On September 10, California’s perennially leftist governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 100 into law, which mandates that 100 percent of total retail sales of electricity in California must come from “eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources” by December 31, 2045.
The regulations will be put into effect incrementally, states the legislation, which calls for generating 33 percent of total retail sales of electricity in California from eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2020, 50 percent by December 31, 2026, and 60 percent by December 31, 2030 — before going to 100 percent by the end of 2045.
The Sacramento Bee observed in a report that opponents of SB 100 argued that the measure would not make a substantial difference to global emissions as the planet continues to warm, while harming workers in fossil-fuel industries and raising electricity prices for consumers.
However, that report failed to reflect the view of the large number of climate scientists who have provided evidence that climate change is a natural phenomenon that is unrelated to manmade activities such as carbon emissions. The world’s climate has always changed, sometimes getting warmer and other times colder.
An article by Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D. and Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., published in August by Heartland.org made some important points:
Climate change is not a hoax. In fact, the climate is constantly changing, and it has for decades, centuries and even millennia….
However, there are significant questions concerning the extent to which the use of fossil fuels are contributing to current climate change and, just as importantly, whether climate change threatens human civilization or the environment.
Indeed, the 20th century’s modest temperature rise was well within historic natural temperature variations, and alarmist climate models — which attribute that rise to humans’ greenhouse gas emissions — cannot account for the fact nearly half the global temperature increase occurred before 1940, before fossil fuel use began adding substantial amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The New American has published dozens of articles in recent years citing evidence presented by climate realists showing that climate change is a natural phenomenon, not the result of anthropogenic (man-made) activity. Leftist politicians such as Jerry Brown and Al Gore have long proposed radical political “solutions” to a non-existent problem.
As well, with California doing away with its nuclear power plants — and the fact that dams for hydroelectricty are unpopular with California’s environmentalists — where is the electricity going to come from? Both solar power and wind power are variable electricity sources that need to be backed up by conventional power plants for times when it’s dark or the wind doesn’t blow (or blows too hard, ironically), and so they are not viable electricity sources for a modern industrial society. And the energy they do provide comes at a high cost. (The countries with the highest percent wind and solar — Germany and Denmark — have the highest electricity costs.)
Related articles:
Jerry Brown Blames Wildfires on Climate Change, Bashes Trump for Withdrawing From Paris Accord
California Wildfires Fuel Globalist Agenda
Calif. Governor Jerry Brown Vows to Resist Trump Climate Policies
What on Earth Is Happening to Our Temperature?
John Coleman Interview with The New American
Coalitions For and Against CO2
Climate Alarmists Have Been Wrong About Virtually Everything
Climate-change Report: Record Global COOLING Over Last Eight Months
