Fake invisible catastrophes and threats of doom, by Patrick Moore, paperback, 207 pages, ISBN 978-8-5685-9550-2, independently published, 2021, £22.95.
This excellent book, by a scientist who was a co-founder of Greenpeace, exposes the bad science behind so much of the current wave of climate alarmism.
Moore notes that "the great majority of scare stories about the present and future state of the planet, and humanity as a whole, are based on subjects that are either invisible, like CO2 and radiation, or extremely remote, like polar bears and coral reefs. Thus, most people have no way of determining the truth of these claims of alleged catastrophes and doomsday threats. Instead, they must rely on the activists, the media, the politicians, and the scientists - all of whom have a very large financial and/or political stake in the subject - to tell them the truth."
As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change itself admitted in 2018, "the climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible." This book deals with many of the claims made about the effects of climate change, such as the impacts on polar bears, coral reefs (particularly the Great Barrier Reef), species extinctions, trees and forests. Other chapters consider claims made that are not directly related to CO2, such as genetic modification, chemicals in the environment, plastics, and radiation (nuclear energy).
Moore observes that it is not climate change that threatens us, but that "The push to 'phase out all fossil fuel consumption in thirty years' is certainly the biggest threat to civilization in the world today." Some "want us to give up 80 percent of our total energy supply - currently provided by reliable, cost-effective fossil fuels - and replace it with unreliable expensive forms of energy like wind and solar."
He points out the internal inconsistency of Green politics: "France produces 71 percent of its electricity with nuclear energy and emits five tons of carbon dioxide per person every year, while Germany produces only 11 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy and emits 9.1 tons of carbon dioxide per person every year. If Germany shuts down its seven remaining nuclear plants by 2022 as planned, its CO2 emissions will inevitably rise."
He shows that the evidence from the historical record refutes the claim that CO2 emissions cause warming: "Human emissions of carbon dioxide from 1700 to 1850 were insignificant and yet historical records indicate the earth warmed at about the same rate during that period as it has since; from 1850 to the present." And, more recently, the pause in warming between 1995 and 2014 coincided with what were then the highest-ever human-caused CO2 emissions.
