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Now that we have made you miserable...

01 Mar 2023 | News Roundup

A Canadian federal government poll found that young people are scared and depressed about climate. Which is apparently an achievement because, you see, “More and more evidence is pointing to the urgency for climate action, underscoring the need for communities to adapt to the changing climate and prepare for the most challenging impacts of climate change”. Even if the “evidence” that people should be scared out of their wits over global warming is just that they have been. Very post-modern. Or merely circular.

According to the survey of 2,008 people nationwide, when asked “To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements: ‘In general, when it comes to adapting to climate change – ’” this sample of Canadians responded 83 percent “I am motivated to do what I can to protect myself and my family”. So really that one in six didn’t want to do what they could to protect themselves and their family from whatever threat was in a question is actually the weird part of that one.

Then there’s the 68 percent who said, “I am afraid of its impact on my community”. Which means 32 percent are not, so the debate isn’t over, is it? (Also, 67 percent said, “I am afraid of its impact on me, my friends and my loved ones’ lives” so presumably 1 percent did not live in their communities.)

Then there’s the just over half, 53 percent, who said, “I feel sad.” Boo hoo. Have a hanky. And 52 percent said, “I feel helpless.” Which isn’t very healthy. And is also odd since governments claim they not only can save us, they already are, so we are empowered in our helplessness. Or else these polls are stupid.

Even so we do note that 25 percent said, “I am not concerned.” Good for them.

As Blacklock’s noted, “A total 72 percent said climate change was impacting the nation’s health and well-being.” Which isn’t surprising since while organizations like the IPCC make cautious predictions about how climate change might in future bring problems that the data does not suggest are currently present, the activists, journalists and politicians (but we repeat ourselves) constantly holler that it’s here now and ruining everything. As for instance in this claim from the Weather Network.

“In the past, it was difficult to directly attribute specific severe and extreme weather events to global warming and climate change. More recently, by putting these events into context with the past, researchers have revealed clearer connections. This has allowed us to get a better sense of just how much more severe any particular weather event was due to the rise in global temperatures.”

Or, from CBS:

“Scientists are reluctant to blame any single weather event on climate change but Heidi Roop, Ph.D, a climatologist at the University of Minnesota, says the larger patterns are what she looks at and all of them tell us winter weather is getting warmer and less reliable in the era of climate change.”

And from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus:

“The climate crisis is a health crisis. Climate change is already impacting health in many ways, through more frequent and extreme weather events, more disease outbreaks, and more mental health issues.”

Under such circumstances it would be nitpicking to ask for data on these “more frequent and extreme weather events” of the sort the IPCC so reliably does not provide because actually hurricanes, droughts, floods, forest fires and so forth are not getting more common. As to people having more mental health issues, just maybe it’s because modern life is very stressful in a variety of ways that include being constantly told the planet you’re sitting on is on fire. Or two years of highly disruptive lockdowns based on other dubious “settled science”.

Drilling down, we get this weird finding that when asked “Which do you consider to be an impact of climate change in Canada?” 30 percent of all respondents feared “reduced food and economic security.” If this finding sounds familiar, it’s because a different federal government department also polled Canadians on this topic, namely the Department of Health, which apparently had nothing better to do.

That survey found that 44 percent were worried just about food security so the numbers are not compatible unless 14% came to their senses in a short space of time, possibly because they realized government propaganda is not reliable. But who cares? Not the government. And for our part we say that if people living in a country as cold as Canada think warmth will kill the crops it is a reflection on how badly they are informed not how serious the crisis is.

Still, kids are getting the message. The snowbanks might be right where they were when grampa was little, but it’s warmer, less reliable snow now and a hurricane is about to kill you as will Ebola and it’s all your parents’ fault. And when kids get the message, the message is gotten by kids, so mission accomplished, right?

Maybe not. As the story notes, an earlier poll in 2020 asked persons of youth aged 16-25 to rank danger to “the safety of children”. And it turned out that:

“a total 57 percent rated climate change an ‘extremely serious threat.’ Greenhouse gas emissions were ranked a greater peril than guns and gangs (cited by 51 percent), hate crimes (48 percent), cyberbullying (47 percent) and illegal drugs (42 percent).”

The proper response to such data, if the government were interested in the well-being of children rather than just measuring the success of its propaganda, would be to try to figure out how dangerous these things really are to see whether young people were well-informed on risk generally and climate risk in particular.

It might well be that “hate crimes” are an obsession of the woke classes that are not actually very common in Canada, a famously tolerant and polite society. And “guns and gangs” could be a major issue for children who are actually adults, say, those who are 18, especially in major cities. But probably they are not that big a factor in the lives of most 9-year-olds.

If however your concern is to see whether your scare campaigns have created sufficient public panic to empower you to pursue your goals without sober second, thought, well, these are great results.

5 comments on “Now that we have made you miserable...”

  1. "If this finding sounds familiar, it’s because a different federal government department also polled Canadians on this topic, namely the Department of Health"
    According to the Constitution, health care is a provinicial responsibility in Canada, not a federal responsibility. So why do we have a federal Department of Health at all? OK, it does one or two useful things such as drug testing, but at least 80% of the department is just makework. Just another example of public sector bloat. Away with it!

  2. I am totally frightened.
    I am afraid I might live long enough to experience more of the horrific damage being done to our country by insane public policy. Policy justified by instilling a fear of climate change.
    I would be even more frightened if I thought they might succeed in lowering our temperatures and otherwise reducing our ability to produce food.
    I am more than concerned that some righteous, self important, scientifically ignorant government will decide to use geoengineering to institute global cooling. If you are afraid of the consequences of global warming, you should be absolutely horrified at the possible unforeseen consequences of such actions.
    Finally I am more than a little angry at scientists, modelers, governments, and social media giants such as Facebook telling me they have a better knowledge of my local climate than myself. Afterall, I have lived, experienced and remember most of our widely variable climate for over 80 years. I also have as much access to local data as they presume to have. That seems to indicate that they are basing their opinions on doubtful assumption rather than available data which in many cases is itself compromised.
    Enough rant for one day. Another rather cold one considering the time of year. In no way, unusual.

  3. I agree with Mr. Kargarrd. If you've ever had the opportunity to study basic geological time (intro geography at University), then you understand we humans living now are living in a very small window of time. My greatest fear is not Global Warming, it's the damage and eventual death that the Global Warming fanatics 'will' bring to our world. Make no mistake, as energy prices rise, the poorest of us will be squeezed badly. Poor science and ever poorer policy response are leading this world to disaster. The common folk need to start pushing back in a very strong way.

  4. Ask your local climate alarmist to provide you with an empirical scientific experiment, that is an experiment that can be challenged and repeated by anyone, anywhere which ends up with the same result each time, that proves that climate change will only result in existential Armageddon, mass extinctions, displacement, death and destruction. ‘The science’, apparently owned by the UN by the way, has no such experiment, it doesn’t exist. Climate change is not the problem, out of control alarmism, aided and abetted by politicians and the media, are the problem.

  5. As per Weather Network: “In the past, it was difficult to directly attribute specific severe and extreme weather events to global warming and climate change. More recently, by putting these events into context with the past, researchers have revealed clearer connections. This has allowed us to get a better sense of just how much more severe any particular weather event was due to the rise in global temperatures.”

    So, they carefully and circuitously admit that they've long been pushing the warming narrative without clear links to specific severe and extreme weather events. It's all been bunk. What is there that should make us think it's not bunk now?

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