Prediction of Climate Catastrophe Loses Some of Its Strongest Advocates

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has just released an interesting note on how he views the dangers of climate change. In a new blog post, he disagrees with those who say nothing matters more than limiting the rise in temperature. Gates says this view is wrong. He still says we should reduce emissions, but says the doomsday outlook is causing much of the climate community to focus too much on near-term emissions goals. And that's diverting resources from the things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world. With us now is Kevin Stockland, reporter with the Epoch Times, who's been following this story. Kevin, you say that Gates's post appears to mark a significant shift in in the debate over climate change. Why? >> Oh, hello Stephania. Um, it is a radical departure in some ways. So uh up until now the narrative has really been that climate was a a ticking time bomb and that we had a very limited amount of time before the results were going to be catastrophic. And this was the message not only coming from Bill Gates but from UN Secretary General Antonio Gutirez from Al Gore there was talk of climate catastrophe and oceans boiling and famine and wars etc. Uh and now Bill Gates is coming out and he's not the only one. Uh and saying, "Well, temperatures will rise. That's a fact. But um it's not the catastrophe that we thought it was going to be or that we said it was going to be and so we should focus on other things to promote human welfare." >> Now, the blog post is written as a message to the UN climate change conference in Brazil. It seems significant that it's not only aimed at the UN but at a climate change UN climate change conference. >> Uh yes, absolutely. So he's he's not only talking to the public, he's talking to uh a lot of the advocates for climate change policy. So it will be very interesting to see how this resonates in Brazil in November. >> And how's the reaction been to Gates post so far? >> You know, somewhat predictably. uh the the uh climate advocates, climate uh activists are not pleased. I think they they still want to press that this is a pending catastrophe. But I think a lot of the people um uh critics of the climate change narrative are are happy to see this this admission. Uh you know, so much of the predictions are based on climate models. They're not based on actual observations. And even the UN uh intergovernmental panel for climate change which is considered by some the the gold standard for climate science has not found detectable uh trends for increase in extreme weather. So the science as it were uh isn't really supporting this narrative that catastrophe is impending. uh it's really been more um the the politicians who who have taken that tack >> and the Trump administration's policy on climate change is in stark contrast to the previous administration. In your article on the Epoch Times, you note how a recent energy department report poured cold water on some of the more dire climate change predictions. What were your key takeaways from that report? >> Yes. So, uh, what the Department of Energy report said, and this was produced by, uh, a a diverse group of scientists, uh, so echoing actually preceding what Bill Gates has said, uh, that the the, uh, catastrophe from climate change is is overstated, um, and that our previous policies to end fossil fuels and and focus on investment in wind and solar were misdirected for a couple of reasons. uh one that um it's really not making enough difference in um CO2 levels. China by far is the number one producer of greenhouse gas emissions. India is is also up there and growing very rapidly. Um and it's driven up uh energy prices for Americans. The the parts of the world that are really leading the charge on uh eliminating fossil fuels are Europe. Uh and they are now seeing some of the highest energy costs in the world. Many of the blue states in the United States are seeing the same thing. And so a lot of this report is saying that America needs abundant and affordable energy and that wind and solar uh is just not going to get us there. >> And is the Trump administration's position likely impacting the overall climate change discussion or narrative? >> It's it's very interesting to to ask that whether uh he's changing the narrative or whether the public uh has come to the same conclusion. Um I I think he definitely has opened the the floodgates for a lot of scientists now to voice their opinions where previously they might have been censored in social media um by tech companies or or in the mainstream media. So I think a lot of scientists now feel free to to speak out uh in criticism of of the climate narrative. But I think a lot of people are also struggling to afford uh energy to pay their electricity bills. And um so for this reason I I think there was a lot of public frustration that was out there even before the uh Trump administration and this DOE report. >> Now circling back to Gates is he expected to step back from climate change advocacy now? >> Um well so as you mentioned this report is is not saying that climate change isn't real and it's not a major issue. He he continues to maintain that. Um what he's just saying is that we need to shift our focus towards helping the poorest people who will be disproportionately uh affected by climate change. So we need to focus on health and welfare and uh you know the fact is uh oil and gas and their derivatives are responsible for feeding the world and and uh the world depends on affordable energy for for its prosperity and for its health. So it it I think Bill Gates is still very interested in in playing kind of a controlling role in in global policy, but I think he's shifting his focus from ending fossil fuels towards what he calls increasing health and prosperity. >> Well, it's been great to speak with you about this, Kevin Stocklin. Thank you so much. >> Thank you.