Until December 12, leftists worldwide will meet in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for COP28, the 28th annual meeting of the “Conference of Parties” of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Initially, the conference attracted only 5,000 attendees; however, 70,000 will attend this event. Ironically, many attendees will be flying into Dubai on their private jets. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, private jets emit ten times “more pollutants than commercial planes per passenger.”
One presenter who could not attend in person was Pope Francis due to “inflammation of the lungs.” His speech was given by his representative, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Once again, the Pope lamented the evils of nationalism and capitalism and stressed that the road forward needed to be one of “multilateralism.” He declared that he could hear “the cry of the earth” for a “decisive acceleration of ecological transition” and “the elimination of fossil fuels.”
With all the problems in the Catholic Church, it is sad that the Pope is such a leftwing ideologue, focused on a political agenda of open borders, socialism, and climate change. Instead, the Pope should be focused on saving the souls of the faithful, growing Church attendance and donations for worldwide missions, dealing with the damaging pedophilia scandal, and recruiting devout people to join the clergy and laity to ensure the future survival of the Catholic Church.
Another famous leftist who presented in Dubai was the king of climate alarmism, King Charles III. He arrived at “Green Davos” in a private jet. The King preached about “transformational action” and “warned…we’re seeing alarming tipping points being reached.” The King claimed that “the Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.”
It is disgusting to hear such demands from the wealthy and privileged King, who enjoys a huge staff of sycophants, a massive fleet of cars and aircraft and a personal train at his disposal. Most workers around the world are struggling during these tough economic times. To reach the King’s unrealistic “net zero” goal, which is the complete negation of greenhouse gases produced by human beings, the additional costs placed on average citizens worldwide will be significant.
The dream for King Charles and his fellow “climate change” fanatics is for meat to be removed from our diets, nitrogen fertilizer to be drastically reduced, and methane emissions from cows to be significantly curtailed. Such changes to our agriculture and diet will lead to “worldwide famine,” but the “climate change” zealots believe it is necessary to combat the dangers of taking no action.
One of the theoretical pieces of evidence of “climate change” is the increase of extreme “weather emergencies.” However, a study by four Italian scientists shows that the number of cyclones and hurricanes occurring worldwide has not increased in the last fifty years.
The “climate change” devotees also claim that wildfires are occurring in greater numbers due to this supposed crisis. Yet, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that wildfires mostly occur due to human activities such as arson and improper land management. In addition, science researcher Roger Pielke, Jr. discovered that global wildfires have decreased in the last twenty years.
The “doom and gloom” reports from “climate change” alarmists are not sufficient to support the change in lifestyles that they want to enforce on humanity. Not only will economic activity be curtailed, but trillions of dollars in wealth will be transferred from the middle class to the elitists.
No wonder there is no mass popular movement for these changes. In the last annual Gallup survey of Americans, “climate change” did not list the top 14 problems facing Americans. Instead of worrying about something that may or may not be man-made or impact them in the decades to come, the poll indicates Americans are more concerned about the problems we face today: dissatisfaction with government, high inflation, the poor economy, and the massive increase in illegal immigration.
Regardless of Americans' true concerns, the Biden administration is investing heavily in the “green agenda.” The U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, promised that the United States will “stop building new unabated coal power plants.” President Joe Biden has already committed to replacing all coal plants in the country with “wind and solar.” A study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Finance Analysis estimated that 173 coal plants would close by 2030.
While the United States moves away from coal toward more expensive energy sources, China is massively increasing its “coal power capacity,” permitting 106 gigawatts in 2022, a 400% increase from the previous year. Instead of attempting to rein in China, delegates at the Dubai conference were circulating a petition demanding the United States and other Western nations end the construction of new natural gas infrastructure projects. Those who signed the anti-natural gas petition must have overlooked that natural gas is very efficient, producing only 117 pounds of “heat-trapping carbon dioxide per million BTUs of energy produced,” much less than gasoline or coal.
For the “climate change” radicals, the facts do not matter; they are obsessed with eliminating fossil fuels. Not surprisingly, the Biden administration is fully supportive of this effort. At COP28, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States will contribute $3 billion to the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund, supporting poor countries' transition from fossil fuels.
Fortunately, not all world leaders subscribe to this radical agenda. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott blasted the “green cult” and said these climate goals are “ahistorical and utterly implausible.” Abbott noted, “10,000 years ago, we had an Ice Age, that was rather dramatic climate change, but presumably that had nothing to do with mankind’s carbon dioxide emissions.” Well said, Prime Minister.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs Saturdays from Noon until 1 p.m. CT nationally on Real America's Voice TV Network & AmericasVoice.News and weekdays from 7-11 a.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com