11 July 2007

The Arrogance and Hypocrisy of the Global Warming Crowd

We can't eliminate HIV/AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis, but we think we can control the climate.

We can't feed every person on this planet, but we think we can control the climate.

We can't provide everyone on this planet with safe drinking water, but we think we can control the climate.

We can’t make sure that every boy and girl in this country can read and write and do arithmetic, but we think we can control the climate.

We can’t make sure that every man, woman, or child in this country has health insurance, but we think we can control the climate.

We can’t win the war on drugs, but we think we can control the climate.

We can’t win the war on terror, but we think we can control the climate.

Do I really need to make any more points?

Interesting how all of a sudden the gloom and doom of climate change trumps all of our other societal woes. Yes, the climate is changing. Yes, it is getting warming. Yes, it will affect people, but when has change not affected people? No, we do not need to make this priority number one. The climate is not static just as forests are not static (they do tend to burn every now and then – it is healthy for forests to burn – preservation is a myth). Take a geology class and you might learn about the billions of years of change that has already come before us and our minute snap shot in time.

The climate change movement cares more for some lonely polar bear floating on a chunk of ice than for the woman with HIV that has been shunned by her village or the little boy dying from dysentery. And you would call me a flat-earther because I see the woman and little boy and not the polar bear? Don’t get me wrong. I try to do what I can for the environment. I am an environmental engineer after all so I know better than most about environmental damage.

It is the height of arrogance to think we can control Mother Nature. Mother Nature will punish us one way or another; with or without increasing the level of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. Addressing cars, trucks, airplanes, and coal fired power plants is a miniscule part of the problem. Are you a vegan? No? Even if you ride your bike to work everyday you won't impact the climate if you continue to sit down and eat chicken, beef, and pork every night. Do you only buy locally grown food? No? Think about the carbon dioxide emitted to bring you those fresh fruits and vegetables that are out of season here not to mention the majority of your groceries. Are you willing to take the drastic role of stopping and even reversing population growth? No? More people consume more releasing more carbon dioxide. Are you willing to look at all energy alternatives including nuclear power? No? Then again, some of the rich elite do not want to have a wind farm seen from the posh living room of their palatial estate. There is more to this issue than the silly little idea of Kum Ba Yah at a stadium. Interesting how Al Gore’s Seven-Point Pledge does not specifically call for specific changes like becoming a vegan. Eat meat lately Al?.

Having a concert series where you fly people in to "entertain" people around the guise of indoctrination in the global warming religion is the another sign of hypocrisy in action. Just because all the “artists” drove a Prius from the airport to the concert does not make it an environmentally friendly affair. Just serving veggie burgers next to regular burgers does not make it an environmentally friendly affair. Buying carbon offsets does not make it an environmentally affair. If you really want my attention then have it all online without a single person having to fly or drive anywhere. We do have the technology for that nowadays. That would be groundbreaking. Instead you just told me you are a bunch of hypocrites. Do as I say and not as I do. Al Gore is the top ring-leader in this church of hypocrisy. The man makes millions off of his “religion”. More or less, another evangelical who does not practice what he preaches.

Now they want to levy a carbon tax on us. Nice. And how do you suppose the money collected will get spent? Are you going to put it into a “lock box” Al? Give me a break. Trust the federal government with more of our money? I do not think so. The federal government will just waste it on some frivolous pork barrel project to make a senator or representative look good in his or her district. A use tax such as the carbon tax will only hurt the poor. But when has that ever stopped the liberals? There is not a tax increase they wouldn’t vote for unless it is right before an election.

You would get more people on board for reducing carbon dioxide emissions if you took a broader approach. Not everyone believes that global warming is such a threat. What they do see is that we are stuck in the Middle East in part to maintain our access to oil. Sell carbon dioxide emissions reductions through increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles and work to get us off oil and out the Middle East (by the way, that whole biofuel thing is not the answer – in fact, it is probably the dumbest boondoggle ever). Work on researching carbon sequestering from coal fired power plant emissions. You still need power to surf the net and cool your Red Bull. If you want something done you have to work with people instead of just ramming your ideology down everyone else’s throats. What are the commonalities of your cause to other causes? Take concrete small steps instead of immediately going for the whole enchilada. But of course that would make too much sense and I know that when it comes to ideologues the last thing they want anything to do with is common sense.
Photo by KCThinker, Doorway, San Juan, Puerto Rico

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