Happy Earth Day, 2012!
Happy Earth Day, Power Line readers. I know it’s hard, but try to contain your ecstatic frenzy as you go about your day. What?—You mean you aren’t assiduously checking off all the boxes on your “50 Ways to Save the Planet” list today?
It’s been my theme here that the entire green crusade has lost its mojo and is unlikely to get it back (which is not to say that the enormous momentum of the EPA’s bureaucratic-regulatory juggernaut will slow any time soon). The latest annual Gallup survey on the environment finds that public concern about air and water pollution is at historic lows, and concern for global warming has fallen 10 percent (from 40 to 30) since 2000, and continues to come in dead last on the ranking of environmental problems American worry about. The climateers are touting a recent Yale survey that finds an uptick in people who link this year’s warm winter to climate change, but this is a thin reed, as it will disappear with the next cold winter, and in any case clashes with the desire of the public for lower gasoline prices so we can use an adequate amount of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the MediaMatters crowd has its knickers in a bunch because their supposed allies in the mainstream media have grown bored with climate change and aren’t covering it as much as they used to as I have been predicting for at least three years would eventually happen. This hed is the most fun: “Sunday Show Coverage Of Climate Change Fell 90% Between 2009 And 2011.” (But irony of ironies, guess what Sunday news show gave the most coverage to the issue: the dreaded Fox News Sunday! Heh.)
So what’s a desperate greenie to do? Fantasize about the good old days mostly. The Nation magazine’s Mark Hertsgaard notes that “some environmentalists have called for abolishing Earth Day. But that would be throwing the baby out with the polluted bathwater. Instead, why not recall the real history of Earth Day and revive its original—and much more demanding—vision? . . . As on that first Earth Day, we need millions of Americans to stand up and take action, risks and political scalps.
As climate crusader Mohamed Nasheed, the deposed Maldives president, told The Nation recently, ‘You need to put a million people in the streets to show politicians you are serious.’”
But that will kind of get in the way of (Re-) Occupy, won’t it?
But if the old anti-Vietnam War/Civil Rights Era massive march model can’t be revived, there’s always civil disobedience and violence against one’s opponents. A few years back there was talk of holding “Nuremberg Trials” for climate skeptics, and then there was the infamous and appalling “Climate 10:10” video entitled “No Pressure” showing climate skeptics—including school children—being blown up, Monty Python-style, only without the slightest trace of humor. (My contribution to the “Hitler Learns About. . .” genre on this episode can be found here.)
Forbes.com columnist Steve Zwick offers one of those head-smackers right out of the “we-know-where-you-live” genre in an attempt to compete with the other crazies:
I’ll say it again: Losers.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/happy-earth-day-2012.php
It’s been my theme here that the entire green crusade has lost its mojo and is unlikely to get it back (which is not to say that the enormous momentum of the EPA’s bureaucratic-regulatory juggernaut will slow any time soon). The latest annual Gallup survey on the environment finds that public concern about air and water pollution is at historic lows, and concern for global warming has fallen 10 percent (from 40 to 30) since 2000, and continues to come in dead last on the ranking of environmental problems American worry about. The climateers are touting a recent Yale survey that finds an uptick in people who link this year’s warm winter to climate change, but this is a thin reed, as it will disappear with the next cold winter, and in any case clashes with the desire of the public for lower gasoline prices so we can use an adequate amount of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the MediaMatters crowd has its knickers in a bunch because their supposed allies in the mainstream media have grown bored with climate change and aren’t covering it as much as they used to as I have been predicting for at least three years would eventually happen. This hed is the most fun: “Sunday Show Coverage Of Climate Change Fell 90% Between 2009 And 2011.” (But irony of ironies, guess what Sunday news show gave the most coverage to the issue: the dreaded Fox News Sunday! Heh.)
Extra Credit for Spotting the Blooper Here
So what’s a desperate greenie to do? Fantasize about the good old days mostly. The Nation magazine’s Mark Hertsgaard notes that “some environmentalists have called for abolishing Earth Day. But that would be throwing the baby out with the polluted bathwater. Instead, why not recall the real history of Earth Day and revive its original—and much more demanding—vision? . . . As on that first Earth Day, we need millions of Americans to stand up and take action, risks and political scalps.
As climate crusader Mohamed Nasheed, the deposed Maldives president, told The Nation recently, ‘You need to put a million people in the streets to show politicians you are serious.’”
But that will kind of get in the way of (Re-) Occupy, won’t it?
But if the old anti-Vietnam War/Civil Rights Era massive march model can’t be revived, there’s always civil disobedience and violence against one’s opponents. A few years back there was talk of holding “Nuremberg Trials” for climate skeptics, and then there was the infamous and appalling “Climate 10:10” video entitled “No Pressure” showing climate skeptics—including school children—being blown up, Monty Python-style, only without the slightest trace of humor. (My contribution to the “Hitler Learns About. . .” genre on this episode can be found here.)
Forbes.com columnist Steve Zwick offers one of those head-smackers right out of the “we-know-where-you-live” genre in an attempt to compete with the other crazies:
We know who the active denialists are – not the people who buy the lies, mind you, but the people who create the lies. Let’s start keeping track of them now, and when the famines come, let’s make them pay. Let’s let their houses burn until the innocent are rescued. Let’s swap their safe land for submerged islands. Let’s force them to bear the cost of rising food prices.I wonder if Zwick will start with that well-known beachfront property owner Al Gore.
I’ll say it again: Losers.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/happy-earth-day-2012.php
No comments:
Post a Comment