THIS POST IS A TRANSCRIPT OF A TALK ON CLIMATE CHANGE BY JORDAN PETERSON DATED MAY 1 2020.

GRETA THUNBERG SPEECH: I SHOULDN’T BE UP HERE. I SHOULD BE BACK IN SCHOOL. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN. YET YOU ALL COME TO US YOUNG PEOPLE FOR HOPE. HOW DARE YOU? YOU HAVE STOLEN MY DREAMS, MY CHILDHOOD, WHICH ARE EMPTY WORDS AND YET I AM ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING. PEOPLE ARE DYING. ENTIRE ECO SYSTEMS ARE COLLAPSING. WE ARE IN THE BEGINNING OF A MASS EXTINCTION. AND ALL YOU CAN TALK ABOUT IS MONEY AND FAIRYTALES OF ETERNAL ECONOMIC GROWTH. HOW DARE YOU.

A QUESTION FOR JORDAN PETERSON: SO I WAS WONDERING WHETHER YOU THOUGHT THAT CLIMATE CHANGE COULD BE AN ISSUE THAT COULD UNITE US ALL ?????? MOVING US BEYOND DEBATE ABOUT C16??? TO DISCUSSIONS ABOUT UN CONFERNCE OF PARTIES NEXT MONTH WHERE PERHAPS WHERE HUMANITY MIGHT FINALLY DISCOVER ITS GLOBAL ??MATHS BELIEVING??

JORDAN PETERSON ANSWERS: NO.

JORDAN PETERSON EXPLAINS; I READ A LOT ON THIS SUBJECT AND LEARNED THAT THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE IS AN ABSOLUTELY CATASTROPHIC NIGHTMARISH MESS. THE IDEA THAT THIS WILL UNITE US IS NOT CREDIBLE. IT IS NOT GOING TO UNITE US. FIRST OF ALL IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE THE SCIENCE FROM THE POLITICS. SECONDLY, EVEN IF THESE RADICAL CLAIMS ARE TRUE, WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

AND THE WORST THING ABOUT THIS WHOLE MESS IS THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE FORECASTS THAT ARE ACKNOWLEDGED BUT IGNORED. AS YOU PROJECT OUT INTO THE FUTURE WITH YOUR CLIMATE CHANGE FORECASTS, WHICH ARE QUITE UNRELIABLE TO BEGIN WITH, THE UNRELIABILITY OF THE FORECAST MAGNIFIES AS YOU MOVE FORWARD IN TIME BECAUSE THE ERRORS ACCUMULATE. SO IF YOU GO OUT 50 YEARS THE ERROR AROUND THE PREOJECTIONS ARE ALREADY SO WIDE THAT WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RELATE THESE FORECASTS TO ANY CLIMATE ACTION WE TAKE NOW. SO HOW IN THE WORLD WILL YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM WHEN YOU CAN’T MEASURE THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE ACTIONS YOU TAKE TO SOLVE IT?

WHAT’S EVEN WORSE IS THE ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FUELS OFFERED TO US BY CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE IN THE FORM OF WIND AND SOLAR. THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE CAN’T STORE THE POWER AND THE INTERMITTENCY OF THE POWER GENERATED BY THESE TECHNOLOGIES IS WELL KNOWN AND ACKNOWLEDGED EVEN BY THEIR PROPONENTS. THEY TRIED IT IN GERMANY BUT THEIR EMISSIONS DIDN’T GO DOWN. THEY WENT UP BECAUSE THEY HAD TO FIRE UP THEIR COAL FIRED POWER PLANTS AGAIN. THE INTERMITTENCY OF RENEWABLE FORCED GERMANY TO USE COAL FIRED POWER AS A BACKUP AND THE PRICE OF ELECTRICITY SHOT UP.

CLIMATE CHANGE TELLS US TO STOP USING FOSSIL FUELS WITHOUT AN ALTERNATIVE AT THE SAME LEVEL IF RELIABILITY. SO AN ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT MADE IS THAT WE SHOULD CUT BACK ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND CHANGE OUR LIFESTYLE AND START CARING ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT. ON THE TOPIC OF CARING ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, THE DATA SHOW THAT ENVIRONMENTALISM IS A CREATION OF HIGH GDP SUCH THAT POOR PEOPLE CAN’T REALLY AFFORD TO BE ENVRONMENTALISTS. SO PERHAPS THE REAL OBJECTIVE HERE SHOULD BE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND FIGHTING POVERTY TO GET PEOPLE TO INCOME LEVELS WHERE THEY CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT. AS FOR GLOBAL WARMING, THERE IS NO SOLUTION ON THE HORIZON THAT MAKES SENSE IN THIS CONTEXT.

HERE PETERSON CITES BJORN LOMBORG WHO TOOK THE 200 UN MILLENNIAL GOALS AND HAD THEM ANALYZED BY TEAMS OF WELL KNOWN ECONOMISTS WHO RANK ORDERED THE MILLENNIAL GOALS IN TERMS OF RETURN ON INVESMENT ON THE STRATEGY TO BE USED IN MEETING THE GOALS. ADDRESSING GLOBAL WARMING DID NOT MAKE THE LIST OF STRATEGIES TO BE USED. WHAT THE STRATEGY BOILED DOWN TO THIS: IMPROVING CHILD NUTRITION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TURNED OUT TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ADDRESSING GLOBAL WARMING. THIS WAS NOT A CASE WHERE GLOBAL WARMING UNITED US. GLOBAL WARMING DOES NOT UNITE US. IT SEPARATES US.