Decades of ‘consensus‘ around so-called climate catastrophe are now running into new economic, technological, and geopolitical realities.
Mix in AI and its unprecedented demand for large-scale electricity generation, and we have a global climate conversation that demands to be reckoned with.
Victor Davis Hanson breaks down how the foundations of decades of “green orthodoxy” are shifting:
For decades, the narrative demanded radical economic shifts from fossil fuels to renewables like wind and solar, but recent skepticism is growing due to inconsistencies in temperature records and cyclical changes; Hanson notes, “I didn’t think in my lifetime that I would see an end to that dominance, even though there were inconsistencies.”
Artificial intelligence requires unprecedented electricity, far beyond what wind and solar can provide, necessitating 100 gigawatt plants annually equivalent to nuclear or fossil fuels; as Hanson cites Sam Altman, “we’re going to have to build 100 [one gigawatt plants] per year or the equivalent of clean coal or natural gas.”
Figures like Sweden’s King Gustaf XVI and Bill Gates have publicly questioned the crisis, while Trump’s energy policies end subsidies for failed green projects like California’s high-speed rail; Hanson highlights Gates’ recent pivot, “he no longer believes that there is an impending climate change crisis.”
Elite hypocrisy is everywhere as Hanson notes “the people who have been the avatars of climate change, never suffer the consequences of their own ideology.“
“Barack Obama said the planet would be inundated pretty soon, if we didn’t address global climate change. Why would he buy a seaside estate at Martha’s Vineyard or one on the beach of Hawaii if he really did believe that the oceans would rise and flood his multimillion-dollar investment?
“The inconsistency of the global warming narrative, the self-interest in the people who promote it, and the logic that they have not presented, empirically, any evidence that would convince us that we have to radically transform our economies,” leaves Hanson questioning whether AI’s demand shift has permanently crushed the ideology of so-called ‘climate change.’
(0:00) Introduction
(0:58) Shifting Perspectives on Climate Change
(2:28) Global Skepticism
(5:12) Geopolitical Factors
(6:16) Third World Demands
(8:30) Hypocrisy Among Climate Change Advocates
(9:49) Conclusion
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