{"id":1374380,"date":"2022-03-13T14:45:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T18:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1374380"},"modified":"2022-03-13T14:45:54","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T18:45:54","slug":"the-atlantic-ridiculed-for-warning-nuclear-war-would-wreck-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-atlantic-ridiculed-for-warning-nuclear-war-would-wreck-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Atlantic Ridiculed for Warning Nuclear War Would \u2018Wreck\u2019 Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-atlantic-ridiculed-for-warning-nuclear-war-would-wreck-climate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1374380&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>A nuclear war would be disastrous for the earth\u2019s climate, according to a recent piece in <\/span><span>the<\/span><i><span> Atlantic<\/span><\/i><span> that drew harsh criticism for its focus on the harms posed to the environment by a potential nuclear exchange resulting from the current conflict in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Wednesday <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2022\/03\/nuclear-war-would-ravage-the-planets-climate\/627005\/\"><span>essay<\/span><\/a><span>, titled \u201cOn Top of Everything Else, Nuclear War Would Be a Climate Problem,\u201d was penned by <\/span><i><span>Atlantic <\/span><\/i><span>staff writer Robinson Meyer and began by noting climate change is often associated with energy policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen we talk about what causes climate change, we usually talk about oil and gas, coal and cars, and\u2014just generally\u2014energy policy. There\u2019s a good reason for this,\u201d he wrote, adding the \u201cmore fossil fuels you burn, the worse climate change gets.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A nuclear war would kill tens of millions of people\u2014and would also prove disastrous for climate change, writes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/robinsonmeyer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@robinsonmeyer<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dd8HAgGclc\">https:\/\/t.co\/dd8HAgGclc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAtlantic\/status\/1502756345509994498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Consequently, Meyer explains he spent much time \u201ccovering the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to weaken the country\u2019s fuel-economy standards.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cIt was an awful policy, one that would have led to more oil consumption for decades to come,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIf pressed, I would have said that it had a single-digit-percentage chance of creating an uninhabitable climate system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>However, the author says, energy is not the sole domain that \u201chas a direct bearing on whether we have a livable climate or not,\u201d but \u201cforeign policy\u2014specifically, nuclear war\u201d does too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSince Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks ago, that threat has become a lot more real,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He then warned of imposing a \u201cno-fly zone\u201d over Ukraine, claiming it would lead to an open war between the U.S. and Russia, with a likely chance of a nuclear exchange that would ultimately prove disastrous for the climate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAnd it would be worse for the climate than any energy policy that Donald Trump ever proposed,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cIf you are worried about rapid, catastrophic changes to the planet\u2019s climate, then you must be worried about nuclear war,\u201d he added. \u201cThat is because, on top of killing tens of millions of people, even a relatively \u2018minor\u2019 exchange of nuclear weapons would wreck the planet\u2019s climate in enormous and long-lasting ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Meyer, who is also the cofounder of the magazine\u2019s COVID Tracking Project, calls on readers to imagine the detonation of a megaton nuke that would \u201csear and blister\u201d the flesh of those within several miles of the blast.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span>A detonation of a bomb that size would, within about a four-mile radius, produce winds equal to those in a Category 5 hurricane, immediately flattening buildings, knocking down power lines, and triggering gas leaks. Anyone within seven miles of the detonation would suffer third-degree burns, the kind that sear and blister flesh. These conditions\u2014and note that I have left out the organ-destroying effects of radiation\u2014would rapidly turn an eight-mile blast radius into a zone of total human misery.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Only at that moment, however, would the \u201cclimate consequences truly begin,\u201d he claimed, as he warned of large wildfires.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Citing a 2007 study that estimated if a hundred small nuclear weapons were detonated, direct fatalities due to smoke and fire would be \u201ccomparable to those worldwide in World War II,\u201d the author warned clouds would carry large amounts of resulting soot and ash high into the atmosphere:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>All this carbon would transform the climate, shielding it from the sun\u2019s heat. Within months, the planet\u2019s average temperature would fall by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit; some amount of this cooling would persist for more than a decade. But far from reversing climate change, this cooling would be destabilizing. It would reduce global precipitation by about 10 percent, inducing global drought conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>According to Meyer, the growing season in parts of North America and Europe would be shortened by up to 20 days which would \u201cprompt a global food crisis the world hasn\u2019t seen in modern times.