By John Whitmore Jenkins

Beginning around 1760 at the end of the Little Ice Age, the Earth’s temperatures began increasing which has continued to the present. A century after this warming cycle began, the Industrial Revolution began generating energy by burning fossil fuels which emitted increasing levels of CO2 into the atmosphere. Some scientists and others attributed these CO2 emissions as the primary factor driving the increases in the Earth’s temperatures by 0.8 degrees Centigrade (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) between 1900 and 2022.

Furthermore, major concern has arisen that the Earth’s rising temperatures pose an existential threat to our civilization. To mitigate these concerns, the U.S. government and others have initiated policies they hope to reduce the Earth’s CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. They have set a target of holding the Earth’s future temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Centigrade or less.

Our modern civilization has been built upon the energy provided by fossil fuels to provide most of our electrical energy and most of the fuels used in all modes of transportation. Therefore, to make such dramatic changes in our basic energy systems, the premises upon which the changes are proposed must be valid.

The foundation of these premises is that increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere are the primary driver for the Earth’s current warming period. Second, wind and solar are suitable replacements for fossil fuel electrical generation. Third, these temperature increases caused by increased CO2 in the atmosphere are an existential threat to our civilization. These pages will address each of these basic issues.

Read John Jenkins’ publication The Earth After Net Zero 50 here

John Whitmore Jenkins has spent the last 59 years in business on the cutting edge of the most dramatic changes in our history. After graduating with an engineering degree from Texas A&M University, he served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force with the Strategic Air Command, America’s first line of defense during the Cold War against Soviet ambitions. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and joined International Business Machines just as the company introduced computers into the world of business. He spent the last 34 years in an industry entangled with China’s rise as a major challenger to America’s leadership in the free world. He is a Member of the CO2 Coalition by invitation.