OH DEAR, MUST HE? – AT 9:35 A.M. ET:   Do you remember the kid in the kindergarten play who just didn't know how to get off the stage?  I thought of that when reading this, from The Hill:

Al Gore hopes to show links between climate change and the effects of extreme weather worldwide with an online and social media-fueled event built around the idea of “dirty weather.”

Gore’s advocacy group, the Climate Reality Project, announced Sunday that its second multi-media “24 Hours of Reality” event will occur Nov. 14-15 and bear the title “The Dirty Weather Report.”

I cannot wait.  My recorders are ready.  We may have a TV party, as in the olden days. 

“We are in a new era where the . . . extreme weather that is occurring is not fully caused by the natural cycles of time and natural events, but by dirty energy, so it is really important to articulate that and name it more precisely,” said Maggie Fox, the CEO of the Climate Reality Project, in an interview Saturday.

Organizers call the November event part of an effort to counter the lobbying and financial power of oil and coal interests by using social media and other tools to engage people directly.

Gore said on Sunday that “dirty weather” is weather that’s enabled by emissions from fossil fuels and “misinformation” about climate change.

COMMENT:  You know, I wouldn't mind it if Gore actually has something new to say.  I do not reject out-of-hand the idea of climate change, or possible human impact.  What I do reject is the arrogance of Gore and his legions, who claim that the science is settled.  It is not settled.  There's no such thing as "settled science."  Science by its nature is never settled.

There have been enough questions raised by thoughtful, qualified scientists to require serious answers, but all we get is hype and attacks on oil and coal companies.  (Truth in packaging:  I had a brief financial relationship with a coal company.  Not current.)  In fact, we are going to be a carbon-based economy for decades to come because alternative forms of energy are just not ready, or, like nuclear power, are themselves controversial. 

The idea is to develop new energy while making the most of our traditional sources, and making it our energy supply as clean as possible.  The big bad oil and coal companies are doing just that.  Due in large measure to their efforts, and self-interest, this country can become energy independent within ten years because resources in the United States are plentiful.  And it can be done with reasonable environmental policies.

One thing that enrages me about the entire "warming" discussion is the refusal by the Gore crowd to acknowledge what carbon-based fuels have done for the average person over the last century.  They have made that person truly mobile for the first time in human history.  That mobility has in turn changed lives for the better, allowed the seeking of opportunity, and has kept families in contact.  Americans will reject an energy policy that places this newfound freedom out of economic reach.  I'm not sure Gore has processed that.

September 24, 2012