Commentary by Samuel Strait – August 18, 2023 Recently, we had some "Cowboys" on the local Harbor Commission that thought it was a "good idea" to get involved in Off Shore wind farming. Likely they were enticed by the prospect of righting the "clown show" that the current Harbor Commission has become following a regular series of missteps taken by those members that have plunged the Harbor into its present state of financial ruin. In case you are wondering where all this is leading to, buckle up as the ride will be wild. Much of the current farce that is "green energy" stems from the fumbling of government at all levels. Our local boys to be included. "Green energy" to combat the myth of catastrophic "Climate Change" is a grift more than fifty years in the making. While more examples of the death of the planet Earth by human causation can no doubt be found, the late sixties, early seventies is a good place to start. It was then the Environmental/Industrial Complex began their quest to blame human kind for every possible issue associated with their developing religion to "Save the Planet" from all of us "Walmart Shoppers", who in their minds were destroying Mother Earth. First we were responsible for "Global Cooling", of which no one could quite explain how that was even possible. Fortunately, we are still here. When that didn't fill the coffers of the Complex sufficiently or fast enough, Acid Rain became the next pair of buzz words. Acidification of the World's oceans, naturally caused by the growing human population's affection for a better standard of living, quickly came and went when hair failed to turn green and we didn't end up a puddle of goo. Fortunately we are still here. Hair spray and refrigerant were the next targets of the Complex, for surely it was the cause of the destruction of the ozone layer. We were all supposed to die from radiation unless we changed our ways. Fortunately we are still here. Humans received a bit of a reprieve from the Complex for a few years until Global Warming was thrust into the public's face. The "hockey stick" theory of green house gas was an instant hit. Naturally human activity had to be the primary factor for a theoretical rise in the Earth's temperature in just a "few years", that was to do us all in. Deadlines came and deadlines went, yet the earth's average temperature managed a meager half degree of increase over a dozen years. Fortunately we all survived and are still here. At each stage of the Complex's fantasy that the world was on the brink unless we changed our ways, the money began to flow into the pockets of this growing con. More academics, government leaders, the media, and unscrupulous people sensing there was money to be made, quickly morphed "Global Warming", which had begun to loose it's fear factor as the planet didn't cooperate by warming sufficiently to be noticeable, into "Climate Change" which became the next in a long line of buzz words designed to shake even more money out of the public tree. Fortunately, we are still here. For over fifty years now we have been lead to believe that human activity of every stripe was going to make the planet uninhabitable. Billions, even trillions of dollars have been spent over the last fifty plus years to shame the people of the World that they were going to be responsible for the catastrophic end to the planet we live. Fortunately we are still here. The Earth's average temperature has actually declined a bit for the last eight years. The brief warming trend was a normal part of the planet's natural climate variation. Warming and the increase of CO2 from what was previously low levels, have actually paid great dividends by a renewed greening of 30% of the Earth's lands. Enough with the idea that human activity is capable of significant climate change. For over fifty years we have been scrambling and paying huge sums of money to combat a myth, a fantasy world, to line the pockets of those in on the CON. And, FORTUNATELY WE ARE STILL HERE!