President Joe Biden reiterated before Christmas that climate change is an existential threat even as climate alarmism reaches new levels of urgency.
But the premise that the world is becoming less livable because of climate change is simply incorrect.
Government data show that the world is getting better for human life in nearly every measurable way, in large part due to the use of fossil fuels, and it has been getting better for decades. The environment is cleaner and safer than ever before for human beings; resources are more abundant than ever; and it never has been easier to feed the world’s population.
Climate alarmism is as false now as when Al Gore forecast in the 2006 movie “An Inconvenient Truth” that sea levels would rise by 20 feet in the near future. But bad news sells, hence the popularity of climate myths.
Globally, more greenhouse gases are being emitted by human activity than ever before, but computer models have failed to predict levels of warming. The Earth’s warming over the past 50 years averaged 43% less than predicted by climate models; in the U.S., summer warming is weaker than predicted by 36 climate change models.
Alarmists say that the seas are rising due to greenhouse gas emissions, but the seas have been rising for 20,000 years, according to a new paper by University of Delaware professor David Legates, because glaciers have been melting since the last ice age. Sea levels were rising even faster 12,000 years ago, before industrialization and carbon dioxide-related emissions.
A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that sea levels would rise about 10 inches over the next 75 years, an amount that could be dealt with through adaptation.
This year’s hurricane season coincided with multiple headlines erroneously linking hurricanes and climate change.
But research by Heritage Foundation visiting fellow Joe D’Aleo and chief statistician Kevin Dayaratna shows otherwise. Despite increases in CO2 levels and temperatures since 1900, no significant change in the number or intensity of hurricanes has been observed. Damages from hurricanes have risen because of increased incomes; people are building larger homes, but damages increased in line with the size of the economy.
Furthermore, claims that global warming will have catastrophic effects on human health are not supported by scientific evidence. Cold temperatures pose a greater risk to health and cause significantly more deaths than do warm temperatures. Government data show that more people die in cold weather than in warm weather. Moderate warming has benefits for human welfare and agriculture.
The truth about the climate should reassure people that today’s children will inherit a planet that is not deteriorating but flourishing. Human flourishing and sound environmental stewardship aren’t mutually exclusive but complementary. Growing material wealth results in improving environmental health.
Three billion people around the world lack electricity and running water, and they can’t get these basics without fossil fuels. It’s inhumane to use climate alarmism to prevent countries from using their natural resources and gaining access to standards that are taken for granted in the West. Restricting fossil fuels is incompatible with the first U.N. sustainable development goal, the elimination of poverty. Climate action is the 13th goal, after health and clean water.
Climate alarmists, many of whom have access to hot showers and large refrigerators, should acknowledge that fossil fuels are the only way to reduce poverty. Climate change is a future risk to be managed, but poverty is with us now, and we have a moral obligation to address it.
Terrifying people with made-up existential threats is immoral, as well as factually wrong. As we move into 2025, let’s aim to raise standards of living and reduce poverty, not beat the false drum of climate alarmism.
