So maybe you buy into this Green New Deal from the far Left. The proposals to end carbon emissions. To end fossil fuels entirely. To upgrade all existing buildings. To build so many high-speed trains that we can mothball airplanes. This, and more, within ten years or so.
There are three problems with these proposals.
First, they give idealism a bad name. Idealism is the dreaming of dreams that can come true. These cannot and will not come true. Not in ten years. Not in forty years.
Sure, we will keep learning to do more with less energy. But to achieve what the Green New Deal promises is impossible. Not enough money in the universe to fund it. Nowhere near the technology required.
But go ahead and dream. As long as you don’t bill us.
Next problem is that the proposals are like your family going on the most severe diet the world has known. Because so many Chinese and Indians are obese.
You see, it is the billions of Chinese and Indians who are polluting the air and seas more each year. It is hundreds of millions more people in third world countries. Their pollution is growing. And they are not signing on to feel-good green treaties that have any bite.
China emits more carbon dioxide than the US and EU combined. The US has cut its emissions by 800 million tons in the last decade. China increased its emissions dramatically. India and other third world countries are doing the same. Or revving up to do so.
They cannot help themselves. Because their teeming masses are buying cars for the first time. And heating more than a few tiny rooms for the first time. And buying drinks for the first time in plastic that ends up clogging the oceans.
We are rich. We can afford to be virtuous. We pretend to whip ourselves to reduce our carbon footprint. They are poor. They rejoice that they can afford to make a carbon footprint. They WANT to make a carbon footprint.
We boast that we eat soy. By such virtuous eating, we starve those cows. The ones that fuel global warming with their farts.
The poor boast when they can do the opposite. They are proud to finally eat meat a few times a month. Their politicians promise Big Macs for all.
There is a final problem with the Green New Deal. It is based on a simple premise: Fossil fuels wreak havoc with our environment. CO2 is evil. The globe is frying. Glaciers and Arctic ice are melting. Antarctica is shrinking. Rising tides will turn the Sahara into a beach. And all that alarmism.
In other words, global warming/climate change is THE reason for the Green New Deal. Our situation is so dire we absolutely must take drastic action. The drastic action promoted in the Deal.
Problem is, thousands of scientists don’t buy this. Some argue that CO2 is our friend. Some say that beyond a certain level it has little effect on our atmosphere.
Some say our CO2 output is too tiny to affect climate. Some say our temperatures are cooling. Or that warming is so slow it is not a worry. And that it is totally natural.
Some remind us our earth has known far warmer periods. And has been cooler than now while CO2 levels were higher.
Some reckon climate changes come from our sun’s activities. And our sun is too powerful for us to do anything about.
Who is right in the climate debate? That is beyond my pay grade. But there is a serious debate. Greens deny there is. They say the debate is over and 97 percent of scientists agree. That claim is 97 percent BS. There is a small army of scientists that dispute various foundation stones of climate change and climate alarmism.
Such a debate undermines the very reason the Green New Deal was concocted. We have a significant debate over whether we have a CO2 problem. We can hardly spend untold trillions to fix a problem when a lot of serious accredited scientists dispute there is a problem.
The most rabid supporters of the Green New Deal reckon the earth is going to snuff it within a decade or two. Do you suppose that will end the debate?
From Tom…as in Morgan.
PS: You can buy my novel, THE LAST COLUMNIST at Amazon. You can watch my plays, TALES FROM THE EMPIRE at the website tomasinmorgan.com. You can also write to me at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.