EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
You may have noticed how in recent days the media, and especially a national television station, have been inundating us with constant information about the climate apocalypse, which seems about to plunge our planet into horrors such as fires, floods, and wetter summers.
These PR exercises are, of course, not accidental. Starting today, a huge eco-activist initiative called #GlobalClimateStrike begins worldwide. For a week, we will be inundated with messages about how little Greta Thunberg (the child mascot of the cause) is leading protests across the Western world, how doctors, students and living saints are marching on the streets of Westminster against the addiction scourge of fossil fuels, how this time (unlike the previous 20) things are really urgent – a flood is coming, polar bears in the Amazon will disappear, and plastic straws will reopen the ozone hole. Which somehow closed itself, but documentaries, campaigns and Captain Planet may have also contributed.
But why such an attitude towards the efforts of the people here in the article you are reading? After all, they have science behind them, they may just want to open the eyes of the world to the scientific consensus, which is unfortunately ignored by oil companies, coal miners and former US President Barack Obama, who recently bought a mansion for 15 million dollars 100 meters from the ocean shore. In fact, there is an easy way to check what is behind the global strike - by opening the Global Climate Strike website and reading the section "What do we want?":
We demand climate justice for all . Our warmer planet is already hurting millions of people. If we don’t act now to transition fairly and quickly to 100% renewable energy for all, the injustice of the climate crisis will only get worse. We must act now to stop burning fossil fuels and secure a rapid energy revolution with social justice, reparations, and climate justice at its core.
For the keen eye of a politically educated reader, some peculiar means of expression and parts of speech characteristic of certain far-left political groups should already be visible here. But even for the rest, it begins to become clear from this paragraph that we are not talking about “science”, “the planet”, “technology” and “clean environment”. Rather, we are raising the banner of revolution, we will distribute justice and someone will even pay reparations. Some kind of... climate kulaks, probably.
In the above text, the phrase “climate justice” has a link that takes us to a group called “The People’s Demands” – the word used in English is the same one that is associated with the names of communist countries and organizations, such as the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, for example. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that indeed, the people in the name of the organization are actually some kind of international far-left coalition. Let’s take a look at the climate justice demands that are being protested.
The first, of course, is 100% renewable energy and a ban on fossil fuels by 2030. A reference review shows that decarbonising consumption (not production) in the UK alone by 2050 would cost £1 trillion. I’m not sure there is enough wealth in the world to phase out fossil fuels worldwide by 2030. Let’s not even raise the question that we’ll probably need it to meet other needs, like food, hospitals, heating, etc., rather than climate justice. But as the poet said, fuck the money, the important thing is to be healthy.
The following demands invite us to reject “false solutions.” These include: geothermal energy, carbon capture technologies, technology in general, emissions trading, biofuels, smart agriculture, and, of course, nuclear energy. In other words, we cannot use market mechanisms, economics, or technology.
This is even made explicit in the demands of the eco-activist populists, who argue that the best way to save the planet is to “support non-market approaches to climate change,” ones that are “ecologically sound, socially acceptable, and gender-responsive.” We are invited to use “traditional practices, wisdom, and knowledge of indigenous peoples” to combat the impending flood, supposedly as a counterpoint to the aforementioned forbidden technologies and capitalist perversions.
As we begin a week of intense climate crusade coverage, it's important to keep the following in mind. Whether we're shivering in fear of climate change on our private jet like Leonardo DiCaprio or feeling confident about the future like Al Gore in his Californian oceanfront villa, it's always helpful to consider whether by supporting our favorite eco-cause, we're becoming useful idiots for the purposes of an apocalyptic communist sect determined to start another revolution.
