Federalist: Here's Why Nobody's Kids Need to be Scared About Climate Change SOURCE: LIFE POWERED

Federalist: Here’s Why Nobody's Kids Need To Be Scared About Climate Change

Source: LifePowered

While there’s always work to be done, by essentially every measurement, the condition of humanity is strong and our future is brighter than ever.

My eight-month-old son has the cutest gummy grin. I know I’m biased — I’m sure your kids are cute, too — but it fills me with a joy I never imagined before becoming a mom. Like most moms, I’m fiercely protective. I take my maternal responsibilities seriously, balancing new experiences and challenges with guarding his health and safety. I want him to have the best chance at a healthy, fruitful, and joyful life.

Unfortunately, my son and his generation face an emotional threat few have dealt with before: joy-sapping environmental alarmism permeating the news media, pop culture, and even our schools. In the end, however, climate catastrophists won’t succeed at wiping that adorable grin off my son’s face. Here’s why.

In 2017, the American Psychological Association published a report on “eco-anxiety,” defined as a “chronic fear of environmental doom.” A recent article in the Lancet medical journal recognizes the gravity of the problem, especially for children, and says it will likely increase “stress-related problems such as substance use disorders, anxiety disorders, and depression.”

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows less than one-third of American teenagers are optimistic about the planet’s future. Children skip school for climate change protests with cardboard signs bearing such bleak slogans as “Why should I study for a future I won’t have?” and “We won’t die from old age. We’ll die from climate change.”

How sad — and irresponsible — that their parents, teachers, and the corporate media we depend on for information have forced such misery on impressionable young minds. Saddling our next generation of leaders with the burden of fatalistic pessimism is wrong

for so many reasons, especially when even a is rife with uncertainties and confounding cursory review of the history of the human variables. But a clear-headed review of the condition shows there’s cause not just for data we do understand shows that our clipressing onward, but for outright celebration. mate is likely to remain mild and manageable My son and his generation are fortunate while our resiliency to all manner of challengindeed to be born in the 21st century. Infant es will continue to improve. mortality is at its lowest rate in recorded Even if this doesn’t occur, even the most history, and life expectancy it’s highest, even in the poorest of countries. The proportion of people living in extreme poverty has plummeted from nearly half the global population in 1980 to less than 10 percent today. Education and “Chronic fear of environmental doom .” What a burden for our children to bear — especially when the future of humanity is looking brighter than ever . " literacy, equality of the sexes, and economic stringent anti-fossil fuel policies wouldn’t freedom are better than ever. make a lick of difference. Eliminating all In the Western world, we are far more like- American fossil fuel consumption by 2030 ly to die from overconsumption and laziness would only reduce average temperatures at than from war, natural disasters, or even the the end of the century by less than two-tenths most vicious infectious diseases. Indeed, it’s of a degree. hard to find a meaningful statistic that hasn’t The good news is that 96 percent fewer “Today’s children face an emotional threat few have dealt with before: joy-sapping environmental alarmism . " dramatically improved in recent decades. Yes, there’s plenty of work still to be done, especially in developing countries, but by essentially every measurement, the condition of humanity is strong and our future is brighter people die from climate-related disasters now than a century ago. Floods, droughts, storms, wildfires, and extreme temperatures killed nearly 500,000 people globally in 1920. Today, that number is less than 50,000 and falling. We are becoming more resilient to these natural disasters at a much faster rate than to non-climate disasters like earthquakes and than ever. volcanoes. If climate change is really going to On the climate, the news is similarly be catastrophic, why not become more adaptgood. Although sensationalized reports about able as temperatures gradually rise? global warming usually present a stark future While pundits and politicians wring their — “12 years left to live!” — and scary imag- hands about average temperatures rising by es of burning forests, these attention-grab- fractions of a degree, they’re missing the real bing headlines aren’t based on sound science. Former Obama energy official Steven Koonin describes the media and activist groups’ understanding of climate as “drifting so far out of touch with the actual science as to be absurd“While pundits and politicians wring their hands about average temperatures rising by fractions of a degree, they’re missing the real lives being lives being transformed here and now by a level of prosperity never before seen in human history, thanks in large part to improved access to affordable, reliable ly, demonstrably false.” transformed here and now energy from fossil Fundamentally flawed data models proby a level of prosperity never fuels. As my son moted by climate activ- before seen in human history . " grows and learns ism groups, including more about the the United nations, significantly overestimate world, I won’t let alarmist hysteria smother future warming because they’re skewed by his dimply grin and goofy giggle. Armed with the unrealistic predictions used to design the real facts about the world, my family will them — like a near-total global switch from go boldly with optimism and confidence into natural gas to coal — that do not align with society and strive to leave it a better — not real-world energy trends. In simplistic terms, scarier — place. they are “garbage in, garbage out.” Like every scientific field, climate science This commentary originally appeared in The Federalist on May 3, 2021 ▫