The climate change debate still thrives after seventy years

September 1, 2026

Of the many popular topics of discussion these days — like can men have babies; the many crimes Donald Trump has committed; we really need to do away with police and prisons — there is the on-going talk about our environment.

And, of course, we need to be aware of harmful things that may be going on that could have a serious negative effect of our environment, and the people.

Many warnings over the last few decades have been, “If we don’t stop using fossil fuels to produce electricity and for other things, the United States and likely the rest of the world will suffer and die.”

But not all of these warnings and predictions of doom and gloom are valid, or have come true. And 33 of them will be mentioned.

As always with serious topics, there are at least two sides of the argument. Lately, there has been an effort to silence, or at least reduce the argument that says that our environment is not in any serious trouble.

Let’s go back several years to the mid-to-late 1900s and look at some of these predictions: The Arctic Ocean Will Be Navigable by Mid-Century (1958); Global Famine by 1975 (1967); New Ice Age by 21st Century (1970); Ice Age in 50–60 Years (1971); Catastrophic Cooling in a Century (1972); Space Satellites Confirm Ice Age (1974); Time Magazine: Another Ice Age? (1974); No End to Cooling in Sight (1978).

The reference to Time Magazine mentioned a question about another Ice Age being on its way. Time noted that there was growing Arctic ice, cold winters, and animals migrating as a result, showing that indeed Earth was entering a long period of cold temperatures.

Only a few years later, in 1979, this prediction appeared: “Arctic Ice Will Vanish.” And that warming theme became the dominant one, to wit: Environmental Catastrophe by 2000 (1982); Maldives Underwater in 30 Years (1988); Entire Nations Could Disappear by 2000 (1989); UK Snowfalls Will Vanish (2000); Maple Syrup Industry Dead in 20 Years (2001).

The nations disappearing warning came from a United Nations official, warning that global warming must be reversed to prevent this from occurring.

So, as of 1979, global warming was the problem. Or was it? Three years after the prediction of the maple syrup industry being killed a new warning mentioned the possibility of Britain freezing: “Britain Becomes Siberia by 2020 (2004).”

But then three years after that, warming was again the dangerous threat to life on Earth: “Point of No Return by 2016 (2006); Arctic Ice Gone by 2013 (2007); Climate Deadline is 2012 (2007); Ice-Free Arctic by 2013 (2007); North Pole Ice Cap Melts Away in 2008 (2008); North Pole Could Melt by 2008 (2008); North Pole to Be Ice-Free for First Time in History (2008); Arctic Will Melt in Five to Ten Years (2008); Arctic Ocean Ice-Free by 2014 (2009).”

The “point of no return” came from an Associated Press article that paraphrased Al Gore saying that greenhouse gas emission must be drastically reduced within 10 years.

This trend of warming predictions continued into the next two decades: “Arctic Ice-Free in Two Years (2013); Australia’s Snowfall on the Decline (2017); No More Arctic Ice After 2022 (2018); Humanity Will Go Extinct by 2023 (2018); Glacier National Park Sign Predicted No Glaciers by 2020 (2020); No Snow California by 2021 (2021); End of Snow to Affect 76 Million Americans (2022).” 

The young Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, tweeted that humanity would go extinct by 2023 unless fossil fuel use was immediately ended. At the time, in 2018, she was only 15-years-old, but somehow managed to gain much attention.

And now comes the reality that not one of these 33 predictions of a serious climate crisis has been correct.

Some scientists maintain that the warming that has occurred did so because there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, resulting from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. 

However, others say that it is actually part of a natural process, and not due to man-made problems. They say that we are still in an Ice Age that began more than 100,000 years ago.

The Earth has alternating periods of cooling (glacials) and warming (interglacials) that last for about a hundred thousand years. As an Ice Age progresses, cooling ends and warming begins. That is where they say we are now.

Although the many predictions of disaster have proven false, there are still many scientists and lay people who either believe that global warming is a man-made problem that needs to be corrected, or are determined to preach that line for some non-scientific purpose.

And, history shows us that there have been periods where our atmosphere has been much, much warmer than it is today.

