Mother nature is giving a party about global warming and we humans think it is about us

During the last ice age New York City and Chicago were at least ½ mile under the ice. Global warming and the greenhouse effect have gotten us where we are today with wonderful no longer under-the-ice cities, which is good. That so many humans think we humans had much to do with this is the recently popular theme of the news media, the entertainment media, and even too many politicians. One might laugh at them, or more respectfully ignore or disrespect them, but now even the Governor of Kansas is refusing a permit to build a new coal fired electrical plant in her state because of carbon dioxide emissions. Former President Eisenhower warned us about the scientific industrial complex’s effects on public policy, and now it is coming to fruition. While we have too many people on the earth and in Kansas right now, when we have even more and they cannot heat in the winter or use lights all year round, let them use the “potential” renewable resources she refers too.

Even if she is correct, which she is not, going cold turkey is a dastardly way to use the citizens of Kansas and the surrounding region to effect change. Many of us have heard of the idea of transition, but apparently the Governor has not, or will let the heat and lights go out anyway. Maybe that is what she wants, but is that what the citizens want? Many of these decisions takes decades to come to effect, and perhaps other factors may pull her fat out of the fire. While I hope circumstances help, little hope is expected for now. Our earlier leaders, management and union, decades ago in the steel and auto made decisions that are now hurting us here at home. Do we want a repeat?

But collectively, we as a Nation have been doing for decades what the Governor of Kansas is doing now, and the energy toll is about to be paid. What bothers so many is that so many politicians have obfuscated all this to so many citizens over time as they robbed Peter to pay Paul. That these politicians listened to environmentalists is embarrassing, in retrospect, and watching them turn on each other should be entertaining if the lights and heat are still on where you live. But when the heat goes off and the lights go out, obfuscation will no longer work. We are closer to the “straw breaking the camel’s back” in some regions of the Country, and it is not by accident or mismanagement, it is on purpose. Of course some do-gooder types just extend “the energy exhaust pipe” to have clean healthy air at home by expecting energy plants to be built in rural areas, say Arizona or New Mexico, and have transmission lines built across “other peoples lands” to bring them “their” energy. But when the heat and lights go out, will anyone be surprised if transmission lines are not destroyed to keep the energy at home in the rural areas? This assumes the energy transmission lines can be built at all. And all this is not the end of the world. Rolling brownouts and day-on-day-off water exist in much of the third world, and will here as things are going.

Energy independence is in our vital national interest. The present courses of action may get us there, but probably not. Expect lack of heat, no lights, and periodic water in parts of our country. If present ideas survive, it will go to the whole country. But before that ever happens, we citizens will change our leaders by the vote. The idea of a transition plan is called for, and obvious. Even drilling in new areas in Alaska and the rest of the country and coastal areas is not a final solution, but could be part of a transition plan.

Three things come to mind in conclusion. We will have too many people for available resources we are willing to pay for. We may be forced by present policies to wage war to gain energy resources to live in our lifestyle. Many of today’s citizens may think this idea is anathema, but future voting citizens may have another point of view. And last, we get to live what we have been practicing for decades as policy. For example, much public policy work in the 1930’s went into rural electrification. All Americans today think “turning on the lights” is a right. And our ancestors always conserved. Well here we go again. Going to bed with the chickens and rising with them makes sense in some realms. Is that what we want when the lights go out?