"The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction.” - Bertrand Russell 10/10/21

Published at theartofweather.net

Wednesday June 7th, 2023

There’s just too much going on not to talk about it. To quote Jack Klompus from Seinfeld “I’m sorry. I’m sitting here, the whole meeting, holding my tongue. I’ve known you a long time Morty, but I cannot hold it in any longer.”

I’m referring to the current situation of the Canadian wildfires and the resulting and persistent smoke issues down here in the United States. Under normal conditions a large very slow-moving storm rotating counterclockwise in the Canadian Maritimes would be circulating cool, dry, clean Canadian air into the New England. There is such a storm present in that location now. But with all these fires in Quebec Province the storm that is situated in the Maritimes is doing the opposite! The smoke from the fires is whirling around the storm and blowing into portions of New England.

Of course, predicably the media outlets are blaming climate change for the fires. But wildfires have always been part of nature’s balance between too much forest and too little. The “culling of the herd”, in this case old or weak trees, has historically been in part accomplished with what are called wildfires.

One of the most spectacular examples of this phenomena occurred on May 19th, 1780 during the revolutionary war. General George Washington noted in his diary that on that day darkness enveloped the sky. It was so dark during the morning that candles were lit to see their way about. People left their jobs and school children were sent home. Some prayed while others cried or went to taverns. Washington noted that the darkness varied and that the sun came out in the afternoon perhaps indicating that it was entirely hidden by the smoke in the morning.

Research indicates that the fires that caused the darkness were in the Algonquin Highlands of Ontario Canada. The meteorological conditions that brought the dense cloud of smoke to the region in 1780 is unknown but likely similar to what is happening now.

Today there are wildfires around the world every day just as there have been for millions of years. But today we have a new culprit of combustion that is not related to the doings of nature. I’m speaking of eco-terrorists. Nobody in the media seems to want to even suggest the idea that at least some of the current wildfires are the result of eco-terrorists. It’s not a far-fetched idea based on what’s been gong on around the world these days.

For instance, there’s the group “Just stop Oil” that’s made news with their adolescent, attention grabbing stunts of despoiling priceless works of art around the world. The group known as “Extinction Rebellion” and their antics such as holding protests in roadways to block traffic to call attention to their believe that climate change is going to end the world as we know it.

Another ultra-fringe climate change gang of bizarre individuals that calls themselves “Tyre Extinguishers” has claimed responsibility for deflating 100 sport utility vehicles in Copenhagen yesterday. They claim they are “defending themselves from climate change, air pollution and unsafe drivers. Gee, I guess climate change is so bad now that it causes unsafe drivers! They claim to have destroyed tires of people that own SUV’s in multiple countries. People have tried to reason with them but the negotiations fell flat!

The people that populate these extremist groups are, in my opinion hopeless malcontents. If it wasn’t climate change that they are fighting to stop, they would find some other cause to bring about their delusional mayhem.

Then we have the case of Audrey Elaine Dunham of Glendon Alberta. In court on February 15th, 2022 she was convicted on four counts of mischief against property in connection with multiple arson fires in the Bonnyville area of Alberta Canada. She actually admitted to setting 32 fires at the hearing! Apparently she was quite proud of her destruction. She was sentenced to 9 months in jail but amazingly she served no jail time.

Can I prove that at least some of these current fires have been deliberately set by eco-terrorists? No, not until someone claims responsibility or is arrested but it seems plausible to me.

Why would someone want to destroy forests that they claim they are trying to save? At least part of the answer is that by starting the fires and then blaming the cause on climate change they get the news coverage they couldn’t get any other way. The news media actually does the work for them since they are obsessed with climate change causing everything! Today every natural disaster they report about is now the result of climate change.

As a side note I saw yet another of the seemingly endless stories about sea ice loss in the Arctic. This story from the thedailybeast.com reports that another computer model study forecasts that after the year 2030 there will be no sea ice in the Arctic Ocean by the end of the summer.

Of course, one has to only go back to 2007 when there were similar predictions warning that by 2022 summer sea ice would be long gone from the Arctic. Another in the long line of climate change forecasts fails. Actually, sea ice data from the Danish Meteorological Institute reveals that as of today the amount of Arctic sea ice is within 75 percent of the 1981 to 2010 average for this time of year. Where are you going to see that in the news? Nowhere!