It has been well over two months since Lahaina’s tragic fire, and even though the story has long since been eclipsed by other news, we remember Lahaina and we imagine the fire’s aftermath. Having visited Maui several times over the years, we remember many pleasant hours in Lahaina. We enjoyed luaus, magic shows, dining, ice cream, whale-watching, shave ice, shopping, and sight-seeing, and we even remember worshiping at a little preaching station when there on Sundays. And now much of it is in ashes as its residents work to recover. But that is not the point of this post.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, some of our news media and many of our politicians started blaming climate change even before the embers were cold. This seems to be the standard response to many unusual (as well as normal) events. Brush fires? Disregard land, water, or forest mismanagement and blame climate change. Floods? Don’t mention extreme weather or neglected flood control measures; blame climate change. Drought? Don’t discuss water conservation, blocked desal projects, groundwater contamination, or questionable uses of available freshwater; blame climate change. Hot weather in the summer? Play the victim, pretend that hot weather is something new, and blame climate change. Power outages? Avoid mentioning the over-regulated, under-maintained, and mismanaged power grid, and talk about climate change. And so it goes, not just for Hawaii, but for California, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, the Midwest, and on and on.

Geologic history and human history both show us that our climate changes regardless of human activities, and we can be pretty sure that it will continue to change regardless of what we do or do not do. So why all the fear-mongering about climate change, and why the hostility to anyone who questions government climate policies? Perhaps climate change makes a good bogeyman to divert attention from poor management. Maybe it provides a good excuse for politicians to collect more power. Or perhaps it provides leverage to divert taxpayer and ratepayer money to favored beneficiaries. Or all of the above.

Given that our climate is dynamic and changes over time, how can we move the discussion past fear-mongering and into a more constructive direction? Other than practicing good personal environmental stewardship, perhaps the best thing we can do is ask good questions to encourage discussion, break past the taboos, and press for better answers. For example, how will state or US climate policies make any real difference when China’s impact and India’s impact on the environment are so large and getting worse? Why is government using our resources to “fix” the problem by subsidizing green energy technologies without full analysis of their environmental impacts, end-of-life-cycle costs, and death toll on endangered wildlife? How do we know that climate models include all of the right physics and feedback loops? What kind of investments are we making to mitigate the effects of change rather than tilting at windmills (pardon the pun) with unwise policies?

These are honest questions, but the “climate is settled science” and “climate is the existential challenge of our time” arguments make honest answers had to find. The climate science is not settled, and there are plenty of challenges to compete for the “existential threat” title. Let’s brush up our critical thinking skills, take the political bluster with a grain of salt, and not hesitate to question our political elites on their assertions and priorities.