by Jon Caldara
The bad news: President Donald Trump’s pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord will cause ocean levels to rise. The good news: It will be from all the crocodile tears of progressives.
Those of us who are skeptical of the politics of global warming are labeled “deniers” as an ugly pejorative to compare us to those who denied the Holocaust. It’s an insulting, yet effective, tactic to bully people from publicly questioning the mantra of man-made climate change. It cuts off debate before it can start.
Those who used to say that “dissent is patriotic” now say dissent is on par with denying the extermination of 6 million Jews. I hope eco-bullies continue to use the term and their “we said there’s a consensus, so shut the hell up” strategy. It’s that kind of belittling by elitists that caused the Trump phenomenon. If there weren’t sanctimonious enviros and the media echo chamber, we may never have gotten Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Like most of my skeptical brethren, I don’t deny the climate is changing. The climate has always changed, cooled and warmed, just ask the dinosaurs. I don’t deny dinosaurs either. I don’t even deny that man-made activity is contributing to climate change. I am skeptical that it’s the major cause of warming compared to solar activity.
I am even more skeptical of the politics around global warming. I’m skeptical that, no matter what they promise the world, China and Russia will ever do anything close to the costly restrictions the climate-faithful want to put on ourselves.
The skepticism I enjoy most is that of the hypocrisy of many climate change warriors. They remind me of pastor Ted Haggard who preached against homosexuality while hiring a male hooker. They’re just hard to take seriously.
Celebrity eco-warriors are the most fun. Leonardo DiCaprio takes private jets from New York City to Cannes, private yachts and helicopters around the world from his four homes to fight for Mother Earth. John Travolta owns five jumbo jets that he parks at his Florida mansion. Remember when we found Al Gore paid $30,000 a year in utility bills for his 20-room home and pool house in Tennessee, more than 20 times the national average?
We could play eco-celeb-hypocrites for hours. Why don’t enviros call out these fakes? Maybe celebrities are their useful idiots.
But does the enviro-next-door walk the walk to save the Earth?
If you have air conditioning, it’s hard to take you seriously when you demand others reduce their carbon footprint. According to Stan Cox, author of “Losing Our Cool,” 20 percent of our home electric costs go to AC, the same as the entire continent of Africa uses for all electricity.
Do you have a dog? Really? You want to be taken seriously when you preach on greenhouse gases? As reported in Salon, a study by New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington concluded that dogs have carbon “paw prints” double that of a typical SUV. An average-sized dog consumes about 360 pounds of meat in a year and about 210 pounds of cereal.
Speaking of meat, you’d better be a vegetarian. A report in the journal Climate Change (by the way, there’s a journal called Climate Change) found that meat eaters had double the agricultural carbon footprint of vegans.
DiCaprio either doesn’t really believe greenhouse gases are the ultimate danger to the planet or, more likely, he believes he is so important his bloated carbon footprint is worth it. Enviros who also don’t walk the walk but enjoy their AC, Labrador, hamburgers etc., are only different by magnitude.
We’re told we are fighting for our very existence. The very planet hangs in the balance. If so, here’s an interesting thought experiment. What if China refused to reduce greenhouse emissions, continued building coal power plants at their ever-escalating rate and just wouldn’t stop no matter what. Would you support going to war with them to get them to stop?
If the Earth’s survival literally depends on it, how could you not?
Just something to think about next time you’re walking your dog.
This article originally appeared in the Denver Post on June 9, 2017.
