Environmental Catastrophe: Lying for the right reasons

Al Gore and the environmental scientists alleging "catastrophic" global warming -- an increase of 1 degree Farenheit over 150 years in global temperatures -- are well aware that this is a perfectly normal statistical variation. They are well aware that the climate was much warmer 1,000 years ago than now, when Vikings farmed southern Greenland -- the remains of their farms can still be seen --and grapes grew in Norway.

What Al Gore and the scientists are doing is exactly the same thing that another Al -- Albert Einstein -- did in the early 1950's. Einstein claimed that Hydrogen Bombs would "radioactively poison the atmosphere, making the planet uninhabitable": this despite the fact that hydrogen bombs do not, actually, release radioactive waste. Fusion is clean energy, just blast and heat, effectively. But, Albert Einstein did not want the public to think a nuclear first strike could lead to a quick, military victory -- for humanitarian reasons. He lied to discourage people from starting a nuclear war.

What Al Gore and the scientists are doing, now, is trying to persuade the government and private sector to switch from inefficient, wasteful energy production using fossil fuels to --ironically -- clean, efficient nuclear fusion. But, since the public is so frightened of nuclear energy, they cannot make the case directly.

Will it work? Who knows. It's worth a try, I suppose.

Jerry Kraus
jkraus_1999@yahoo.com