Former Vice President turned nine-figure millionaire, Al Gore, long a global warming celebrity, will be among several speakers next month for a series of “TED Talks” to launch “Countdown,” which is a global initiative to deal with the “climate crisis.” The Countdown is pushing to reduce global carbon emissions in half by 2030 “in the race to a zero carbon world …that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone” (emphasis mine).
No one is against “safer, cleaner and fairer” in the abstract, which is why such terms are used incessantly in commercials, and by interest groups, politicians, salespeople and hucksters alike. I’m especially curious about that word “fairer” when it comes to climate activism. “Fairness” also is a subjective term; one person’s definition of fair is not necessarily another person’s.
From a political or policy standpoint, fairness is about who gets and who pays. The various Green New Deal proposals beginning in 2019 are not confined to energy and environmental initiatives. They go far beyond by mandating unionization, tax hikes, guaranteed income and more redistributionist policies under the guise of fairness.
The Countdown climate initiative curiously uses fairness because the partner organizations and climate agenda are not content with a cleaner planet, but about a much larger and more powerful government and welfare state. Accordingly, they support greater state control to dictate how private industry operates and produces product to supposedly secure a cleaner planet; and increased redistribution from the private sector and taxpayers to expanded government subsidies and giveaways. No industry is spared from being forced to emit less carbon, including steel, cement, aviation, shipping and more.
Ultimately, the Countdown initiative is about preventing average global temperature from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. Countdown links to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that contends the prevention of warming of one-half degree above its projected increase of 1.5C will mean “our world will suffer less negative impacts on intensity and frequency of extreme events, on resources, ecosystems, biodiversity, food security, cities, tourism, and carbon removal.”
Countdown is another effort to propagate the climate change agenda, which purports to keeping the planet from warming beyond 1.5 degrees in the next three decades by reducing net carbon emissions to zero. This crusade, however, ignores a blizzard of realities, including that man-made carbon emissions comprise about one-ten thousandth of the planet’s atmospheric gases; and Earth’s climate is affected by much more than carbon dioxide levels. The IPCC climate prediction and its impact on “extreme events, food security,” etc., is pure conjecture dressed up as science.
There are more than 50 TED speakers lined up to make the case for stopping global warming, including Mr. Gore, whose given title is “Climate Advocate.” In fact, he has two speaking slots because…he’s Al Gore, whose hypocrisy and climate predictions gone bust are apparent to everyone not prone to hysteria.
In keeping with the goal of reducing climate emissions by half in ten years, Mr. Gore should announce he is downsizing from his mansion in upscale Belle Meade, Tennessee. This 10,000 square-foot, 20-room edifice consumes 21 times the electricity of the average American. Gore is long since divorced from his wife, Tipper, and his four children have grown up and departed the nest. His predictable screed will be fitting for a person residing in a studio apartment and using public transportation.
At least 12 speakers are labeled as “advocates” or “activists” and another 12 are listed as one or more of the following: singer, songwriter, poet, artist, actor, novelist and comedian. Another seven presenters work for Amazon, Apple (both of which have a substantial presence in China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases), and other private companies; and at least five are politicians, including Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
There are three scientists in this distinguished group of TED speakers, not including the one “political scientist,” who doesn’t count; another five are listed as “scholars” or researchers. Are scientists boring speakers? Perhaps, since they comprise only 6 percent of the presenters who will make the case for global warming and transforming our society.
Finally, there is a category I call “other,” which includes the “Duke of Cambridge” (as in Prince William, 2nd in line to the British throne), “Long-view Philosopher,” “Capitalism Rethinker,” and my personal favorite, “Stubborn Optimist.”
No doubt that most of the TED speakers for the Countdown initiative are accomplished in their fields and will be interesting in many ways. Those discussing upcoming technology that will translate to lower carbon emissions could be worthwhile. Since the speakers’ line-up heavily skews toward activists, entertainers and other non-scientists, it remains how many of them will deal in scientific substance and facts, rather than raw emotion and societal control that define the climate change cottage industry.