READY, FIRE, AIM

The brush fires in Australia are really horrendous. Naturally, the climate change radicals are seizing the day. Finally proof that immediate action must be taken to STOP CLIMATE CHANGE. Of course nothing being proposed would have had any impact on these fires. The fires will not wait until everyone sells their car and starts riding bicycles again. When and if that happens, good luck with trying to fight these fires without using airplanes, trucks and other CO2 emitting monsters in the battle. This is beyond absurd, but that does not stop a whole lot of people from jumping on board the climate change bandwagon.

But, in their haste, they missed something big. I mean really big. It turns out that these fires aren’t the result of climate change; they are the result of arson. And not just one or two arsonists. There are reports that Australian police have arrested 183 people for lighting brush fires. Have you heard anyone in the MSM, including the people on Fox News mention this? No, instead they are trying to make a bad situation look worse. I saw one report that said ¼ of Australia was on fire. So I did some math. The latest report is that 14,000 square miles of land are on fire. That is, indeed, a very large area. But Australia is a very big place. As far as I can tell, there are 2.97 million square miles of land in Australia. So, while these fires are big, in order to cover ¼ of Australia the fire would have to be about 742,500 square miles. The reality is that these fires cover about 1/212 or .48% of Australia. This is about the equivalent of the amount of Native American blood in Elizabeth Warren.

I recently discovered that one can watch Australian News live on YouTube. So I watched some of the coverage from the people who are actually there. The situation is truly horrific, but not exactly the end of civilization as we know it. It has been hot in Australia, but this is not necessarily because of climate change. In 1938 New South Wales began a 37 day heatwave where the temperature was over 100F. There was even one week where the average was 116F with a peak of 119F. That heatwave broke a record that had been set in 1896.

So, when the Washington Post says Australia may see its hottest day ever recorded, take it with more than one grain of salt. We do get hotter temperatures in our cities now, in part because of all of the cement and asphalt. Anyone who stands on unshaded cement patio in Folsom during the summer knows that this gets really hot. But that does not mean the entire climate has changed. That is why real scientists pay very close attention to the location of thermometers. They probably learned this from my dad. He located the thermostat in our house on the same wall as the furnace chimney. That, of course, was the warmest wall in the house when the furnace was running. Then he would take my shivering mother over to look at that thermostat to prove it wasn’t actually that cold.

Much of the current problem appears to be more the result of human activity than global climate. That is particularly true when a whole lot of people are literally setting fires. In addition, we are all learning that more attention needs to be paid regarding where homes are located how we manage our forests.

This reminds me of an important personal principle. If CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post all are warning you about imminent disaster, it is safe to go to bed without worry. The only thing certain is that these guys are NEVER right. There are enough things to worry about on this planet; the illusion of global warming can be safely dropped from the list.

TDM