VICTOR JOECKS: Gates admits the ‘science deniers’ were right

It’s hard to justify derailing the modern economy and making people poorer if the world isn’t ending. And that’s what global warming alarmists have been up to — just ask Bill Gates.

On Tuesday, Gates released a memo outlining his thoughts on global warming.

“There’s a doomsday view of climate change that goes like this: In a few decades, cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization. The evidence is all around us — just look at all the heat waves and storms caused by rising global temperatures. Nothing matters more than limiting the rise in temperature,” Gates wrote.

This is an accurate description of the scaremongering surrounding the debate about rising temperatures. In 2023, former President Joe Biden called global warming an “existential threat.” He said it was “more frightening than a nuclear war.”

It might be tempting to dismiss Biden’s comments as the ramblings of a delusional senior citizen. But this is a mainstream belief among Democrats. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has also said that global warming is an “existential threat.”

In 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” A 2024 Pew poll found that 75 percent of Democrats are “anxious about the future” when thinking about recent climate change news. A 2024 Lancet study found a majority of 16- to 25-year-olds are hesitant to have kids because of global warming.

Gates hasn’t merely been observing all this from the sidelines. He’s used his vast fortune to fund climate alarmism. In 2021, he even wrote a book titled “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.”

But in his recent essay, Gates has had a change of heart. After laying out the “doomsday view of climate change,” he states, “Fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong.”

While he is still worried about global warming, he says the world needs to focus on a new metric, “improving lives.” For the poor, “the biggest problems are poverty and disease, just as they always have been,” Gates writes. This memo could have been written by Bjorn Lomborg.

“From the standpoint of improving lives, using more energy is a good thing,” Gates writes. That’s because “more energy use is a key part of prosperity.” And we can’t “meet the growing demand for energy without increasing carbon emissions.”

Gates’ observations have been obvious for years — to conservatives. And for pointing them out, the left has lobbed insults at those willing to challenge the climate Chicken Littles. The left couldn’t defend its position, so it sought to silence its critics. Like all cults, climate alarmists don’t want you to think for yourself or question the accepted orthodoxy.

But notice this. What Gates now says isn’t true because he said it. It’s always been true. He finally realized it or found the courage to speak up.

For global warming alarmists, there’s something worse than the end of humanity. It’s realizing the “science deniers” were right all along.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.