Letter to the Editor: The silliness of “Climate Change,

Dear Editor,

A recent opinion letter had one paragraph dedicated to CLIMATE CHANGE with the requisite warning of imminent death due to crop failures, relief that fossil fuels are being drastically reduced and the increased government spending on alternatives to the "deadly consumption of unsafe fuels". This particular brand of silliness seems to have taken over all other narratives because it's proudly stated as "settled science" . . . that there is a "consensus of scientists" that agree. That . . . that right there should raise an eyebrow or twelve and go a long way towards clearly showing that this is simply NOT SCIENCE. Science is never - ever - ever "settled".

There are a handful of scientifically defined "constants" - c: the speed of light in vacuum, h: the Planck constant, e: elementary charge, Cs: the hyperfine transition frequency of cesium-133, k: the Boltzmann constant, NA: the Avogadro constant, Kcd: the luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 1012 hertz. And that's it as of today. Even these are open to reevaluation and change. But this . . . this right here . . . is all the scientific community has ever formally agreed upon as clearly defined and agreed to . . . nothing else . . . period.

Let's drill down on the whole - "that's the way it is, that's what's true because I SAID SO!!" - thing. I've never accepted that in any arena - math, physics, electronics, chemistry - never. If I can't see the data, evaluate the data for myself, recreate the experiment or circuit myself, I retain the right to question all I want to. And so do you. The biggest lie in the US - confirmed over and over and over and over - "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you!!" And helping us through climate change is just one more rung in our government's ever-so-helpful ladder.

A quick detour on doubt and self-verification. I grew up in a Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod home. I was confirmed when I reached 12 and was able to take communion for the first time. It was called the age of awareness at that time. So as part of the process, we were given an unconsecrated host (a communion wafer that's not been blessed) to eat so we would know what it tasted like. Pretty bland but edible. Of course, we were also taught that once consecrated it became "the body and blood of Christ" and I became just a bit horrified. It would turn into 2,000-year-old jerky??? I ignored the whole "through, with and under the bread" phrase that was added and just imagined what a horrible taste it would be and at the same time I was interested in just how this "magic" occurred.

About a month before my first communion my Mom purchased a Microscope kit for me. Man was that cool. It came with prepared slides of butterfly wings, fly wings, and various plants. Add to that looking at salt, pepper, and water droplets as X400 magnification - I was in heaven. And a plan hatched to just see how a "wafer" could turn into 2,000-year-old Jerky. I saved a piece of my unconsecrated host for a look-see under my microscope. My first communion came and went. I tasted absolutely no difference between a consecrated host and an unconsecrated host - none. What the heck??? So, the next month during communion I saved a very small bite of the consecrated host for "further evaluation". Just imagine my surprise when I saw no difference between the two samples. None, zero, zip, nada . . .

The first person I challenged in this scandal was my Mom . . . "What the heck Mom???

"You did what???"

So, I explained the experiment more closely. "Of course you did" she said, shaking her head. This led to a much deeper conversation with her, our pastor, and a much deeper understanding of the whole idea of "faith". Now - 60 years later, my religion is simply a matter of faith. There are no "ah-has"!!! We suspect the location of "The Tomb" but it's not certain. We believe with all our hearts that "He is risen." But only a couple handfuls witnessed the Risen Christ 2,000 years ago. We take it on faith. I take it on faith.

The moral here? You should challenge everything - even your strongest beliefs. Yet, with the certain death that awaits us all if we don't stop driving cars, turn off all our lights and air-conditioning, walk and bike more . . . the world is doomed!!! Doomed I say. Again, this is where the silliness begins.

Let's take a look at the length of geologic time that's being evaluated. The typical maximum I've found is 80 MILLION years. During that time lifeforms like the Dinosaurs became extinct, their life ended by a massive meteor that struck in the Yucatan Peninsula. Multiple species of plants and animals have come and gone. Various versions of humans have come and gone. Past that, a lot of things are simply unknowable until we learn how to skip through time. The last 500 MILLION years is when most lifeforms developed. There have been 5 defined Ice Ages with the latest being the one we are still emerging from - the "Quaterny". The Cryogenian - 717 MILLION to 635 MILLION years ago - is thought to have covered the entire earth and that it required an actual shift in the orbit of the earth to break it up. Obviously, the earth has a very long and rich geologic history with humans truly witnessing it over the past couple million years and actual civilizations and defined cultures only coming into existence within the past 5,000 years or so. So how can we scale this to better wrap our head around what we are looking at?

