World wide crude oil will be depleted by the mid to late 1980’s. A modern ice age is around the corner. We are on the verge of a population explosion amid cooling temperatures that will cause massive famines. Fertile land will disappear. The message from the Chicken Little generation was loud and clear.

             These were some of the dire predictions made by “experts” while I was in college.  Academics, their naïve captives (students), national news magazines and the leading newspapers of the era chimed in. Young people were urged to be conscientious world citizens. The only globally responsible thing to do was to go childless or certainly have no more than one kid. How could parents subject their children to a deteriorating environment? How could they burden the world with new resource gobbling consumers? We were told our consumption was an appalling symptom of capitalism. As such we had to sacrifice for the good of the earth.

            Sounds a lot like much of what we hear today doesn’t it?  Only one problem, the “facts” that stimulated the hysteria back then turned out to be nothing more then half baked theories. Those who disliked and/or were guilty about the prosperity resulting from capitalism created self fulfilling scientific models.

            Oops!!!!! Every one of the above predictions was wrong. World wide consumption has exploded due largely to Chinese, Indian and Russian growth yet we have not exhausted supply. And billions of barrels remain untapped. The ice age has been replaced first by global warming and then by a more ambiguous term 'global climate change.'

            Maybe, just maybe we should be skeptical of the models used to engender fear when the facts have not been born out over time? Most of Europe would be shrinking in terms of population if it were not for immigration. Famines are almost always the result of political corruption not a scarcity of food. And in terms of the preservation of western values we should take note of the demographics in Europe, where immigrants who reject western values are having large families.

            So one might think a chorus of apologies from those who cried wolf could be heard. Not a chance. Humility is not a quality often found among the purveyors of doom.

            Those who worshiped the environment and see pending environmental catastrophe seem to have neither memory nor conscience. Their core values include an animus toward big business, guilt over their good fortune, and a leftist ideology that immunizes them from acknowledgement of error. After all they meant well, so no need for humility. Not only is there a deadening silence from those selfless and brilliant predictors of doom about inaccurate past predictions, but they are off and running warning us about the latest pending global catastrophe.

            Much of this would be very amusing if it didn’t have serious consequences. We are on the verge of spending billions to prevent something that is not likely to occur and even if it does, there is little assurance that the money will do anything except damage world prosperity.

            The other and more vexing problem is that this passion to save a “dying” environment distracts our attention from a much more real danger and prescient problem. The west and all those who believe in the western values of liberty, free expression, religious freedom, and tolerance face a daunting threat. A death cult within Islam with millions of adherents and millions more who find excuses for the murderers has established terrorist cells throughout the world. They are funded with billions of petro dollars and aggressively in pursuit of nuclear weapons. The reality of the existence of this enemy is not based on some theory or speculative model. The reality of their existence can be traced to the body counts they have left in their wake, the literature they produce, the speeches and sermons their leaders make and the weapons they have amassed and are seeking.

            So what to do? Pursue every source of energy independence. Drill, drill and drill some more! Build nuclear plants. Exploit our bountiful coal and natural gas treasures. Aggressively add wind and solar where it can work and when it is feasible. Not only will energy independence dry up terrorist funding, it creates jobs in America and spends hundreds of billions at home. Over time the use of alternatives takes hydrocarbons out of the mix and the air. And the other key element is to recognize that the Islamist enemy does not respond to reason. We can never assume the death cult will react based on self preservation. The Nazis wanted to live and live well. They did not look to an afterlife for fulfillment. The same can be said for the communists. This can not be said about today’s threat. So we better recognize the real wolf at our door and deal with him appropriately.