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_20063538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/03\/GettyImages-82102847-e1646154867305.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A combine harvests rye. (Sean Gallup\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>In a larger conflict, he wrote, \u201cthe oceans would become less bountiful; the photosynthesizing plankton that form the basis of the marine food chain would become 5 to 15 percent less productive,\u201d and in the case of a U.S.-Russia war, \u201cfishers worldwide would see their catches decline by nearly 30 percent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19799162\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/02\/wi\/ap\/08\/fishing-monitors-ruth-pat-herring-seine-boat-motors-of-fog-friday-july-27-2018-coast-of-south-port.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-19799162 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/fishing-monitors-ruth-pat-herring-seine-boat-motors-of-fog-friday-july-27-2018-coast-of-south-port-1024x697-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Associated Press\" width=\"1024\" height=\"697\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A herring boat off the coast of South Portland, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Though the planet would get cooler, the resulting nuclear winter \u201cwould not reverse the effect of what we might morbidly call \u2018traditional\u2019 human-caused climate change,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He also expressed concern over a declining of \u201cocean acidification\u201d and the destruction of a good portion of the ozone layer in the wake of such a conflict.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe layer of smoke in the atmosphere would destroy as much as 75 percent of the ozone layer,\u201d he wrote, which would harm humans through entering ultraviolet (UV) radiation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Not only humans would be affected, he added, but higher UV rates would endanger \u201cplants and animals otherwise untouched by the global carnage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Admitting that people \u201cdon\u2019t tend to think of nuclear war as a climate problem\u201d nowadays, Meyer claimed that concerns over such dangers \u201cwere part of how modern climate change achieved political prominence in the first place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He also warned that aside from any direct effects of the bombs, the \u201cfull effect\u201d of such detonations could be worse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf several years of gasoline- and diesel-fueled conventional military operations followed the global destruction, then the permanent consequences for the climate system would be even worse,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Such would also be the case if, following the event, society attempted to rebuild \u201cby undertaking a fossil-powered reconstruction,\u201d which the author admits is highly likely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe ruins of our postwar society would be poorer, and fossil reserves are the easiest energy sources to locate,\u201d he explained. \u201cRenewables, wind turbines, and other decarbonization technology, meanwhile, require secure factories, highly educated engineers, and complicated global networks of trade and exchange.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Noting that all those things depend on a peaceful atmosphere, Meyers concluded, \u201cSolving climate change is a luxury of a planet at peace with itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In response, many took to Twitter to ridicule the essay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe Atlantic is going to put my @TheBabylonBee writers out of a job pretty quick here,\u201d wrote Babylon Bee editor-in-chief Kyle Mann. \u201cWe just can\u2019t compete with satire this good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Atlantic is going to put my <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheBabylonBee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheBabylonBee<\/a> writers out of a job pretty quick here. We just can&#8217;t compete with satire this good. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cWG39SdxAr\">pic.twitter.com\/cWG39SdxAr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/The_Kyle_Mann\/status\/1502770021793087488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 12, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThe elitist Left has gone truly insane,\u201d wrote radio host Buck Sexton. \u201cThat\u2019s not hyperbole, it\u2019s an observation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The elitist Left has gone truly insane. That\u2019s not hyperbole, it\u2019s an observation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IiSnf1aXHw\">https:\/\/t.co\/IiSnf1aXHw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuckSexton\/status\/1502984167038103559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cOf course a nuclear war would kill tens of millions but it never occurred to me that it wouldn\u2019t be so good for the climate,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Joelmpetlin\/status\/1502808873710804993?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> media contributor Joel M. Petlin. \u201cBrilliant!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMaybe we should try to avoid a nuclear war, just like the @TheAtlantic should avoid publishing silly articles,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEnvironmentalism is petty bourgeois radicalism,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/westerspace\/status\/1502794234746720262?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> actor Travis Wester.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt will also be a major step back in addressing trans rights and heteronormative white supremacy,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LozzaFox\/status\/1502953186939879424?