Pirate's Cove

You know, I totally agree with Warmist Joel Makower

This is exactly the time to be talking about climate change

I rarely get exasperated from reading environmental business media, but a quote last week in a Bloomberg article about sustainability and the U.S. economic crisis got me headed in that direction.

The quote came from Ted Nordhaus, co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute, a research group whose founders, self-described environmentalists, have made a career out of being gadflies — for example, arguing in favor of nuclear power and natural gas, arguing against putting a price on carbon emissions and claiming that there’s no real limit to the earth’s carrying capacity, or that energy efficiency doesn’t work because of something called the “rebound effect.” (snip)

Here’s last week’s quote, in reference to the notion of integrating climate measures into congressional appropriations as we rebuild the economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. Said Nordhaus:

It’s not the time to be talking about climate change or demanding climate policy. … That’s going to cause extraordinary economic pain for a lot of people, most of whom don’t have the privilege of worrying about climate change. It would be tone-deaf to talk about climate change now.

It’s a specious ploy often used by conservatives. Following a mass shooting, it’s not the right time to talk about gun control. Following a hurricane, it’s not the right time to talk about climate-exacerbated weather events. Following the police shooting of an unarmed black man, it’s not the right time to talk about race relations and inequality.

Of course, later on, when it’s presumably “the right time,” the public’s fickle attention likely has moved on to other front-burner topics.

Well, if the issue is so important, people will be receptive once emotions have cooled and adult logic is considered, right?

Just because a problem isn’t in the news doesn’t mean it somehow has been solved. All of the above challenges remain, pandemic or not. And, to varying degrees, they all need to be kept alive, even amid other pressing priorities.

So, Nordhaus is dead wrong: This is exactly the right time to be talking about climate change.

In fact, we need to be talking unapologetically about climate, the clean economy, renewable energy, resilient food systems, sustainable mobility, the circular economy and the Sustainable Development Goals with more vigor than ever.

See, we need to talk about creating a new economy similar to Soviet Russia’s and initiated Chinese style authoritarian government.

It will take everyone’s hard work and best intentions, not to mention visionary thinking, to ensure that the solutions to our economic woes align with where we want to go, not where we’ve been. We simply can’t slough off the climate crisis and other environmental and social challenges as expendable conversations during tough times. Much as we need to mobilize and remain unflinching as we fight the pandemic, we can’t put other pressing issues on hold. The climate, for one, won’t wait.

Here’s the question: what if most people are not interested? We’ve seen surveys and polls time and time again that show that ‘climate change’ action is popular in theory, but not in practice. Most people refuse to pay more than $10 of their own money a month to help out. Other polls show even less money. Will they be forced to comply?

So, yes, this is the perfect time to discuss this, things like forcing airlines to shoot for zero emissions (meaning you’ll have to be a rich person to afford to fly), implementing total control of the agricultural sector, and force transition from all fossil fuels, three things Makower mentions. Let’s discuss that the world will look like what’s going on now with Bat Soup Virus. No, it wouldn’t be as bad, but it would be bad. Let’s discuss that. What would Warmists have to say?

Read: This Is Totally The Time To Talk About Hotcoldwetdry, You Guys »

I’ve pretty much given up on digging deep to find Hotcoldwetdry pieces that have nothing to do with Bat Soup Virus at this point, because the Cult of Climastrology has to link their cult to everything that happens, so, let’s just run with it

The coronavirus outbreak is part of the climate change crisis

…

These sweeping and unprecedented measures taken by the government and international institutions could not but make some of us wonder about another global emergency that needs urgent action – climate change.

The two emergencies are in fact quite similar. Both have their roots in the world’s current economic model – that of the pursuit of infinite growth at the expense of the environment on which our survival depends – and both are deadly and disruptive.

In fact, one may argue that the pandemic is part of climate change and therefore, our response to it should not be limited to containing the spread of the virus. What we thought was “normal” before the pandemic was already a crisis and so returning to it cannot be an option.

Or, one could just avoid eating bats (or, some say, Pangolin) from wet markets. Or, potentially, screwing around with viruses in centers that have security issues.

Despite the persistent climate denialism in some policy circles, by now it is clear to the majority across the world that climate change is happening as a result of human activity – namely industrial production.

In order to continue producing – and being able to declare that their economy is growing – humans are harvesting the natural resources of the planet – water, fossil fuels, timber, land, ore, etc – and plugging them into an industrial cycle which puts out various consumables (cars, clothes, furniture, phones, processed food etc) and a lot of waste.

This process depletes the natural ability of the environment to balance itself and disrupts ecological cycles (for example deforestation leads to lower CO2 absorption by forests), while at the same time, it adds a large amount of waste (for example CO2 from burned fossil fuels). This, in turn, is leading to changes in the climate of our planet.

This is all interesting, considering the large amount of energy used by Al Jazeera, which published this screed. And that AJ is owned by the government of Qatar, which produces vast amounts of fossil fuels. Shut them down. To Save The Planet.

While some have called for climate change to be just as drastic as the one undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it should not be. We need a just climate transition which ensures the protection of the poor and most vulnerable and which is integrated into our pandemic response. This would not only reverse the climate disaster we are already living in but also minimise the risk of new pandemics like the current one breaking out.

Remember how all those fossil fueled vehicles caused the Black Death centuries ago?

We should demand that government funds are instead allocated to decentralised renewable energy production in order to start implementing the Green New Deal and create new meaningful jobs amid the post-COVID-19 economic crisis. In parallel, we should ensure the provision of universal healthcare and free education, the extension of social protection for all vulnerable populations and the prioritisation of affordable housing.

Read: The Coronavirus Outbreak Is Part Of ‘Climate Change’ Or Something »