The
Global Warming Guilt Trip - Been Through This Before
Despite the constant media blitz on the evils mankind is creating in
the way of Global Warming most folks are refusing to accept the guilt
the media and the Green crowd are attempting to enter into their
consciousness. Everyone older than generation X has been through
similar guilt exercises in the past, the Ozone Hole in the 80's and The
Energy Crisis in the 70's.
There is little mention of the traumatic effects of the Energy Crisis
mentioned today but a significant proportion of the population lived
through this crisis and it affected the way they lived their life at
the time.
Prior to 1971 energy prices were too cheap as the oil companies had
managed control the supply situation. The Arab countries started
to exercise some control in the early 70's. They used the Israeli
Arab war of 1973 as an excuse to raise prices and restrict supply as
punishment for the West’s support of Israel. This started the
Energy Crisis of the 70's.
People were convinced non-renewable fossil fuels supplies were finite
and were quickly disappearing. People were led to believe they
must change their lifestyle and their patterns of energy use were too
high and changes were necessary. Most people bought into the hype
and changed their expectations and lifestyles.
In the 60's and early 70's automobiles were a major component in
Western lifestyle. In this same time frame the government
starting enforcing vehicle exhaust emission standards which severely
impacted vehicle performance. When the Energy Crisis developed
people abandoned their large domestic cars and bought foreign cars
which delivered better gas mileage. Even though these foreign
cars were in reality junk mass delusion set in and people believed they
were better cars. They got better gas mileage which was probably
the only better quality in these cars.
The government stepped in and decided lowering highway speed limits to
55 MPH (90 Km/H) was a strategic necessity to lower dependence on
foreign energy supplies. Combined with new domestic cars with
emission controlled engines and foreign cars with small engines 55 MPH
was almost as high a speed that these vehicles could maintain. As
a side point here these new cars were so gutless that they were
incapable of passing another vehicle at or around 55 MPH. The
highway people took this opportunity to add double lines to many
sections of highway in which passing was previously allowed and
possible with older cars but not with the new cars.
People changed their driving habits and forgot how to pass another
vehicle without the aid of a passing lane. The government told
people that the 55 MPH was in the national interest and speeding was a
sin in which energy was wasted. Many people believed in this hype
and of course the police started calling driving the previous speed
limit a dangerous activity. With the foreign cars of the time it
probably was dangerous.
Automobiles were only part of the energy consumption footprint and the
government worked the other angles with the same intensity as the
national highway speed limit. People looked at their homes and
upgraded insulation and siding, double glazed windows and window
coverings which minimized heat loss, more energy efficient furnaces and
for a short time people decided on smaller homes with smaller
windows.
By the early 80's energy consumption had dropped so much that oil
prices collapsed. Many of the Arab energy producing states
developed fears that they might not sell all their oil before it
becomes obsolete, just look at the history of coal use. Energy
prices were no longer maintained at an artificial high level and were
allowed to drop to a low level. The energy producing states
realized that if they maintained the myth of finite energy supplies
conservation would limit their ability to sell what they were able to
produce at what they would consider a reasonable price. Future
income was at stake.
The energy producers, both domestic and foreign, realized society
swallowing this story hook line and sinker was bad for business and
attempted to change societal attitudes toward energy in an effort to
improve business. To combat conservation efforts energy prices
were kept low for years to promote greater consumption and get people
to change their habits.
At some point people figured out what was really going on and stopped
feeling bad about energy consumption. People responded by buying
bigger cars and houses and not feeling guilty about higher energy
consumption. A very healthy dose of cynicism against government
and media hype was the lesson learned.
People responded to the Ozone Hole crisis as they had still not shred
all the guilt from the Energy Crisis. In all likelihood the Ozone
Hole crisis is probably more a function of a weakening planetary
magnetic field and solar activity than the so called releasing of gases
used in refrigeration. While the Ozone Hole has decreased in
recent years the reality is the release of CFCs has probably increased
as more cars with air conditioning were produced in the 80's and 90's
with Ozone depleting CFCs have accidentally or deliberately released
their CFC gas. The use of refrigerators in the under-developed
world has increased dramatically as would the accidental release of
CFCs.
Maybe in Canada and the USA plus Western Europe CFC release have
decreased but in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America they have
probably increased. You will never know the real numbers in any
country as no one is going to admit releasing a so-called potentially
dangerous gas. In many countries they can’t afford CFC
replacements and nor do they bother with CFC recovery. We pay a
higher cost here in Canada but no one else bothers. But still the
Ozone Hole has decreased in size in recent years.
Most people who experienced the Energy Crisis of the 70's and early
80's now have a healthy cynical attitude to the hype dished out by the
media. The best leaders are those that lead by example. Who
is really going to listen to one who attempts to lead but doesn’t
practice what they preach. Al Gore is a good example of a poor
leader, he has a massive energy use footprint in his home and lifestyle
of private jets and chauffeur driven limos. If he was really
concerned about the environment he would minimize his energy use
footprint and try to lead by example. Basically here is a guy
telling you to use public transport who has never experienced the joys
and frustrations of taking a crowded bus.
The problem with the Global Warming hype we are being fed is that it is
based on junk science. The Earth’s climate has been warming for
the last 500,000 years and particularly very quickly in the last 15,000
years. Ocean levels have been rising for the last 100,000 years
and particularly fast in the last 10,000 years. Why should we be
surprised climate and ocean levels are still changing? The
current hype on Global Warming is being used as the excuse to make you
pay more for energy and taxes.
While we are bombarded in the media on a daily basis on Global Warming
but few do anything about it. I believe many people who
experienced the Energy Crisis of the 70's are not going to buy into the
Global Warming hype as they see it for what it is, an excuse to make
you feel guilty and not complain when you asked to pay more money for
energy, taxes and to pay a carbon tax. In all likelihood it
doesn’t matter what we do as the climate is going to continue to warm
as it has for the last 500,000 years and the ocean is going to continue
to rise as it has in the last 10,000 years.
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Revised June 24, 2007