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> Reclaim party leader Laurence Fox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cNext from the Atlantic: \u2018A nuclear war wipes out all life on planet earth, women and people of color hurt the most,\u2019\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanGirdusky\/status\/1502909509764845568?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> political consultant Ryan James Girdusky.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe truly live in the dumbest period of human history,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_ChrisCurtis\/status\/1502971595865874436?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> Chris Curtis, head of political polling at Opinium Research.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIs this seriously the only way that you think you can get your readership to care about the deaths of tens of millions of people?\u201d a Twitter user <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ElminsterD\/status\/1502772463238729730?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>asked<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOk NOW I\u2019m convinced nuclear war is bad,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NotaBot_Rollout\/status\/1502757261634068480?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>quipped<\/span><\/a><span> another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019d kill tens of millions of people but \u2013 far more importantly \u2013 it\u2019d be disastrous for climate change!!!!\u201d another <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sozzinski\/status\/1502980278117142531?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> sarcastically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf you write a headline and it sounds like one from The Babylon Bee or The Onion, maybe ya shouldn\u2019t publish it,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TmacKMF\/status\/1502767935521280002?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> another user.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI wasn\u2019t worried about nuclear war before. I certainly am now,\u201d a Twitter user <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YouResign\/status\/1502758040755388417?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cAlso make sure you wear your mask inside a fallout shelter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s reassuring \u2026 since there\u2019s a climate angle, @POTUS will take the prospect of nuclear war seriously,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vperelman\/status\/1502859959280840713?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span> another user.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTens of millions of people wasn\u2019t the deal breaker\u2026climate change tho\u2026this must end now!\u201d another Twitter user <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDMKing\/status\/1502782898474303490?s=20&#038;t=5ymZ4o7BWegFNmkXG9swdQ\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The essay comes as the climate change agenda continues to be the focus of many on the left, to the exclusion of urgent and fundamental issues currently facing the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Tuesday, Former California Governor Jerry Brown <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/environment\/2022\/03\/08\/jerry-brown-dont-expand-oil-and-gas-because-climate-change-like-war\/\"><span>urged<\/span><\/a><span> the U.S. not to expand domestic oil and gas production to help in the crisis triggered by the ongoing Russian war because climate change is like a war that will kill people over a long period of time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Monday, former director of the United Nations Population Division Joseph Chamie <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/the-media\/2022\/03\/10\/former-un-population-division-director-pause-us-population-growth-to-address-climate-emergency\/\"><span>called<\/span><\/a><span> for a halt to America\u2019s population growth in order to address the \u201cclimate emergency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Last week, climate czar John Kerry <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/03\/11\/john-kerry-promises-u-n-10-billion-in-u-s-taxpayer-dollars-annually-for-climate-crisis\/\"><span>told<\/span><\/a><span> an informal U.N. Security Council meeting that President Joe Biden is committed to increasing U.S. funding to developing countries by upwards of $10 billion annually to help combat the \u201cclimate crisis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kerry, worried the Russian invasion of Ukraine would divert the world\u2019s attention from the fight against climate change, also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/24\/john-kerry-roasted-for-hoping-putin-would-stay-on-track-with-climate-change\/\"><span>expressed<\/span><\/a><span> hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin would \u201cstay on track\u201d in the fight against climate change despite the conflict in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In December, renowned climate activist Michael E. Mann <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/the-media\/2021\/12\/15\/climate-activist-michael-mann-calls-climate-denial-deadlier-than-covid-denial-demands-censorship-of-dissenters\/\"><span>claimed<\/span><\/a><span> denials of \u201cclimate change\u201d are \u201cdeadlier\u201d than denials of the science behind COVID-19, as he called for social media companies to censor those who disagree with his views on global warming science, effectively removing \u201cclimate denial\u201d content in the same way \u201cCOVID denial\u201d content is suppressed online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><em>Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuaklein_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@JoshuaKlein<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nuclear war would be disastrous for the earth\u2019s climate, according to a recent piece in the Atlantic that drew harsh criticism for its focus on the harms posed to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1374380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}