Public Email is a Terrible Idea

Draft script:

My email address is publicly available. It is easily found at GuyMcPherson dot com. I’m beginning to think that’s a bad idea, based on the information that follows and the many exchanges similar to what follows.

From Bill comes an email message that led to an exchange of email messages that consumed far too much of my time. Bill starts innocently enough with this message: “Professor this is the last summer? Thanks”

I receive more than 200 email messages each day. As a result, I seldom spend much time on any given message. My response to Bill’s question: “No”

Bill responds: “but didn’t the professor say that in 2025 the last human would be here? I think so”

My response is cryptic, as usual: “The scientists I quoted were mistaken.” In this case, I’m referring to Professor James Anderson at Harvard University and, much more recently, Professor Jennifer MacKinnon at the University of California-San Diego and the Scripps Institute.

Professor James Anderson became well-known for leading the research team that discovered the so-called hole in Antarctic ozone as a result of chlorofluorocarbon emissions. Anderson was quoted by Forbes on 15 January 2018 after he delivered a presentation in Chicago: “The chance there will be permanent ice in the Arctic after 2022 is essentially zero.”

More than three years later, Professor MacKinnon was quoted in CBS News on 23 April 2021 upon release of a peer-reviewed paper in Nature Communications for which she was the lead author. She indicated the Arctic Ocean would be free of ice in 2022. She was mistaken, obviously. If she or Anderson were correct, you would not be watching this video or reading the attendant script. They wouldn’t exist.

Back to Bill and my cryptic responses. As I indicated, the scientists I quoted were mistaken. Bill responded with “How do you know this if the year 2025 hasn’t arrived yet? So it might not happen in our lifetime?” I ignored this message. Later the same day, the badgering from Bill continued: “Professor, what are the projections now? What does the data indicate now?”

My response was longer than Bill deserved: “99.9% chance of human extinction by 1 January 2030. As I’ve told you many times, an ice-free Arctic Ocean could come sooner. When it does, then we’re all dead shortly thereafter. Follow my work to prevent wasting my time with irrelevant questions.”

Bill was not pleased with my response. In addition, he demonstrated that he does not follow my work closely: “In your work, I have not seen any video changing the 2026 projection. All the videos I have seen are based on this projection, not 2030.”

I replied “My work is freely available. You could pay attention.” I included a link to a video released on 18 April 2024 and titled “Best. News. Ever.”

Bill’s response included polite language, as usual. However, you can probably tell why it went to the Crazy file in my email messages: “Sir, I stopped believing in your work, when it reaches 2030 it will postpone until 2035 and it will always postpone. At this time, many scientists have signed a document stating that there is no anthropogenic climate change. Why would you alone be right? The proof that you are wrong and your prophecy is not fulfilled, history shows that time is the enemy of false prophets, in addition to that you have science against you, the Arctic has never had so much ice. This is leftist propaganda. Only you are enlightened, other scientists don’t know anything.”

Never mind the poor grammar and the failure to follow my freely available work. This latest comment is typical for people unfamiliar with the process of science. I ignored it. Life is too short to argue with idiots. As George Carlin said: “Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

It’s worse than indicated by this single email exchange. When I am invited to speak publicly on tour, the person issuing the invitation receives an email message from one of a dozen people pointing to blog posts calling me terrible things. The same happens when I am asked to interview on a corporate media outlet. In both cases, the invitations are immediately retracted. This has been going on for more than half-a-dozen years. With the exception of these shadowy email messages, I have never been accused—much less taken to court—as a result of any criminal activity on my part. If I were I guilty of the activity of which I’m accused, I can assure you I would have been hauled into court.

This is not about me. It’s never been about me. This is about keeping the masses in the dark about abrupt, irreversible climate change. As a result, the outcome will be much worse than it would have been with fully informed people. Nobody likes surprises. The biggest surprise in the history of Homo sapiens is headed our way. It could have been prevented.