our conclusions. Rational, yes. Entertaining? Well, not always. And in today's America, lots of people---at least if their conduct reveals anything about their values---value entertainment a good deal more than reason. So for their enjoyment---and for the enjoyment of those who really do … [Read more...]
DiCaprio’s Titanic Failure: Did “Before the Flood” Sink on Maiden Voyage?
Early in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood, which aired Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel, we see a clip of DiCaprio speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, saying, “I stand before you not as an expert.” That’s the most credible line in the movie. And the least credible may be one that follows almost immediately: “I want to do everything I can to learn more about this issue.” If he’d really meant that, he might have gone to the trouble to speak to some of the … [Read more...]
“Climate Science” Warned Us: More & Stronger Hurricanes Coming! Climate Didn’t Get the Message
On September 9, 2005, with much of New Orleans submerged by the failure of fifty levees and flood walls after Hurricane Katrina (category 1 at landfall) dumped 8 to 10 inches of rain, former Vice President Al Gore told the Sierra Club's National Environmental Convention and Expo in San Francisco: Ladies and gentlemen, the warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. ... Last year we had a lot of hurricanes. ... The scientists … [Read more...]
Louisiana’s Flooding: Brought to You by Climate Change?
Did climate change cause Louisiana’s flooding? The New York Times, Al Gore, Vox, Congressman Raul Girjálva, Chris Mooney (citing evangelical climate-alarmist darling Katharine Hayhoe) in the Washington Post, and lots of others in the mainstream media think so. But more sober voices disagree. Adam Sobel of the Earth Island Institute at Columbia University, no “climate-change skeptic,” writing at Phys.org, says, no study can tell us that climate change caused an event like this to happen, … [Read more...]
How Theology Can, and Should, Contribute to Scientific and Public Discourse about Anthropogenic Global Warming
A paper presented to the Round Table on Theology, Climate Change, and Politics, University of Western Ontario, May 29, 2012 Paleoanthropologist and philosopher Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), who though religious in the tradition of American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau was certainly no orthodox Christian theist, on reflecting on the kind of soil in which science could flourish, wrote, “In one of those strange permutations of which history yields … [Read more...]
Do AGs Bent on Prosecuting Climate Skeptics Have a Political Agenda?
You can’t make these things up! A small group of attorneys general, led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman, held a press conference Wednesday, March 30, to announce their determination to track down and prosecute for fraud (knowingly conveying false information to enrich oneself or harm others) evil skeptics of climate change. One look at this photo tells you everything you need to know about their real agenda. It just so happens that the fate of the Obama Administration's most … [Read more...]