Here, from climate.gov, is one example: “The fact that these thick, calcium-rich rock layers sit directly on top of rock piles left behind by retreating glaciers indicates that temperatures rose significantly near the end of the Neoproterozoic, perhaps reaching a global average higher than 90° Fahrenheit. (Today's global average is lower than 60°F.)”

Today, we are not really hot. So, relax, and stop freaking out.

Ending fossil fuel usage is only a dream, at this point in time

Green Energy Mania (GEM) desires that we do away with fossil fuels immediately, without regard to whether the preferred types of green energy sources are available in the necessary quantities to meet the present and future needs of Americans and the rest of humanity.

Few people believe that burning materials to make electricity is a good idea, if there are other ways of producing it. There are, however, lots of people who believe that the GEM goal is so important that it needs to be forced on Americas right away, without regard to the reality that we are nowhere close to being able to produce enough electricity by wind, solar, nuclear, et al, to handle the needs of Americans.

This attitude produces many problems, such as rules and restrictions that were created that affect the production of fossil fuels, reducing their availability and increasing their price.

Furthermore, while the US is at the top of the list of nations reducing CO2 emissions, there are other nations, like China and India, that couldn’t care less about that, and are increasing their use of fossil fuels. Why are we punishing ourselves with expensive and inconvenient restrictions when the reductions they produce are made irrelevant by the increasing excesses of other nations? 

Perhaps the only thing good about Putin’s Russian attack on Ukraine might be that it has highlighted some of the fallacies of the GEM mindset. Not so long ago — 2020, to be exact — the United States had gained the status of being a net energy exporter. And then, Joseph Biden became President of the United States, and willingly gave that up through executive orders that hurt our fossil fuel production and usage.

We must sensibly balance our wants against our needs. No matter how badly people want to end fossil fuel use, we have no choice but to depend upon them until cleaner methods are able to meet our needs. And even more sensibly, let’s use our own fossil fuels, not those of other countries.

Buying oil from places like Venezuela, whose oil is the dirtiest in the world, and America-hating Iran, the world’s top sponsor of terror, is just foolish.

And when we start smartly using our own fossil fuels as needed, let’s stop foolishly making that more difficult and expensive by getting rid of rules and restrictions. Let’s finish the Keystone XL pipeline that will make it safer and faster to get fuel from Canada for use here.

On that topic, Global Energy Institute President Marty Durbin said last year that her organization “opposes President Biden’s action to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline — the most studied infrastructure project in American history — is already under construction and has cleared countless legal and environmental hurdles. This is a politically motivated decision that is not grounded in science. It will harm consumers and put thousands of Americans in the building trades out of work. Halting construction will also impede the safe and efficient transport of oil, and unfairly single out production from one of our closest and most important allies.”

“Several extensive regulatory studies conducted over the past decade as part of an unprecedented regulatory review concluded the pipeline would enhance the American economy while protecting the environment,” according to the Global Energy Institute.

Those that think not using a pipeline, and transporting fuels instead by trucks and trains — which burn fossil fuels while moving those fuels, putting lots of CO2 into the air, which a pipeline does not do — are not thinking clearly.

The Keystone XL pipeline would deliver over 800,000 barrels of oil a day. Its construction supports over 13,000 Canadian and American workers in the building trades.

And, while the U.S. and some other nations are working to phase out the use of coal for electricity production, others are increasing its use.

Citing data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Heartland Daily News, published by The Heartland Institute, reported that “Global coal demand fell by 4 percent in the pandemic year 2020, the biggest decline since World War II, but coal demand surged in 2021 as economies rebounded from the 2020 lockdowns. The IEA projects coal use will rise at an annual rate of 6 percent through 2024, surpassing its previous all-time high for use sometime in 2022.”

“According to the IEA,” the Heartland report continued, “the gap between the political commitments to meet net zero carbon dioxide emissions and the realities of the electric power demand and the increasing use of coal to satisfy it, is widening.”

We need fossil fuels, and will for some time to come. And, other nations are going to continue to use fossil fuels, regardless of what the U.S. and other nations decide to do, or what they may think is needed. 

Some nation or nations will benefit from producing those products. Why should that not be the U.S.? We will benefit from the jobs created, and the income produced, and we might as well enjoy the cost savings that using American fossil fuels will provide to us.