Katharine, thank you for taking the time to reply and for reading. This is actually a chapter that will be incorporated into book, hence its length, but I’m making it publicly available so long for interested readers. As with the previous chapter it will shortly only be available as a PDF download.

Very well expressed in your first paragraph. For a time I was also convinced by the idea shared by so many people especially in the modern environmental movement that carbon emissions are harmful, specifically due to claims that they are responsible for global temperatures rising higher and faster than ever before.

I think anyone can be forgiven for feeling concerned if they are not presented with all the facts, because many of us genuinely care about the planet and environment. I think as long as we are prepared to correct ourselves and to admit when we are wrong, then everything’s fine since we are all human after all and can make mistakes, especially if true facts are really hard to come by. However, many people simply aren’t open minded enough to consider the possibility of being wrong, because that would set them apart from the mainstream and no-one wants to be ‘unpopular’ in this day and age.

It was around 2018/2019 that I started to feel that things just didn’t add up as there were many actual scientists coming out against the climate change narrative. It just didn’t make sense, but at first it was also difficult to determine which side was correct. I came across some online videos by Tony Heller where he presented actual newspaper clippings from news reports in the 1800’s and early 1900’s which showed extreme weather events with temperatures much higher and much colder during certain years than we have today. That then caused me to become skeptical of the entire narrative related to climate change and started to investigate and delve deeper into the issues.

It took quite some time to really form a clear picture as I had to actually search, find and read quite a number of scientific papers, old and new. Also, there was quite a lot of push-back and denial in the energy and environmental forums where I used to participate as most strongly believed that fossil fuels were causing global warming. I eventually exited virtually all such forums and decided to go my own way, which is usually the only real method of arriving at a semblance of comprehensive truth. Otherwise one is just held back by other people’s opinions and ideologies.

Considering that I had written about climate change in a couple of my early articles, it concerned me that I might have based my assumptions on wrong beliefs, so I subsequently edited two of my earlier pieces to remove any possible incorrect information. Since then I try to do my best to be as accurate as possible based on weighing up as many scientific and other facts as I can. It slows down the writing process though. This essay above took me almost a year to put together, which also explains why it’s so long. Nevertheless I think people need to take their own journey individually to discover the truth for themselves (as I said in my previous chapter), so my writings are only to point them in the right direction.

As for alternative energies, after experiencing 3 years of electricity cuts while based mostly in South Africa (on and off) recently, I have experienced, seen and heard about all the issues related to solar panels and inverters. They are at best good backup systems to keep the lights on and the refrigerator going during blackouts, but that’s about it … (except if you are a ‘millionaire’ and can afford a ‘mini solar farm’). And they come at enormous costs, which simply excludes a lot of working class and even lower middle-class people from obtaining these backup solutions. That in turn causes resentment and crime escalating, among other issues. I will write some more about the S.A. case study in my next chapter which should be published before the end of the year.

I liked what you said about South America and ancient and indigenous solutions to handling climatic extremes in simplified, yet advanced ways. I wish we could do the same, although I’ve also come to realize that going back in time for modern people is not really a feasible solution. I think we just need to work better with what we’ve got (meaning fossil fuels) rather than creating a host of new problems with technological solutions that fail to deliver. (To be continued in the next chapter …).

It’s always a pleasure to hear from you Katharine.

While I am a fan of alternative energy technology, like you I recognize the limitations of attempts to produce solar panels, wind turbines or solar or wind farms on any massive scale. Totally impractical, for the reasons you mention and more.

Although I live in the US, I have traveled some and have noticed practical small-scale adaptations to variations in seasons, climate, altitude, and cultural preferences, like roof-top cisterns in South America. As you know, places like Machu Picchu in Peru are marvels of technological application built long before stock-market churners in London or Wall Street started pitching their versions of innovation.