On Nov 20, the fifth debate by Democrat Presidential hopefuls devoted considerable attention to “climate change”—that is, predicted catastrophic climate disruptions caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide.
Tom Steyer claimed that he was the only one to put climate first on his agenda. Bernie Sanders said we only had 8 or 9 years to “get our act together.” No one expressed disagreement with the alleged urgent need to reduce or eliminate the use of “fossil fuels”—coal, oil, and natural gas.
Suggestions included a carbon tax, stopping pipelines, and prosecuting and jailing executives who allegedly lied about evidence purported to show that their product is destroying the planet. Presumably, all we need to do is to transfer “subsidies” for fossil-fuel industries to “clean renewables,” and affordable energy, environmental justice, and millions of “good-paying” jobs will somehow emerge, observes Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane M. Orient, M.D.
Questions moderators did not ask, she notes, but reporters and voters should:
- What would happen to energy prices? Thanks to the Energiewende (the program to switch to “renewable” energy, primarily wind and solar), 300,000 Germans have their power shut off yearly because of inability to pay the soaring bills.
- What would happen to hospitals, transportation, manufacturing, or other activities requiring affordable, reliable energy?
- If our domestic energy producers are crippled, will we be buying more oil from the Saudis, and at what price?
- What would these candidates, as President, do about the hundreds of coal-fired electricity generating stations that China is building?
- How much of our land would have to be cleared for wind turbines? Some estimate more than 175,000 square miles, an area larger than 10 eastern States.
- Would these candidates fire or prosecute scientists who state that there is NO evidence that human-caused emissions have caused or will cause a catastrophic disruption in earth’s climate? More than 31,000 American scientists signed the Oregon Petition.
- How do they explain the Medieval Warm Period, or the lack of catastrophe when atmospheric carbon dioxide was much higher?
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