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Opinion: Energy expo scorns science

Robyn Parker
LIBERAL LOGIC
Free Press Opinion Columnist

The Energy Forum and Expo, happening in Grand Junction on Feb. 27, promises to provide a time-travel adventure for history buffs. There won’t be any dinosaurs, but visitors will be treated to the wisdom of a keynote speaker with ideas from a time before science.

Not to be confused with George Zimmer from the old Men’s Wearhouse commercials, John Casey boasts that with a master’s degree in “management,” he is the face, founder, president, and/or CEO of not one, but three companies, including Space and Science Research Corporation, Global Cooling Awareness Project, and International Earthquake and Volcano Prediction Center. He touts on his website the time in 2013 when the Tea Party group, http://www.watchdog.org, called him “America’s best climate prediction expert.”

Renowned among climate-change conspiracy theorists, Casey argues that climate change was fabricated by Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in an effort to squash Great Britain’s coal miners’ union. Through many twists and turns from there, he concludes that all efforts to conserve resources are part of a socialist ploy to create a one-world government.



The title of his presentation, “The Earth: Its Current and Future Climate” suggests Casey will be promoting his book at the Energy Forum. In his 184-page claim to fame, “Cold Sun,” Casey purports that climate change is a hoax and “solar hibernation” is the real truth.

Math and science demonstrate that average global temperatures on Earth have increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, with two-thirds of the warming occurring since 1975. Real NASA scientists explain how climate change increases temperatures, drought, insects, and wildfires while decreasing water supplies and crop yields.



Casey, however, argues that in recent years, the sun has entered a state of hibernation, resulting in a miniature ice age. Apparently, the sun is like a bear, except the sun only hibernates every 200 years. Casey predicts that humanity is about to be decimated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, freezing temperatures, crop failures, and starvation.

In the real world, a friend of mine just returned from the San Diego coast where she witnessed starving baby sea lions washing ashore. The sardines and squid they usually eat have moved to deeper, cooler waters where young seals cannot yet swim. Wildlife rescue organizations are no longer able to help all the animals in need as their facilities are filled to capacity with the 1,000 pups they’ve rescued since January.

A few weeks before that, my son shared a photo from a January hiking trip in which his buddies were wearing sandals and shorts in the mountains of Colorado’s Front Range. Then, just the other day, he mentioned seeing butterflies flying above a foot of snow in Boulder.

In my own backyard, tulips are popping up and flocks of robins are gobbling up newly hatched insects. The warming soil feels good on bare feet and was soft enough to rototill weeks ago.

“The gradual changing in the length of the seasons, as demonstrated by earlier flowering of plants, etc., thought by many to be caused by climate change” has become such a real thing that it’s called “season creep” in the dictionary. With season creep, perfectly balanced ecosystems, which have developed over thousands and millions of years, are changing too rapidly. It’s becoming common for baby animals to starve because the insects, which have nourished them for centuries, hatched too early. Changes are visible all around us.

It’s no surprise that cronies of the fossil fuel and nuclear industries like Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, and Club Twenty would sponsor an event featuring the likes of John Casey. They profit when we heat our homes and businesses enough to wear flip-flops in winter, not when we preserve resources for future generations.

It’s the other three event sponsors that I question. John McConnell Math and Science Center, Colorado Mesa University, and Colorado Mountain College are all publicly funded organizations entrusted with the education of our young people. Shame on them for polluting developing minds with drivel like Casey’s.

Our young people deserve better. Let’s stop spreading lies, and let’s put science back in education.

A fourth generation Coloradan, Free Press columnist Robyn Parker is the former host of the progressive community radio show, Grand Valley Live. She is a stay-at-home mom, active community volunteer and board member for local environmental and social justice organizations. Robyn may be reached at gjrobyn@gmail.com.


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