Settled Science or a New Religion?

Explore What is at the Heart of Climate Activism

Just this week, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg deleted a 2018 tweet where she warned that climate change “will wipe out all of humanity” unless fossil fuels were abolished by 2023.

Clearly, that’s not the case. And everyone knows it.

For example, the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting this past January recorded a staggering 1040 private flights  coming into Davos. A sizable number of them flying less than 63 miles to reach the destination. Apparently, they are not concerned about jet fuel harming the environment.

The Great Kingmaker

So-called “fossil fuels” are not only essential to civilization, but they are also the source of our great prosperity in the west and beyond. Gas and oil production has served as a kingmaker for many countries elevating them from “developing nation” status to highly industrialized, financially stable, and prosperous countries.

An abundance of affordable energy is critical for any civilized society. In addition to providing revenue from exports, oil and gas enable manufacturing which, in turn, drives food production, the distribution of clean water, new construction, transportation, and innovations in health care—just for starters.

Not-so-settled Science

In September of 2022, 1,200 highly respected but skeptical scientists from all over the planet have signed the World Climate Declaration (WCD) declaring that there is no climate emergency. “We should free ourselves from the naïve belief in immature climate models,” says the WCD. Read more here.

So, why does the ruling class want to impede and or eliminate gas and oil production?

Climate “science” has become a new religion. Rupert Murray, another European climate activist, said that he would be willing to give up some of his freedom if it helped to stop climate change. He made that assertion back in 2011. Clearly, his devotion was misguided.

“The great problem with climate change is that it no longer seems like a scientific theory, but more like a 21st century version of the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, complete with evangelists, tithes, indulgences, and bizarre superstitions.

“Many of these evangelists attempt, not to explain the science, but to scare the population into believing, through dire warnings that we face some kind of climatic Judgement Day. Indeed, if they are to be believed then we are already seeing signs of judgment because of the sin of burning fossil fuels.

“Floods, hurricanes, droughts, and famine are all blamed on man-made climate change and more is to come if we don't clean up our act we are told. One would have thought, listening to the doom-mongers, that such disasters had never happened in the history of mankind until some Pandora-like figure had the idea of burning the energy out of coal and oil,” according to the International Business Times.

Let’s look at three truths exposing environmentalism as radical and unfounded:

1.     So-called “Green Energy” sources are manufactured.

The promoters of Green Energy sure have done a fantastic job with the messaging. By calling solar panels, windmills, and batteries for electric cars “renewable energy” sources, the implication is these products are easily reproduced and safe for the environment. THEY ARE NOT.

We’re told that vehicles powered using fossil fuels are destroying our planet, but cars powered by batteries that are charged using fossil fuels are not. Really?

A report from The Swedish Environment Institute concluded that manufacturing batteries for electric cars contribute to a very high rate of carbon dioxide in the air. Read the full article here. (Not to mention the fact that replacing an EV battery can cost as much as $30,000!)

To go one step further, the demand for fossil fuels creates good-paying jobs for Americans from lower-income regions of the country. The demand for lithium for batteries, however, incentivizes governments that don’t have laws against child labor to exploit their citizens. I detailed this in a previous post. Read it here.

2.     Gas and oil are the REAL renewable energy sources.

In contrast to windmills and solar panels, carbon is found naturally in the environment. Fuels—coal, petroleum, natural gas, and heavy oils—contain carbon which forms as a result of Photosynthesis, the geologic process that converts organic matter into energy (Britannica, 2022).

Do you see the irony here? Products manufactured in an industry dominated by China, with a finite lifespan and reputation for being unable to be recycled, are labeled as “renewable.” Meanwhile, carbon found in nature and created through recycling dead foliage through Photosynthesis is branded as harmful to the environment!

Others are pushing a narrative that natural resources are scarce and will soon run out, but they won’t. There’s no evidence to support that these are in limited supply. In 2019, the US Energy Information Administration noted that the US has 47 billion barrels of crude oil reserves (World Atlas). There is no shortage of oil in America or elsewhere.

3.     The earth is not in any danger, but humanity is.

Yes, it’s true, we need to be good managers of the earth and the resources at our disposal. No one disputes that. But even proponents of renewable energy understand that it could be decades before these sources ever replace fossil fuels.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, warned that “civilization could crumble” if we don’t use oil and gas in the immediate future. Wow. This is the man who stands to become a quintillionaire (or something like that) if countries were to officially transition to Green Energy.

During this same interview on August 30, 2022, Musk said that “we actually need more oil & gas, not less.”

The whole extreme environmentalist narrative breaks down the further you look. If our world leaders thought that climate change was an existential threat to our existence—to their own existence—they would immediately stop flying their private jets. Fat chance.

The Wrap-Up

Energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas—fuels critically important to modern civilization—are not harming the environment. In actuality, they are a component of our ecosystem. Even fourth graders understand that CO2 is needed to feed the plants and then the plants die to create more carbon for energy.

After researching this topic, I came to the following conclusion: Fossil fuels are part of the natural order that God established at Creation. Genesis 1:26 establishes that mankind was given dominion over the earth. God designed natural resources to serve humanity—not the other way around.

To be clear, this new religion has nothing to do with God; in fact, it seeks to replace Him. Is it plausible that radical environmentalists actually want to destroy God’s creation, including humanity, rather than preserve it? This may be at the very heart of the matter.

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

Romans 1:25

Thanks so much for reading today! Remember to always pursue the truth.