Mayors from 51 cities from across the U.S. and around the world are meeting in Chicago to hear from former President Obama and sign a document they are calling the “Chicago Climate Charter.”
President Trump announced his intention to pull the U.S. out of the UN’s Paris Climate Accord, however, the terms of the Accord delay his taking formal action until November, 2019.
The mayors gathered in Chicago, meanwhile, are vowing to bypass the federal government and create climate policies of their own.
USA Today reports that the Chicago Charter calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. They couple this with the usual “social justice” language vowing to include women, minorities, indigenous people and other “marginalized communities” in their climate policies and “recognize the fiscal and social costs of carbon, and work toward a ‘just’ climate transition.”
While nothing these mayors do will have any meaningful impact on the future temperature of the world, they may be able to claim some movement on emissions, as American electricity generation continues to shift toward low emissions natural gas. They will be able to thank free market innovation, specifically fracking technology unleashing the shale energy revolution for that, not big city central planning.
The problems assailing America’s inner cities are legion. The mayors who failed to successfully control unemployment, welfare dependency, failing schools, drug addiction and violent crime are not very likely to successfully control our global thermostat.
They are, however, likely to bloviate, posture, virtue signal, waste taxpayer dollars and enrich a few favored climate-carpetbagging industrialists.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel released a statement in which he vows “to take decisive action to improve our environment while bettering our communities.” Last year Chicago suffered over two murders a day totaling 762 murders and 4,331 shooting victims. Mayor Emmanuel should get tough on crime and actually save some lives in “marginalized communities.”
Count on Emmanuel and the rest of these mayors to instead add to their cities’ burdens while accomplishing nothing that will make a difference to the climate.
If we have problem A and problem B, it’s wasteful to consider problem B? What bizarre logic is presented here? What if the two have connection and solving B will help alleviate A? No discussion to be found here in the CFACT alternate reality where actual science can be gleefully ignored and denied so the capitalist Pollyanna lie can be spun. How about a good CFACT article on economic externalities that link unregulated economies to damaged ecosystems and living conditions. Let’s just move CFACT supporters to live on top of industrially caused superfund sites. They don’t see a problem with it, they can have it.
Of course the failures of the “Great Society” reforms were caused by GloBull warming. I remember back in the late 1980s when there were more than 2000 homicides in Los Angeles County, mainly caused by under-represented minority gang bangers shooting each other drive-by style, that environmentalist blamed the slaughter on GloBull Warming.
Funny how the green lobby always seems to be as white as the tundra in winter.