Climate change, or just Mother Nature?

Though books, as well as thousands of articles have been written on "climate change," or "global warming," I'd just like to touch on some things that might be helpful in seeing the forest from the trees.

So here goes...

Frist, when I lived in California back in the decade of the 70's to the 80's, I witnessed first-hand "climate change," especially during a California "winter," mainly along the coast, and then up in the local mountains just east of Chula Vista (beautiful view), a suburb of San Diego.

What the natives call El Nino hit big time in the late 70's causing a very wet winter, with temperatures so cold in the San Diego area, that heavy rain was mixed with sleet!  Not only that, but after one major storm, there was over four feet of snow in the local mountains.  I know this to be a fact, as I used to travel to the mountains for the scenery and to gather pine cones of various sizes for my collection.   But after that particular storm, and after I reached the entrance to an area off the freeway, about 4,000 feet in elevation, I was turned back because I didn't have snow tires and chains.

There were storms galore during that period of time.

I remember the flood control channels in the Los Angeles area were right up to the brim, with some cars caught in the rampage, along with people swept away in the rushing waters that drained from the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, all the way to the sea.

Second, when La Nina occurred, just the opposite happened; it was drier, and, in fact, some drought conditions lasted for quite some time, as it is now, though things have eased up somewhat, but not enough to quench the numerous fires in the northern part of the state.

These cycles were common, and scientifically proven over the years.  But back in those days, I had never heard of "climate change," or "global warming."

Third, what I did hear about was that scientists were claiming the earth was in the midst of "global cooling," and about to enter another ice age.  This was in the 1970s.

What happened with that??

When did global cooling morph into global warming?

I suspect that there's an agenda here.

Right now, there is a trial going on in San Francisco, where the global warming folks are suing five of the major oil companies for damages to the environment.  Well, it turns out that we are seeing self-hating CEOs of those various companies attempting to cow-tow to the environmentalists in an effort to maintain an image of being friendly to mother earth.  Perhaps.

But even if the climate change, global warming folks win this suit, what do they think they'll accomplish?  Can it be they think that all fossil fuels will be outlawed at some point?  And if that happens, what will replace the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear energy that generates the overwhelming majority of the electrical power that is produced world-wide?   Isn't it interesting how we take for granted when we flip on the light switch, that magical element known as electricity, will take us from darkness to light, and we'll be able to read our favorite book?

Solar?  Wind?  Hydro electric generation?  In time, maybe.

But for the foreseeable future the most reliable sources are the "big four": oil, gas, coal and nuclear.

Climate change, or just Mother Nature.

Gene DeLalla