Order of understanding

I find it fun to think about what occupations have the most members who (1) can cut through the international hysteria that believes in global warming and (2) ignore the vast numbers of people who don't know we have entered an era of nearly free  natural gas energy.

Its a fun game.

To me the most obvious group at the top of the list, those who understand the new world, are in the most successful tier of professional investors.  Their newsletters show they have discounted global warming hysteria for many years.  Their investments in natural gas futures show they understand that reality too.

Even more fun is to look at the middle of the of the list of occupations.  In the middle are politicians and policy wonks.  Many of these politicians and policy wonks have grasped the reality of global warming hysteria, which is why the Senate voted against the Kyoto Accords and why they have regularly defeated the cap and trade system for 15 years.  But they can't be open about their understanding because the public is slow to understand the issues.

The most fun is to look at the bottom of the list of occupations.  These are the most self-righteous, bloviating, ranting, pompous and arrogant people for whom empirical data are anathema.  They will be the last to know that the earth is not warming, certainly not because of human activity, nor to understand the vast reserves of natural gas that are abundant nearly everywhere. 

At the bottom of the list I put academics, film & theater professionals, artists, museum professional, doctors, trustafarians, journalists and environmentalists.  These were the last people to understand that the global population explosion had ended twenty years ago.