Warm wishes

As the wind starts stinging my ears and nose this time each year, I start wishing global warming was more than a ploy of liberal politicians to raise taxes and restrict freedom or a cause du jour of busybodies trying to add meaning to their lives by meddling with mine.

Fortunately the price of gasoline has dropped substantially, so that as I keep my SUV idling as often as possible, doing my small part to increase the greenhouse effect, I don’t have to spend too much money.

Of course, I don’t really sit in my SUV – a Jeep Grand Cherokee named Bluey, for those with inquiring minds – waiting around for global warming. But I probably would if I actually thought it would crank up the planet’s thermostat a few degrees. I don’t like to be cold.

On particularly chilly days, I wonder if Al Gore might be in town. Have you noticed the way global warming doomsayers so often manage to have their rallies and speeches in stunningly frigid weather? Just Google “the Gore effect.” I’m even thinking of inviting Gore to my family’s holiday celebrations. As much as I hate cold weather, who doesn’t love a white Christmas? But given that the Gore mansion uses more than 20 times the energy consumption of an average American home, I’m sure the party’s better at his place.

But even though Gore and other climate cultists seem to have a knack for attracting record-breaking cold weather at each event that doesn’t occur in the middle of July, I don’t believe that my activities (or yours) have any significant impact on the world’s climate patterns. This is largely thanks to a challenge I received from Michael Crichton, a great American author who died earlier this month, to think for myself.

I’ll always remember him as the man who terrified me as a third-grader when I watched “Jurassic Park” on the big screen and the one who first inspired me to investigate the science behind global warming.

One of Crichton’s books, “State of Fear,” wonderfully questions the assumptions and thoughtless talking points of environmentalists in an entertaining way. Whenever I reference “State of Fear,” there are invariably protests that Crichton was merely a “science fiction” author. While this is true, “State of Fear” is well-documented with many footnotes to more credible (and more boring) sources, not that the facts are of any concern to the most devoted environmentalists.

In Crichton’s 2003 speech “Environmentalism as Religion,” he said,

“ ... I can cite the appropriate journal articles not in whacko magazines, but in the most prestigious science journals ... But such references probably won’t impact more than a handful of you, because the beliefs of a religion are not dependent on facts, but rather are matters of faith. Unshakable belief.”

If you’re bored and looking for something to read this winter break, I’d suggest “State of Fear.” It’s a great read, and regardless of where you come down on the issue, hopefully it will at least challenge you not to blindly accept all the hype and to find the truth for yourself.