I find it interesting that people who refuse to change their own lives to accord with their ‘climate change’ beliefs, and often have bigger carbon footprints than average, are always shocked that their attempts to require people to pay more in taxes, raise their cost of living, and control their lives fail
OUR CLIMATE IS HEADED FOR DISASTER, BUT VOTERS STILL SHRUG
TUESDAY’S MIDTERM ELECTIONS offered voters across the US the chance to move decisively to slow down the global ecological disaster of climate change. As the votes were tallied, however, one thing became clear: Americans remain as divided as ever on climate change.
During his tenure, President Trump has moved to roll back Obama-era emissions standards, cripple renewable energy research (in other words, not spending oodles of taxpayer money on loans which often do not get repaid), and pulled the US from global climate talks. Yesterday’s election won’t turn that around overnight, or maybe even at all. Sure, candidates who promised climate change solutions in areas hit hard by a series of supercharged hurricanes, like Florida and Texas, won key races that helped Democrats wrest control of the House. And that means the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, which has been run by Republican climate science deniers for the last eight years, will for the first time since the 1990s be headed up by someone with a STEM background. (Imagine!)
Where progressive Democrats had the biggest opportunities to fight climate change directly was further down the ballot, with a handful of state initiatives in the south and west that would have reduced residents’ reliance on fossil fuels. “There’s certainly a sense of increased responsibility to curtail greenhouse gas emissions at the state and local levels,†says Sean Hecht, co-executive director of the UCLA law school’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. But he stresses that it’s not some great sea change from the pre-Trump era. States have always been the ones pushing the boundaries.
Here’s a look at how some of the more consequential climate-focused ballot measures around the country fared.
Of those ballot initiatives, most of consequence failed. The only big “win” was the one in Florida which banned new offshore drilling in Florida state waters, which would only extend to 10.5 miles into the Gulf and 3.3 miles into the Atlantic. Most Gulf drilling is further offshore than that anyway, plus, really, Amendment 9 also included a provision to ban indoor vaping at workplaces. Many believe that the vaping portion enabled the amendment to pass (68%). Many others think that it was more about not wanting to see drilling rigs offshore when they go to the beach, rather than having anything to do with Hotcoldwetdry whatsoever.
And, again, we know of the failed ballot initiative for a carbon tax in Washington state. They can claim that it was all those durned rural folks who killed it, but, no. Consider
Same populace said no to the carbon tax scam while saying yes to increased gun control. Further, Democrat Maria Cantwell beat Republican Susan Hutchinson 58.6% to 41.4% (73% reporting at this time). If it was about those dangumbit rural voters, Hutchinson would have won and the gun restrictions would have failed. Instead, you can bet that Democrats voted against the carbon tax scheme. They should try and pass tax schemes in the leftist voting cities and counties, see how that goes. Most aren’t willing to pay the price for their own so-called beliefs in “ecological doom” from a tiny increase in CO2 and global temperatures.
