It’s amazing how many people are still blindly stuck in the all-encompassing catch phrase of “climate change.”

Al Gore was flying around the country burning up more fuel in one trip to preach his madness that the polar ice would be melted by 2014 than most of us will ever use up in a lifetime. It’s kind of ironic that the polar caps have actually grown since his dire prediction — you don’t hear that in the news.

But the ideologically driven are incapable of accepting that what they now have hardwired in their brains — a place where facts can no longer enter, where even switching from global warming to climate change is proving bogus. The indoctrinated can’t accept that maybe all this nonsense is just that — nonsense.

The hue and outcry after Hurricane Katrina was (back then it was still global warming) that hurricanes would be on the rise and become worse than ever. We didn’t even get any more that year, and since then the numbers have dramatically decreased. But in order to try to rationalize this un(expected) turn of events, things were suggested such as the ocean is sucking up the heat or maybe President George W. Bush did something to the Bermuda triangle should cover the error for the moment. Don’t pay attention to his hand.

And here at home, a silly group calling themselves the Water Guardians or some such mystical name managed to once again brainwash a large number of people into believing if they didn’t sign the petition to stop fracking, Santa Barbara was once again doomed. Time and time again, these do-gooders turn to fear tactics make their case.

I was handed a flier at a soccer field of all places and told to read it. Here is a partial list to sway the uninformed: A no vote on Measure P will result in the waste of millions of gallons of water that could otherwise go to families and farms (I know firsthand they don’t give a whit about farms), cause cancer, asthma and other illnesses. Based on what? Generate massive air pollution, not a little but massive and carbon emissions. Where the heck does carbon come in? Increase the risk of earthquakes. They don’t have one scientific clue if that will happen. Kinda like the Katrina myth. Lower property values. Whose property values? If I find oil on my property, I can guarantee the value won’t be going down.

All of the above is based on nothing but fantasies the anti-oil crowd uses to brainwash themselves and others. It’s purely another ploy to fight the oil companies, but as it has been said many times before, they didn’t get to the park walking and they need power to print their propaganda.

We need to get a grip on reality here. Gore, who made a fortune selling out to an oil-rich company, gets away with everything because his followers believe he’s offsetting his carbon footprint. His carbon footprint is so big he’d have to ride a mule and eat grass the rest of his life to come even close. And that’s not even taking into account his houses, and I’m fairly certain, if he even owns a Prius, he’s got a Beamer and Benz or two stashed away somewhere.

And you think the higher-ups in the Sierra Club, for example, work for free. You can look it up; the information is public. They’re making six figures and more — most of it these days preaching the end is almost near, again, if we don’t stop climate change.

I also thought the ocean was supposed to be on the rise by now as well. Maybe we should have painted that blue line after all so we would have something to measure against.

How easy it is to just say and do what you want and go unchallenged all the time. I could just as easily counter the Measure P proponents by stating that fracking stops earthquakes, makes the air so sweet, it cures cancer and will finally stop climate change. After all, isn’t that the end game — to stop climate change once and for all? God knows we can’t afford any more of that.

As with all my ranting, I recognize it won’t change a thing. But if it would only change the mind of one person, then it’s all been worth it.

— Henry Schulte of Santa Barbara owns and operates Dos Pueblos Ranch. He has been politically active in the community for years. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.