A climate message to our children and grandchildren
Guus Berkhout - Emeritus professor of Geophysics and the current President of CLINTEL
CLINTEL stands for Climate Intelligence. It is a Foundation that fights against the draconic measures of politicians against global warming. CLINTEL’s mission is to tell the FULL climate story, making clear that today trillions of dollars are being spent on the basis of misleading computer models.Â
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The young generation – with Swedish Greta as their hero – was repeatedly told by climate alarmists that their parents and grandparents are leaving a big mess behind, the result being catastrophic global warming (CAGW). They were also told that if the youngsters would nót reverse what the selfish older generation has brought about, our planet will collapse soon. No time to lose, we are in the middle of a huge climate crisis!
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However, are these scaremongering messages true? Let us look at the facts first. Hard facts show that the climate system is one of the most complex sys¬ems humankind tries to understand. Look at the big picture of the climate system. At the top we see the Earth’s biggest natural heat source, the sun. Hindered by a complex cloud cover, the solar radiation heats the continents and the oceans. The second natural heat source consists of the volcanoes and heat-spots, heating the continents and the oceans, but now from below. Hence, our atmosphere is warmed up by two natural heat sources, from above and from below.
Note that oceans are our biggest natural reservoir of heat and CO2, and that they are the biggest natural producers of water vapor to the atmosphere. Note also that oceans and clouds are the principal natural heat regulators of the Earth’s atmosphere. The warming role of CO2 is a big issue in the climate debate. So far, we see that CO2-driven climate models are nót capable of predicting the future.
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Many Nobel Prizes will be award¬ed before we will celebrate that model predictions and reality appear in agreement. Keeping this in mind, how can teenagers claim that they already know the answer? Are politicians to blame? Are schoolteachers to blame? Anyway, something must be re-addressed urgently!
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But there is more. Hard facts also show that the youngster's parents and grandparents worked extremely hard to built-up a society with an impressive high standard of living. The young people may not realize the abundance of hardship of the older generations.
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In his book ‘factfullness’, Hans Rosling gives an overview of the impressive progress in housing, health care, education, world income, life expectation, etc. during the past 150 years.
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We may conclude that the young generation starts in an unprecedented favorable position to further raise the quality of life on our plan-et. The opportunities for them have never been as positive as today. Yes, with a lot of thanks to their hardworking parents and grandparents.
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Does this mean that the older generation has not made mistakes? Of course, they have made many wrong decisions, but that will undoubtedly happen to the new generation as well. Hopefully, the new genera¬tion will learn from the mistakes in the past and hopefully they will do better than ever before in the future. Such an ambitious intention is welcomed by all of us, old and young.
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Continuing in this positive spirit, I have a message for all young people who blame their parents and their grandparents for the 'emerging doom and gloom'. Don't behave like a parrot. Be critical against the many false prophets who try to misuse you, and try to turn you against your parents. The information these prophets tell you is one-sided and mislead¬ing. Please, deepen your climate knowledge! By doing so, you will find out that there is NO empirical evidence that points-at any climate cri¬sis. I repeat, there is NO evidence that indicates any climate emergency.
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Look at the rise of the temperature in the past 150 years. It is less than 1 degree Celsius. And look also at the rise of the sea level in that period. It is less than 3 mm per year. That is less than 30 cm in hundred years. So tell me, what is the problem? All this panic is generated by computer models, which already show for 30 years that their predictions are wrong. Current computer models are just not ready for climate policy. Far from it!
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And, above all, please don’t confuse global warming with environmental pollution! They are two entirely different issues. Global warming appears largely nature-driven and environmental pollution is largely human-driven. By the way, have schoolteachers ever told our children that CO2 is nót a pollutant, but it is an indispensable fertilizer for everything that lives on our planet? Without sufficient CO2 there is no life on planet Earth.
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I would like to end my special message with an advice to all youngsters:
Climate change exists and is of all times. But don’t worry, the current global warming period is gentle and only brought us prosperity: 'There is NO climate emergency'.
Threatening the living standards of new generations by destructive climate policies, yes, thát is the true climate emergency indeed.
Global warming is best taken care of by adaptation. In nature 'adaptation to change' has always been the best strategy to survive, whatever the cause of change is.
Environmental pollution can be and must be stopped by abandoning energy from biomass and coal, and by establishing a circular and clean economy. Creativity and innovation are required from the new generations.
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Finally, for all youngsters who were poisoned with fear for the future, forget about the false prophets of doom and gloom and consider climate adaptation and environmental stewardship as your mission in life.
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WE NEED YOU TO CHANGE THE CURRENT DESTRUCTIVE CLIMATE POLICIES!
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Professor Guus Berkhout
Professor Guus Berkhout held a chair in geophysical and acoustical imaging at the TU Delft, The Netherlands, from 1976 - 2008. During 1998 - 2001 he was a member of the University Board, being responsible for scientific research and intellectual property. In the past decades, he advised the Dutch government on the aircraft noise problems around Schiphol airport. In 2019 he co-founded the Climate Intelligence Foundation (CLINTEL).
Guus Berkhout has written several hundred peer reviewed scientific articles on seismic imaging of the geological layers in the Earth. In the early eighties he founded the science-industry consortium on geophysical imaging, DELPHI, which is now being financed by thirty international companies. In 2015 he started with the Dutch Research Organization TNO the Center for Global Socio-Economic Change (CFGSEC).
Professor Berkhout is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), senior member of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering (AcTI), honorary member of the American Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) as well as honorary member of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAEG). He is recipient of the Royal Decoration 'Officer in de orde van Oranje-Nassau’.
For more information, see www.aj-berkhout.com