As we approach Christmas, I am reminded of how profoundly we have benefited from a benevolent God who admonishes us to be good people, help our fellow men, and obey the Ten Commandments. Christianity is the basis of Western Civilization and its premier achievement: science. More than 2,000 yearly celebrations of the birth of Jesus Christ testify to its durability. Jesus did more than save us. He showed us the way to prosper and live righteously.
This is not to say that I am a better Christian than others. I am not. But I strongly subscribe to telling the truth and rejecting false gods.
For many years, we have backed away from Christmas, refusing to call it “Christmas.” The local Troutdale Champion talked about “holiday activities” (including a “holiday tree,” “holiday market,” and “holiday music”) without any mention of Christmas, except to say that City Hall will be closed on their Christmas Day, December 26.
The false gods in strong play today have nothing to do with the religions of Abraham but with the religion of Marx and Lenin. Marxism has no interest in the Ten Commandments, especially if they conflict with political ideology. Hence science, as an ultimate expression of telling the truth, carries no weight with them. If they can bend science to their will, they will use it. But should it not support their ideology, it is denounced as denial and those who support it as heretics.
Count me as an opponent of false gods. I am a scientist.
Mankind moved away from worshiping multiple climate gods when the ancient Egyptians chose Amun-Ra as their premier god, the God of the Sun. The concept of monotheism was to be pivotal for Abraham. And when the Egyptians chose one climate god, they chose wisely, because our climate is completely dominated by the Sun and not some spurious minor god, such as carbon dioxide.
What is so bad about worshiping a false god? To answer that, let us look at the slow-motion economic disaster unfolding in Europe this winter and surely coming to the United States if President Biden prevails.
Perhaps indicating his increasing senility, Biden openly boasts about destroying the American oil, gas, and coal industries. His war on energy means escalating prices, followed by shortages and still higher prices. Everything from diesel fuel for the tractors and trucks that produce and transport our food, to the natural gas that heats our homes and businesses to the natural gas used to manufacture fertilizers and plastics, to the natural gas and coal used for electricity, to the gasoline for our automobiles will be harder to obtain and more costly. That promises wide ranging changes in our way of life, leading to a lower standard of living. One need look no further than Europe for ample evidence of what we face.
When I was chatting on Zoom the other day, I presumed that my friend was wearing a down jacket, because he lives in a cabin on Mt. Hood. But he was actually in London visiting his daughter. With astronomical costs for natural gas, five to ten times ours, they were just doing what most in Europe are forced to do: turn down their thermostats to 50 F. And for transportation, they were using bicycles, because petrol runs $10 per gallon.
It would be easy to blame Russian President Putin for the widespread fuel shortages that the Europeans currently face. Putin did cutoff Russian natural gas deliveries to Germany, causing shortages across Europe. Then someone blew up the pipelines to permanently block Russian gas and perhaps suggest that the same fate could befall other undersea pipelines that carry gas, oil, and electricity to Britain.
Hence, higher prices and smaller supplies are inevitable across Europe. How did they react to their predicament? To their credit, they backed away from extreme climate dogma to keep coal-fired and nuclear power plants running, and they toned down their calls for more renewables. Temporarily. They know that renewables will not keep them from freezing this winter.
The new British Prime Minister at the time, Liz Truss, even went so far as to green-light fracking for natural gas. That is the technique, developed here in the USA, to exploit our vast oil and natural gas reserves. Although we have safely used the technology to great advantage for years, the British public believes that it will destroy their island. Never mind that lack of fuel will surely harm them far more.
Great Britain is blessed with ample coal, oil, and natural gas, either on the island or off-shore. In fact, they have a fifty-year supply of natural gas alone. Hence, any shortfalls are caused by poor planning that is a result of following a minor god called carbon dioxide. As soon as he took office, their latest Tory Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, immediately halted Truss’s approval of fracking.
Continental Europe also has substantial supplies of fossil fuels and nuclear power to keep them going for a long time. But they have to manage them properly, avoiding unreliable suppliers like Russia and unreliable processes like wind and solar. Germany has half of the world’s installed solar capacity in a country as far north as Alaska. It is useless in winter. France has substantial nuclear capacity that has served them well. Other countries should take note. But their reactors are all the same design and age, making them prone to problems simultaneously. This winter, they are dealing with corrosion problems that have taken too many reactors offline at a very inconvenient time.
Faced with real problems, you would expect politicians to buckle down to the tasks before them and avoid any appearances that they are not serious. The new King Charles III was told by PM Truss to stay away from the latest opulent climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Her successor, PM Rishi Sunak, also declined to attend, until former PM Boris Johnson decided to go. Now apparently everyone will go to Egypt. “Everyone” includes President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 17,000 diplomats, and 24,000 observers who are concerned about everyone’s carbon-footprint, except their own. The eco-zealots traveled to Egypt on Air Force One and 400 private jets. They expect another great party while saving the planet.
As the party continues, European industries are scrambling to deal with extremely expensive energy that threatens their very existence. Small businesses like restaurants and pubs are calculating their winter heating costs to see if they can afford to stay open this winter. Many are simply closing.
Industries that use lots of energy, like fertilizer plants, steel mills, and aluminum smelters are reducing output or shutting down. Mercedes Benz and BMW are shifting production to locations that still have relatively cheap energy like the USA and China. Mercedes expects to ship more vehicles to the world from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and BMW will build its iconic electric Mini, not in Britain, but in China. The giant chemical manufacturer, BASF, is permanently closing its European plants and shifting production to China. Royal Dutch Shell has built a six billion dollar petrochemical plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that will open by the end of the year. It is near the plentiful fracked natural gas needed for manufacturing plastics.
Western civilization is at a crossroads. Will we worship pagan climate gods and cede our prosperity to those not inclined to be so foolish. Or will we recognize our folly and go back to the Judaeo-Christian tradition that has served us so well?
Merry Christmas to all!
Gordon J. Fulks lives in Corbett and can be reached at gordonfulks@hotmail.com. He is one of the volunteer Directors of the CO2 Coalition and holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago’s Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research. Dr. Fulks has no conflicts of interest on this subject.
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