A Climate Conversation

“The weather is here I wish you were beautiful.” These lyrics, sung by the great Jimmy Buffett, remind me of ugly, unsettling, uncomfortable conversations about climate change with friends and family. The lyrics, likely taken from a dive bar bathroom wall, seem humorous and prophetic at the same time. In conversations I’ll strive for clarity and truth based on reason and logic while my opposition usually argues to win the argument using emotion, propaganda, and utopian thinking. This is about to get interesting so let’s order some boat drinks. When I was growing up in the 1970’s I was indoctrinated with the idea that the planet was overburdened with people, pollution, and a puzzling array of end of the world problems. “Save the Earth” was the rallying cry. Earth Day Festivals were the rage and global cooling was the topic of the day. Being young and uninformed I bought into the narrative. In the 1980’s when I was starting my career and raising a family, I was too busy to notice the coalitions of activists, environmental groups, and experts who scared everyone with man-made global warming. As an aside, it seems we’ve not learned from history because the Wuhan lockdowns created the same “boogie man” scenario. Under the religion of science, the activist became alarmist, preaching that modern civilization is baking the planet into oblivion, yet that prediction proved wrong. The only burnt surfaces were the predictions of the end of the world that became toast and so the alarmists doubled down. A former vice president filmed a half-baked story and by omission lied about the information in the film he narrated. A misguided Swedish girl captivated a United Nations audience with her carnival performance claiming her youth had been stolen and Climate Change is an existential threat to existence. The current administration wants to ban every modern convenience from gas stoves, water heaters, and fans, forcing Americans to buy unethically manufactured batteries used in EV’s which are made from cobalt and lithium mined in the Congo where labor and environmental laws do not exist. Escaping to that tropical island Jimmy Buffett regales about and leaving the “Fruitcakes” to their own self destruction is looking better all the time. Even after reading dozens of books, articles, and attending debates and seminars with world-famous experts, I felt discouraged and dejected with the realization that the alarmists were louder, well organized, and using emotion while gaining more power to rule the world in their dystopian vision. That was until I had an opportunity to attend the film premier of a new documentary called A Climate Conversation narrated by my friend Kim Monson, radio talk show host of The Kim Monson Show on KLZ-560. The documentary featured Gregory Whitestone, a Geologist, author, and head of the CO2 Coalition, Walt Johnson, a Geophysicist and consultant, Ken Gregory, B.AppSc., P.Eng. and Friends of Science, and Ronald Stein, Founder and Ambassador for Energy and Infrastructures at PTS Advance. Like previous documentaries, such as FrackNation created by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinnery that addressed misinformation from environmental alarmists about the process of hydraulic fracturing, A Climate Conversation cuts through the rhetoric and propaganda and asks simple questions that often go unanswered by so-called environmental experts. This film is grounded in real science and free from pointing fingers, calling names, and using incomplete data. The film features actual scientists who are not beholden by politics, government, or special interests. These featured individuals unveil and examine a wider view with more information to explore, challenge, and ask more questions to find the truth. Questions the film explores are: Is it true that 97% of scientists agree that humans are the cause of global warming and climate change? (This number encounters strong trade winds with the actual statistic of less than 1% of scientists agree that humans are causing any harm). What has been the history of the earth’s temperature and CO2 content? What is the cost of going carbon free by 2050? What is the availability of the materials needed to go carbon free? What are the implications of gaining access of those materials? Should we be concerned that the planet is warming? What are the dangerous levels of CO2? Can you trust climate models? Is human activity really the culprit? What, if anything, can be done to mitigate any adverse previous actions to make the planet a better place for the future? These questions are answered, and I came away from this film, as did the 300 plus people who attended the Colorado premier, more hopeful than ever. As the topic is explored it reveals the moral, social, and practical implications of the “miracle molecule” CO2 which will be seen and redeemed and no longer feared. Once you view this film, you’ll have a change in latitude and a change in attitude. See it online at https://www.aclimateconversation.com/