Predictions are
easy to make.
Even a village idiot
can make them.
Unfortunately,
predictions of
doom seem to be
hard to ignore.
That doesn't affect me,
because I have never
cared about predictions
of doom.
Or predictions
in general.
That's why
I am immune
to climate change
junk science !
Please remember
that "climate change"
really means
almost nothing more
than a prediction
of a coming climate
crisis.
Very little
real science
is involved.
The predictions started
in the late 1950s, and
ramped up a lot in the
late 1980s.
In the past two years,
the predictions have
become hysterical.
In response, earlier
this year I doubled
the number of articles
I post here -- I have
no tolerance for
lying leftists trying
to frighten people
about a non-existent
climate crisis.
In reality, our current
climate is wonderful,
and has been improving
for over 300 years --
moving away from the
relatively cold centuries
of the Little Ice Age period,
that people at the time
hated.
When I was
in high school,
in the late 1960s,
the biggest
excitement
was a girl who
went to London
during the summer,
and came to school
in the fall wearing
the first mini-skirt
any of the boys
had seen !
We had no interest in
Stanford scientist
Paul Ehrlich, PhD,
stating:
“Most of the people who
are going to die in the
greatest cataclysm
in the history of man
have already been born.”
Predicting global famine
in 1970, Ehrlich wrote,
“The death rate will increase
until at least 100-200 million
people per year
will be starving to death
during the next ten years.”
At the time,
our nation
was losing
a war with
North Vietnam,
and the
only death rate
we young men
were worried about,
was the possibility
of our own death
in Vietnam !
Like every other
environmental
prediction of doom
in history,
Paul Ehrlich’s
apocalyptic
predictions
were wrong.
Reality was
that genetic
manipulation
via selective
cross breeding
had been done
for hundreds
of years
to produce
higher yield
crops.
About 3,000
crop varieties
were created
via mutant breeding,
such as high yield
barley, oats and grains
commonly used in
making premium
beers and whiskey.
Mutant breeding
created a cocoa tree
that was resistant to
deadly fungus.
The discovery of
“restriction enzymes”
in 1970 allowed
scientists to
successfully
engineer
organisms.
They surgically
removed
useful genes
from one species,
and placed them
into another species.
Such genetically
engineered plants
include most
of today’s
soybean, corn and
cotton crops, and
some varieties of
potatoes, apples,
papayas and
sugar beets.
Engineered crops
were resistant to
stressful growing
conditions, such as
specific insect and
fungal pests,
producing greater
yields with
less pesticides.
Unfortunately,
genetically
modified crops
( GMOs )
are condemned
by radical groups
One GMO,
"Golden Rice",
was first
engineered
in the 1990s as a
non-profit attempt
to prevent blindness
and premature deaths
from
vitamin A deficiency,
that affected
250 million children,
mainly in Asia,
and killed more than
200,000 people a year.
Two German
scientists,
Ingo Potrykus and
Peter Beyer,
removed a gene,
from daffodils,
that produced
beta-carotene,
and carefully
inserted the gene
into rice.
Beta carotene
is the key
building block
for vitamin A,
and gives Golden
Rice its golden color.
Later a more efficient
gene from corn was used.
Potrykus and Beyer
insisted the technology
to create Golden Rice
would be donated
for free.
Biotech company
Syngenta
waived its right
to commercialize
the product.
GMO opponents,
led by Greenpeace,
lobbied countries
around the world
to prevent
the legalization
of Golden Rice.
They used the
leftist methodology
-- evidence free
generation of
fearful speculation
about “imagined”
health repercussions.
Greenpeace claimed:
"Corporations
are overhyping
golden rice benefits
to pave the way
for global approval
of other more profitable
genetically
engineered crops.”
But Golden Rice
continued to be
proven safe.
A letter signed
by more than 100
Nobel laureates
accused Greenpeace
of leading a
“fact-challenged
propaganda campaign
against innovations
in agricultural
biotechnology."
They demanded
that Greenpeace
end its campaign
against GMOs.
Patrick Moore,
a co-founder
of Greenpeace,
had left
the organization
long ago because its
original good intentions,
based on real science,
were being subverted
by political extremists.
Moore said:
"They're linking
Golden Rice
with death,
which
scares parents
into not wanting
the technology
developed”.
Moore created the
"Allow Golden Rice Now"
movement,
and thankfully,
more countries
are moving towards
legalizing Golden Rice.