Issues & Insights has some great… insights on the imminent meeting of the frankly useless UN Climate Summit. Excerpts, with my comments, follow:
Later this month, private- and public-sector “leaders” will meet in Glasgow, Scotland. Nearly all will fly to the conference, many in private jets. And what will they talk about? Saving the climate from greenhouse gas emissions, of course.
The United Nations Conference of Parties on climate change, the 26th version of this long-running clown show, starts Oct. 31 and will run through Nov. 12. Media coverage will be both intense and obsequious; attendees, especially the ever-smug John Kerry, “special” climate envoy to the president, will speak in somber tones due to the seriousness at hand; warnings of impending doom will be issued; and absolutely nothing will be accomplished.
This is because there’s nothing to accomplish.
John “Lurch” Kerry, of course, being the biggest hypocrite on this issue since Al Gore, will almost certainly fly to this summit on his private jet, after departing from one of his several mansions. Is he up to three yachts yet, or is it only two? You know, the ones he keeps docked in Rhode Island to dodge the Massachusetts port taxes?
“An existential threat is one that threatens the very existence of mankind. Something that is simply a challenge or an inconvenience is not an existential threat,” explains University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor Cliff Mass. “An existential threat must have the potential to undermine the very viability of human civilization.”
Mass believes “global warming is a serious problem” that will have “substantial impacts,” but he says “in no way does it seriously threaten our species or human civilization.”
“With reasonable mitigation and adaptation, mankind will continue to move forward – reducing poverty, living healthier lives, and stabilizing our population.”
For those who haven’t noticed, humanity has been enormously successful at adapting to, and in many cases, overcoming an environment that is hostile to its existence.
Humans are the most adaptable species to ever walk the planet. While remaining, biologically, a relatively hairless African savannah ape, we have moved into every climate on the planet, from the Arctic Ocean to Tierra Del Fuego. We’ve conquered mountain ranges and oceans; I think we can handle a change in the weather. And besides, who the hell are we to determine what the Earth’s “correct” temperature is? This planet is about 4.55 billion years old, and through most of that time it’s been a lot warmer than it is now.
But here’s the real onion:
It will also be a gathering of hypocrites. Attendees of the 2008 climate meeting in Copenhagen needed 140 private jets and 1,200 limousines to get the “job” done. Travel to and from the 2015 climate talks in Paris emitted about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Nearly 1,500 private jets were flown to Davos, Switzerland, in 2019 for the World Economic Forum, where climate was one of the chief topics.
That’s a lot of fossil fuel burned in the name of cutting fossil fuel emissions.
Ay, there’s the rub. It’s not the science that’s astounding; it’s the hypocrisy. This is a gathering of unrepentant elites,
dreaming up policy positions that they smugly assume will never be applied to their own lifestyles. Like the old Soviet Politburo, they reckon that the rules will apply to the masses, but not to them, and were they to have their way, that’s exactly what would happen – and any kulaks and wreckers better watch out, because it’s a damned short step from “good intentions” to “do what you’re told or else.”
Oh, and this just in: They are using Diesel generators to charge the fleet of Teslas that are being used to shuttle people around the conference. I swear, you just can’t make this shit up.
I’ve long been in favor of extricating the U.S. from the UN. This useless, hypocritical climate summit is just one more damn good reason to do so.