Let's try this. The age of the earth is roughly 4.5 BILLION years old. 80 MILLION years represents about 1.777% of the life of the earth. Comparing these 80 MILLION years to a part of a single year would look something like this. In a year there are 31,536,000 Seconds. 1.777% of that would be 560,649 seconds, 9,344 minutes, 155.73 hours or 6.49 days. So, assume we are an interstellar traveler, and we land in the middle of Canada on January 1st and stay for a week. Based on our measurements, what decisions would be made about the climate of this planet based on our week's stay??? What if we landed in the African desert?? Or Iowa??

My point? We are attempting to evaluate a global, long-term climate model based on a profoundly limited data set. A data set that spans 80 MILLION years and represents less than 2% of the geological history of the planet. See why I call it silly???

Then there are the whole "record-breaking temperatures"!!!! meme. In our recorded history, you can find an inventory of Roman wine from grapes grown in northern Scotland - a land unable to support such a thing today because it's just too cold. You can read ship logs recounting a frozen Thames River in London as well as the canals in the Netherlands (hence the story of "The Silver Skates"). The "little ice age" that plagued the Northeastern US in the late 1700s, the dust bowl years and the prolonged period of heat during that period.

Bottom line . . . the climate is in a continual state of change. The sun's radiance changes. Our orbit changes. Our tilt along our axis changes. Our CO2 levels change and have been twice as high during the past 80 MILLION years as it is today. The planet changes. The thought that humans could greatly affect the climate is also simply silly. Do we have obligations to be good stewards? Sure - how many remember the weeping Indian? But to believe that 1) - we can replace fossil fuels with batteries when a battery-powered truck only could travel 75 miles between charges 2) - that we can replace the power generated by a nuclear plant with solar panels that only get 4 hours of direct sun on average per day in Iowa 3) - that windmills that are created with carbon-based fuels, mined with carbon-based fuels, have their blades derived from carbon-based fuels, are transported and installed with equipment that can only run on carbon-based fuels - that these windmills can REPLACE carbon-based fuels - THIS . . . THIS RIGHT HERE . . . is past silliness . . . and well into the realm of FOOLISHNESS.

So folks . . . do the math. Dig for facts. Question everything and everyone. Find the truth - the actual, rock bottom, no kiddin' truth for yourself.

Death by climate change . . . pure silliness . . . just sayin'.

Bill Keller

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DC August 7, 2022, 11:41 am Thanks for taking the time to write that Bill. A lot of interesting facts there that aren't government sponsored. I've always said the most watched TV show of our time would be one that hosted the climate change debate. I mean a real debate between the government sponsored scientists against the scientists who have nothing to gain. A real debate where both sides are given enough time to make their point, not a 2 minute type of program to prove your side. Then, a week later have the same thing again. Advertisers would jump at the chance. There has been no debate on this issue, other than the fact that the alarmists are right. They are backed up by the government, Hollywood, and many brainwashed people. I too, always question issues such as this. I don't swallow the Kool-Aid and it's not all unicorns and rainbows. The mainstream media will print anything the way the libs want, and you will see many links to the internet that will be provided by others that will prove you wrong. I’ve found if you look on the WWW you can find anything you need to prove a narrative. BTW I hardly ever watch Fox and for sure hear much more CNN FYI.
Does anyone recall back in the early 80’s when it was said we were going into the next Ice Age? How about in 1995 when the scientists said within 20 years the east coast cities would be under 2-3 feet of water. Show me. The sky is not falling, the world is not coming to an end. Many scientists are just coming up with the conclusions they are paid to make. How many times can someone be lied to before they catch on????

Always remember, PEOPLE WILL GIVE UP THEIR RIGHTS WHEN THEY ARE FRIGHTENED. The recent covid episode is a prime example of that.

