A mind-numbing 22 million people and counting have applied for unemployment benefits since cities and states across the country started initiating lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus, reports the Labor Department. To radical environmentalists, however, this is great news.
Oxford professor Peter Frankopan, in an opinion piece titled, “Pandemics are terrifying but they can make the world better," brazenly shames our manufacturing industry and the millions employed in good-paying jobs, saying "… [the] world’s lungs are already breathing more easily thanks to the collapse of industrial production.”
Sky News' Ed Conway describes the coronavirus as "the ultimate weapon" against climate change. “[I]f you were a young, hardline environmentalist looking for the ultimate weapon against climate change, you could hardly design anything better than coronavirus," he said in recent a column.
The respected conservative Heartland Institute just released a report showcasing the craziness of the radical environmental movement, including kowtowing politicians and liberal media outlets that are attempting to leverage the coronavirus to push their extreme agenda.
"Not surprisingly coronavirus alarm has pushed most other issues and concerns out of the news - much to the dismay of climate alarmists," said Steve Milloy of the Heartland Institute. "But the alarmists aren’t taking displacement by coronavirus lying down. In fact, many climate alarmists are trying to use coronavirus as a means of advancing their agenda."
In the Heartland report, we learn how the so-called “Sunrise Movement” sees the Green New Deal as a solution for everything. “In times of peril, we need bold solutions to fix big problems and that's what the Green New Deal is," reads a “Sunrise Movement” tweet from March 18. Perhaps the sun should set on Sunrise!
Sen. Elizabeth Warren openly blames the pandemic on climate change. “Diseases like coronavirus remind us why we need robust institutions and investments in public health, and a government that is ready to respond at any moment. That means using science-based policy and confronting climate change, which will affect how diseases emerge and spread,” she tweeted Jan. 28.
Americans were just beginning to reap the benefits of a tight labor market and now a record number of Americans struggle to pay for groceries, rent and basic medical expenses. Americans are hurting and, meanwhile, the green lobby is jumping at the opportunity to vilify fossil fuels and job-creating industries.
“Coronavirus has basically turned off the global economy,” Jamie Henn, climate activist and co-founder of 350.org—a nonprofit organization rabidly committed to ending the use of fossil fuels—tells Vox. “Let’s install a new operating system before we turn it back on.”
Installing a “new operating system,” however, is code for inviting further economic ruin on communities nationwide. Even otherwise left-leaning civil-rights leaders Al Sharpton and National Urban League President Marc Morial see through the climate charade.
Both men warn against rushing to implement proposals like the “Green New Deal,” as such policies would disproportionately affect low-income and minority households. “I think people are concerned about the affordability and they are concerned about being left in the cold,” Sharpton told Axios.
Morial shared a similar sentiment. “Natural gas is a bit of a bridge fuel,” he said. “It’s a fuel that we need to have access to because the transition to alternatives is a long-range transition.” Indeed, the hysteria surrounding fossil fuels is overblown.
Already, 62 of the world’s biggest companies have slashed emissions by 12 percent. Moreover, dozens of major oil companies experienced a 40 percent decline in their methane emissions between 2015 and 2016. And—even as U.S. crude oil production surged by 36 percent—venting and flaring emissions associated with onshore petroleum production dropped a whopping 56 percent.
Far from causing the pandemic, industry leaders worldwide have mobilized to help “flatten the curve” and stop the novel coronavirus in its tracks. Harvard, for example, opened up use of its 3D printers to local hospitals so staff can create much-needed personal protective gear. And—yes—3D printers use plastics derived from fossil fuels.
Pharmaceutical companies are rushing to develop coronavirus treatments and a vaccine. Truckers are more than halving their delivery times to get critical supplies to those on the front lines as soon as humanly possible. My Pillow announced it is manufacturing masks and donating them to healthcare workers. All of these companies rely on natural gas and oil to get their products made or delivered.
And already Americans’ efforts are having a collective impact, as the projections for those expected to die as a result of the coronavirus have dropped significantly. “As of Monday, the model predicted the virus will kill 81,766 people in the United States over the next four months, with just under 141,000 hospital beds being needed. That's about 12,000 fewer deaths—and 121,000 fewer hospital beds—than the model estimated on Thursday,” reports CNN.
The same industry leaders and innovators stepping up to defeat the coronavirus are the same people who will help solve whatever climate woes we face. And they’ll do so without delivering another devastating blow to our economy and without leaving behind the 10 million Americans out of a job and wondering where their next meal or rent payment will come from.
The contrast between industry stepping up to help across-the-board in a time of crisis, and activists' attempt to exploit the crisis couldn't be more illuminating.