When The Mercury publishes commentary from Jerry Shenk, readers almost always must traverse a wide sewer of derision and mockery, wrapped in his smug self-confident assertions, before the discovery of his erroneous conclusions.
That was certainly the case in his June 14 column entitled “Sanity returns to long-disputed climate debate.” With chest-pounding haughtiness and pomposity, Shenk scolded so-called “climatistas” — those who, in his words, benefit from “expensive, impractical climate mitigation schemes.”
The cause for his gleeful screed? In its latest report, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reduced its worst-case hypothetical high emissions scenario developed in 2011 for global warming by 2100. Instead of 9 degrees F above pre-industrial temperatures, the IPCC’s new worst-case level, assuming a rollback in clean energy policies, is now 6.3 degrees F.
Perhaps Shenk took his lead from President Trump, who posted on May 17 on Truth Social: the UN climate committee “just admitted that its own projections were WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!”
Regarding the IPCC report, over the last 15 years, a lot has changed. Technology has led to a swift decline in the cost of clean energy. As a result, last month, for the first time, more electricity generation in the U.S. came from solar than from coal. Despite the Trump Administration’s best efforts to help coal and disincentivize renewables, this trend is only accelerating in the United States. As renewables get cheaper, U.S. electricity utilities recognize that, despite short-term incentives thrown their way by President Trump, coal is, like its proponents, an economic loser. By the way, a 6-degree increase in global temperatures by 2100 is terrifying.
Neither Trump nor his sycophants, including Shenk, demonstrates concern about the future impact of their bad decision-making on climate policy. They refuse to recognize, or admit publicly, that global warming driven by human activity is real and is primarily the result of the burning of fossil fuels. They serve as apologists for the fossil fuel industry and the AI tech companies that desperately seek quick fossil fuel-based solutions to their skyrocketing electricity needs. Both sectors contribute generously to their political supporters. Trump, et al, remain willfully blind to the fact that a warmer global climate, even if only a degree or two, has severe negative impacts for all humanity.
Globally, the shift towards solar and wind is impressive. Global solar capacity doubled between 2022 and 2024. China currently produces almost five times more solar energy than the U.S. and continues to invest enormously in photovoltaics and electric vehicles. It is also the world leader in wind energy. With greatly expanded solar panel manufacturing, India has already hit its 2030 clean energy target of 50% non-fossil fuel electricity capacity. For per capita solar capacity, the United Arab Emirates, a Persian Gulf oil producer, is second, only to Australia. Most of Denmark’s grid is powered by wind; almost half of Uruguay’s electricity comes from wind power. These dramatic changes, and not a rejection of the reality of global warming, led to the IPCC decision to reduce its high-end 2100 scenario.
Shenk is just plain wrong. “Anthropomorphic climate change” is not a “hoax.” It is not occurring over an “indefinitely long period of time.” And no, we should not be prioritizing carbon-based energy resources, which, as the Trump Administration has proven, are subject to extraordinary geopolitical shocks such as closure of the Straits of Hormuz.
By turning its back on renewables and promoting coal, the United States under President Trump — the nation that gave the world its first Earth Day and was formally the world leader in climate change mitigation — is now perceived as the global clean energy laggard. I hope and pray this mindless deviation from reality, as demonstrated by Shenk’s commentary, will reverse once our country enjoys new 21st-century leadership.
Larry Cohen of Schwenksville was co-chair of the 2017 and 2018 Pottstown Climate Marches.