Rogue Thoughts

What is the cause of the climate crisis?
Few would hesitate an answer to this question. Even my 10 year old daughter knows the answer: The climate crisis comes from an increase in greenhouse gasses, most notably co2, caused by the human use of fossil fuels. And therefore we should find alternative sources of energy that do not consume fossil fuels.
This reasoning is the foundation of the forthcoming COP15 international climate conference in my hometown, Copenhagen, and therefore perhaps for one of the biggest international political decisions ever.

Never the less I think the answer is wrong!
I do not doubt the physics behind it. I think that co2, methane, and other greenhouse gasses cause an increase in global temperature, although I am far from convinced about how much (there are alternative theories to the IPCC canon, such as Svensmark’s theory). I am also at peace with the reasoning that the increase in concentration of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere is caused by fossil fuels. I even fervently believe that we should find alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar energy.

So, what is wrong with the answer and why does it make a difference?
The only reason we perceive the changing of the climate as a crisis is because our culture dictates us that the climate of some particular period is intrinsically more natural and normal than another period. The current normal period is from 1961 – 1990. Consequently, when we say and demonstrate based on precise measurements, that the climate is not normal, we are just saying that “this is not the weather our parents and grandparents remember as normal growing up and coming of age”.

The real crisis is that this imagined trans-generationally imposed normality is effectively promoting something that is really harmful for the future potential of life on earth: Nuclear energy. Sure, you may dispose of nuclear waste in a seemingly safe way, but it is there as a potential hazard for life for hundreds of thousands of generations of humans and animals. We should not forget that terrorists of all sorts would also like to get hold of it as well.
Let us compare that with the alternative, that is, immense global warming; So, what if the sea level rises 3 meters? we have time enough to move away from the shores, build dikes and even move entire population, such as the Maldives, to safer places and who gives a crap about Manhattan anyway. Only our sentimentality bars us from facing this obvious conclusion. All the while, the real effect of this imagined crisis is that nuclear energy is again on the rise endangering future life on this planet “for real”.