COMMENTARY | An Australian group calling itself the Climate Institute has issued a report suggesting that climate change, i.e. global warming, is causing an uptick in mental anxiety and even mental illness. Bjorn Lomborg is skeptical, according to the Daily Caller.
Lomborg, the author of “The Skeptical Environmentalists,” points out that the incidence of extreme weather events in Australia, such as hurricanes and brush fires, has actually declined. Even if more heat waves cause more mental problems, fewer “cold waves” would cause fewer mental problems, thus balancing things out.
Actually, there is an anecdotal link between not so much actual global warming as there is to belief to global warming and madness. This can manifest itself in quiet ways, such as the publication of scientific papers that suggest, among other things, an alien invasion sparked by global warming. Or it can manifest itself in less quiet ways, such as when a certain former vice president launches into an obscenity-laced rant on global warming skeptics.
Mind, any kind of weather can be stressful, as your humble correspondent can attest. Texas is in the midst of a heat wave, which has caused stress not only on the body but also the electricity bill. Hurricane Ike was stressful. Being caught out in the rain without an umbrella is stressful. Having experienced all of these things, one does sometimes wonder if it is not time to be fitted for a rubber room.
All kidding aside, to be alive is to be often under stress. Anxiety and high blood pressure are signs that one is alive, not reasons to argue for a wrenching change in public policy. Believe me, if global warming hysterics actually get enough power to take away air conditioners and tell them they can’t drive anymore, a spike in mental illness will be the least of worries.
One can stave off a mental breakdown reports like those of the Climate Institute might cause by maintaining a sense of humor about such things as well as a healthy skepticism about the pronouncements of groups with agendas. There are so many more important things to worry about besides the weather, after all.
Sources: Report links global warming with mental illness; ‘skeptical environmentalist’ scoffs, Matthew Boyle, The Dail Caller, August 31, 2011
Alien ‘First Contact’ Paper Tainted by Media Misreporting, Mark R. Whittington, Yahoo News, August 19, 2011
Al Gore Climate Change Rant Reveals Anger of Failed Environmental Prophet, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, August 9, 2011