Later
Dave

VB August 7, 2022, 2:18 pm Thank you both, Bill & Dave for bringing attention to this. If people really want to debate this, I highly suggest watching fallofthecabaldocumentary.com. Before starting this first scroll to right underneath the documentary & watch the video of Sargent Robert Leroy Horton, very important, then start the documentary. There is a sequel to the documentary which is packed full of facts, yes facts, & you are all encouraged to research this on your own! This is hours of video/research that has been done, & it pretty much sums up the answer to all of the problems we are encountering today. Nothing is ever going to change in our society if people don't wake up to this, & start uniting.
https://www.asnotseenontv.org/fallofthecabal/

DL August 8, 2022, 1:55 pm OMG!!! This is insane. Scientists, from all corners of the earth (not paid by the U.S. Government),have been studying the shifts in climate related activity for more than 50 years. Keller, you say to "not believe in anything and everything". I choose to not believe your anything. You might have some worthwhile information there. But, nowhere in your letter did you dispute any of the specific research that has been done, over the last 50 years. You can't actually do that. You just through together some facts that you had available to you, and made them sound like they have something to do with what has actually happened, in the last 50 years. I suspect that you, like a lot of people, don't understand the difference between climate and weather. Where you talked about the wine, and it's relation to Ireland and France, I wished you would've discussed the movement of the earth's tectonic plates, over the last 4 billion years. Perhaps your dog ate that chapter of your research. People of your ilk have this fascination with thinking others are "brainwashed". Among Americans, there's one side of the political spectrum that falls in line behind their leaders. They believe everything that their leaders say, and they're told to resist any and all propositions made by the other side. They continue to believe that the 2020 election was somehow fraudulent. The only proof they have is, that their leader told them it was. There were 61 court HEARINGS (A hearing is where both sides get to share all of their evidence with a judge), where their side failed to present one bit of evidence, in any of those 61 hearings. This was just a dramatic production. The lawyers for Trump couldn't make any claims of fraud, in front of a judge, without any evidence. Because our judicial system frowns on that. If a lawyer claims fraud in court, without any evidence, it immediately puts them in a position to be disbarred.

Mr. Kelly, let me ask you this question. If a doctor, heaven forbid, told you that you have cancer. He/She told you that, untreated, you would die in 6 months. He/She then says there are ways to successfully beat this type of cancer, in the stage that it's in. But, you knew that the doctor didn't have your same political beliefs and you didn't trust the type of science they prescribed to. Would you choose to die in 6 months, or make the changes that the Democratic Doctor/Scientist told you do?

JS August 8, 2022, 5:17 pm Linsey

50 years that's all the history of climate data you need?? Man you are so shallow and wrong. My living data goes back to 1977 when I complained how hot it was Wally N. told me about the summer and winter of 1936 --Hottest and coldest in memory. An April blizzard in '77. Drought in '83 - My corn yield 66 bu/A. another in the '90's (forgot exactly when). Then the flood of '92 - rain rain for days on end and no sun. My corn yield was was normally 150 bu/A. was then 115.

Weather is never the same day to day month to month. Climate Change? has nothing to do with it.
Hydrocarbons have nothing to do with it. Climate has four seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. This repeats year after year.

There is not danger that the Earth will burn up due to Global warming / climate change. Ain't going to happen.

Without China, Russia and India ruining their economies in the name of "earth saving" we are only hurt ourselves China is building 7 plus coal fired power plants a week. You are so ill-informed.

To help ourselves and guarantee reliable/cheap energy we should go Nuclear following France's program.

DL August 9, 2022, 8:25 am Stiegelmeyer

Once again, you demonstrate that you don't know the difference between Climate and Weather.

Also, the April blizzard was in '73.

JS August 10, 2022, 7:47 pm Lindsey,
For once you correct my error. It was '73. We were living in Ames at the time. My Father visited us on that eve. I tried to get him and my stepmother to stay over night. No go. He insisted that he had to get back to the farm to care for his hogs. Dad, I said, reconsider - this is a dangerous storm that came up un-expectantly. Not in his DNA - I got to take care of my livestock. The Farmer in him was strong - as it is in me. He got to Toledo - safely and stayed over night. Thank divine providence. The pigs survived with no problem. By the way I remember climate systems as: Tropical, Sub Tropical, Temperate, Polar. Looking up same the results: Tropical.
Dry.
Temperate.
Continental.
Polar.
You are still ill-informed.
Regards,
John

JS August 10, 2022, 8:06 pm Lindsey,
One more comment. The year I reference '77, as you stated was not the year of the blizzard,but the year of the drought. My Father was still farming then and the yield was sub part, but he was able to survive, because he had no debt. He had many profitable years before - he was a good manager and agronomist for his education. The following year he gave me management of the property. I will be in forever gratitude for his generosity.
Regards,
I do know the difference between weather and climate. I had to have a good knowledge of weather and it's dictates on aviation as I was a professional aviator for more than 50 years with almost 18,000 hours in the air with no mishaps.

Opinion : Letter to the Editor: The silliness of “Climate Change," of course it’s changing

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