Travis Cook is a man on a mission. Armed with just a sandwich board (‘There is no Climate Crisis’), an array of literature and formidable scientific knowledge, the 32-year-old former mechanical engineer is on a 1000-mile walk around the UK to talk to people and try to dispel the climate gloom that we are customarily bombarded with. His is a message of climate realism (what the BBC might call ‘climate denialism’) and of hope. Far from being the lost cause this might once have seemed, he believes his message is beginning to be accepted.
Fight the battles you can win
‘I love it,’ he tells me of his daily interactions (he was at Hayling Island in Hampshire when we spoke). ‘It’s a good news message, so it’s easy to deliver, and it brings me joy.’ And though he does face regular abuse, this doesn’t bother him, ‘as long as they don’t touch me, I don’t mind.’
His views are outlined in a series of punchy but robust articles on his website and two books. In essence, he takes his cue from world-renowned authorities like William Happer and Richard Lindzen. Yes, increased CO₂ in the atmosphere does raise global temperatures, but only to a limited degree and with much of the effect being beneficial (evidence suggests that the Earth has become 5 per cent greener since 2000). Renewables are pretty much a waste of time, and Net Zero is a dangerous, unattainable fantasy. The whole debate is skewed by bias and saturated with unreliable, or even manipulated, data.
