“[I am] worried that events like this could harm the cause to which I (and so many) have devoted my life. From a communications standpoint, the protest seemed like an even bigger mess than the soup-splattered painting.” – Michael Mann (below)
The activist climate fringe finds their cause in trouble. Their termite cause is losing to consumers who want the best energies in terms of price and reliability; losing with taxpayers who are on the hook for ‘energy transition’ bribes; losing with the public that is tired of the rhetoric, exaggeration, and now targeted inconvenience. And, losing with nature as energy sprawl accelerates with industrial wind, solar, and batteries.
Yet the anti-modern-living Deep Ecologists myopically target carbon dioxide (CO2), the green greenhouse gas, the gas of life. Turning to civil disobedience only inflames the public against a selfish fringe. Yet the apologists are out in force.
“There seems to be no end to the destruction being wrought by Big Oil,” complained climate activist Assaad Razzouk on social media. He quoted from a Guardian article that said “lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies were key architects of anti-protest laws that increase penalties and could lead to non-violent environmental and climate activists being imprisoned up to 10 years.”
The “peaceful protests” are being squashed by authoritarian government. The Guardian article, “Revealed: How the Fossil Fuel Industry Helps Spread Anti-Protest Laws Across the US,” stated:
Amid ongoing record oil and gas expansion in the US, activists say they have turned to protests and non-violent civil disobedience such as blocking roads and chaining themselves to trees, machinery and equipment as a way to slow down construction, raise public awareness, and press for more urgent climate action by governments and corporations.
Losing Fight
The climate movement has encountered a populist revolt, as documented by Politico. “Conservatives are aggressively targeting efforts to reduce carbon emissions across the continent.”
Leaders across the continent who have embraced aggressive climate policies are facing a political backlash as the programs drive up the cost of electricity, home heating and even ordinary goods. In New York, Washington, Pennsylvania and California — and even Canada — concerns about the costs of curbing greenhouse gas emissions are fueling voter revolts and prompting some liberals to scale back or reframe their own climate ambitions.
What sociologists call the “radical flank effect” has alarmed at least one leading climate alarmist. “I have devoted much of my time and effort over the past several decades to the cause of meaningful climate action,” wrote Michael Mann.
[I am] worried that events like this could harm the cause to which I (and so many) have devoted my life. From a communications standpoint, the protest seemed like an even bigger mess than the soup-splattered painting.
Keep on with selfish, nutty displays, and public opinion will continue to side with common sense and civil discourse, not obstructionism. It is a futile, wasteful cause. Carbon dioxide (CO2) deserves a lot better–and wind, solar, and batteries a lot worse, another story.