With floods in the east and droughts in the west, the left is blaming climate change. One person, Bjorn Lomborg, is pushing back against the “apocalyptic narrative.”
Summary
Floods in Tennessee killed 22 people after a foot and a half of rain fell in less than 24 hours.
- Meanwhile Tropical Depression Henri drenched the northeast in rain, forcing organizers to cancel a massive Central Park concert starring Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Barry Manilow.
- President Biden mentioned the Tennessee flooding emergency during a Sunday press conference, offering federal disaster support to the governor of Tennessee.
- In the West, 94 active wildfires have burned 700 homes while California is suffering from a two-year drought.
- Axios notes a United Nations panel report found “extreme precipitation events, including heavy downpours, are becoming more frequent and severe.”
- Vox “explained” the droughts in the West, their impact on wildlife, and that “climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe.”
- The Washington Post gathered several other instances of flooding in the United States and intimated it is the result of climate change despite the National Weather Service specifically saying it could not determine “whether climate change played a role.”
- The New York Times played the same game, referencing international scientists’ consensus that climate change is “contributing to more frequent extreme weather.”
- Newsmax reported on the shutdown of the Central Park “homecoming” concert in New York, citing the cancellation in the middle of Barry Manilow’s medley set as then-Hurricane Henri was barreling towards the Northeast.
- Fox News focused solely on the storm, declining to mention or reference climate change in its report on Henri.
- Breitbart criticized UK outlet The Guardian for what it calls “various hyperbolic claims” over climate change after Greenland received “unprecedented rainfall.
- Earlier this month, the New York Post published Bjorn Lomborg who is skeptical of the UN climate panel and the “apocalyptic narrative” of the media.
Author’s Take
Assuming climate change is the existential threat that some alarmists claim it is, turning off the economic engine of the world will do very little. Firstly, no one should expect the worst offenders like China to comply. Secondly, as the famous economist Thomas Sowell once said, there are no solutions, only tradeoffs. All decisions come with real costs, all of which must be considered.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
