The Climate Change Agenda as A Campaign Issue in 2024

It’s about time that we had a good shoot the shit, especially with a major election just down the road. If you’ve never participated in a shoot the shit, it’s a social interaction during which any topic can be discussed. Participants don’t need to know anything about the topic being discussed, they are free to make unsupported comments, use uncensored profanity, insult anyone they wish or altogether change the subject. A good shoot the shit will save you from paying over $150 per hour to a jackass who majored in psychology so they could understand themselves.

This shoot the shit will focus on climate change. Unfortunately, suggestions are being made by politicians, climate activists and inept opportunists that moving the country completely away from fossil fuels will immediately halt climate change.

Transforming the country’s energy profile is both desirable and a big deal. It should not be approached by implementing rules or mandates derived via anal extraction. It requires a well-developed plan that is methodically executed. Unfortunately, too many of our politicians, who wouldn’t know a carbon atom from a donut, have convinced the ignorant and gullible that our planet is in danger of extinction. The consequences have been climate related suicides, vandalism and veritable cornucopia of misinformation. So, in this shoot the shit I present some ideas that will enlighten you, because ladies and gentlemen we need to get this right. Keep in mind that it does not take an intellectual giant to understand that you cannot replace an energy source producing power 24 hrs. per day, seven days per week, with solar panels and windmills.

Here is what you should know:

Even if the U.S. entirely stopped using fossil fuels, completely reversing climate change would be a very long process, likely taking centuries. Here is why:

• Lingering CO2: The carbon dioxide already emitted takes a long time to be naturally removed from the atmosphere. Estimates range from hundreds to thousands of years.

• Ocean Heat Storage: The oceans absorb a significant amount of heat. Even without additional warming, it would take decades for this heat to transfer back out to space and stabilize temperatures (2, 3).

However, shutting down fossil fuels would still have a positive impact:

• Temperature Stabilization: Global temperatures would stop rising within a few decades (2)

• Gradual Cooling: Once emissions stop, natural processes would slowly begin to remove CO2, leading to a gradual decline in temperatures over a prolonged period (3).

The key takeaway is that stopping fossil fuels is crucial to prevent further warming, but it is a long-term solution for reversing the effects we have already seen.

Here are some resources for further reading:

• Can we slow or even reverse global warming? | NOAA Climate.gov: (3)

• How long will it take temperatures to stop rising, or return to ‘normal,’ if we stop emitting greenhouse gases? | MIT Climate Portal:(2).

Succinctly, the impact to climate change in the absence of fossil fuels across the spectrum is a lengthy process. Our focus needs to be on an organized and methodical energy transition plan not whimsical implementation of strategies that will have deleterious consequences on economies as well as more broadly mankind’s quality of life.