Most of us, though, are also concerned with more prosaic issues: Being able to fill our trucks up with gas without taking out another mortgage, for instance.

President-elect Donald Trump won reelection in no small part because of his stance on energy - as in, we need ample, cheap, reliable energy, which is the foundation of prosperity. The Sierra Club is in a snit over Trump's victory and is making some perfectly silly claims. "Watts Up With That" scribe Charles Rotter has very humorously deconstructed the Sierra Club's whining.

An example:

The Sierra Club opens by declaring that Donald Trump is basically a climate supervillain, twirling his metaphorical oil-soaked mustache while plotting to destroy the planet. Their evidence? Well, they don’t actually provide much. Instead, we get vague claims about him prioritizing “profits over people.” Shocking, I know. Imagine a politician caring about the economy.

“Donald Trump was a disaster for climate progress during his first term, and everything he’s said and done since suggests he’s eager to do even more damage this time. Trump has put profits over people time and again, prioritizing the bottom line of the Big Oil CEOs who bought and paid for his campaign above communities across the country who face the threat of pollution and the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, and seeking to keep us hooked on fossil fuels rather than investing in a clean energy economy.

But here’s the kicker: during Trump’s presidency, U.S. carbon emissions actually dropped. Yes, you heard that right. The dreaded fossil fuel-loving administration presided over real, measurable environmental progress, largely thanks to natural gas replacing coal. Did the Sierra Club mention this? Of course not. Facts have no place in a theatrical rant.

The entire deconstruction is worth reading. But it raises the question: Wasn't the Sierra Club once less... political?

See Related: Australia's Melbourne University Afflicting Kids With Climate Indoctrination

Nature Is Big. Really Big. We Are but a Small Part of It - Bleatings of Climate Scolds Notwithstanding.

Many of the big environmental groups have jumped on the climate panic-mongering bandwagon, and why not? It's a great way to drive up donations; panic has a way of opening up people's wallets. When I was a little tad back in Allamakee County, Iowa, my parents were heavily involved in the Audubon Society, and we did nesting and migrating bird counts every spring and fall for that organization. But while my parents continued to follow what the national Audubon Society was up to until their passing, my mother, in her last few years, commented to me several times that she scarcely recognized that organization; "It's not about birds anymore - it's all about politics."

But there are groups out there who still do actual environmental work - as in, protecting and preserving actual wildlife habitat. They aren't the "mainstream" environmental groups, and they aren't the climate finger-waggers. They certainly aren't the animal rights groups, who among them have never protected or preserved one square foot of actual habitat. No, it's the sportsmen's groups that are the champions at protecting and preserving habitat. There are two that I'm involved with.

First, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Dedicated to elk and their habitat, the Foundation has helped preserve and set aside thousands upon thousands of acres of elk habitat, including such places as Colorado's Bosque Del Oso State Wildlife Area, which was bound for private development until the Foundation helped raise funds for its purchase. Elk habitat, we should note, also provides habitat for hundreds of other species.

Second, Ducks Unlimited. Wetlands are some of the richest wildlife there is, and DU has, since its founding in 1937, helped with the preservation of not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of acres of marsh and other wetlands. Ducks Unlimited are the habitat champions. No other group has come close.

There are many more such groups, many dedicated to a certain species or activity - but all are actually doing the work of protecting and preserving wildlife habitat. What is good for elk, ducks, pheasants or quail is also good for the other species who occupy that habitat.

So, let the climate scolds continue their hand-wringing and whining. We can have abundant, cheap energy and a clean environment; the last couple of decades have already demonstrated that. And we can have wildlife habitat, and for much of that habitat, forget the climate scolds, because they aren't doing squat. It's America's hunters and anglers who are donating to these efforts, and if they are primarily doing it so as to have more places to hunt and fish, that's fine; it matters little to the wildlife that live in the lands they have preserved.