NOTE: On November 25, 2020, I devoted this space to the topic of climate change, ranked 12th out of 13 issues voters considered “very important,” making it a non-issue in my mind. Yet, it is climate change that is getting priority attention by the Biden-Harris team. Biden has named former Sen. John Kerry to the newly designated cabinet position of senior climate envoy on the National Security Council, and has announced plans to return the U.S. to the worthless Paris Accord.
Commentary
“The news across the globe is that world leaders and environmental agencies are thrilled to the rafters that under a Biden administration, the U.S. will reenter the Paris Accord. Why wouldn’t they be? We pay the bills.” – Stephen Moore, Washington Examiner
A broad cross section of big U.S. corporations is calling on Congress to work closely with president-elect Joe Biden to address the threat of climate change, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
In a letter sent to Congress and the Biden transition team, more than 40 companies indicated their support of rejoining the Paris Accord, and urged them to work together to enact ambitious, durable, bi-partisan climate solutions.
While a number of these companies help fund the independent, non-partisan, non-profit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) group, to my knowledge, none have stepped forward to pick up the billion-dollar bill for reentry into the failed Paris Accord.
While C2ES wants to be seen as a leading energy and environmental policy think tank, it seemingly wants the support of the social justice crowd with its statement of values: “We are fully committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. There is no lasting climate solution without climate justice, and no climate justice without social justice.” Balderdash!
Although scientists have said that the earth’s temperatures will continue to warm through at least 2500, even if greenhouse gases are reduced to zero by 2030, the companies want to be seen by their customers and employees, as concerned about climate change by publicly telling Congress to do something. Among the firms signing on to the letter were, Ford, IBM and Walmart.
How disappointing it is to see our industry titans cave to the extortion of the Black Lives Matter movement one day, then be so naïve as to fall for the so-called threat of climate change, basically for the sake of political correctness.
“Most countries aren’t hitting 2030 climate goals,” according to National Geographic, a supporter of climate change action. Countries need to double and triple their 2030 emission reduction commitments to be aligned with the Paris target; then keep them.
Though President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Accord, we have made substantial progress in reducing carbon emissions. Our carbon dioxide emissions are down, and our air pollution levels and emissions of lead, carbon monoxide and other pollutants are at record lows.
Despite this record, environmentalists are pressing Biden to restore the EPA back to the days when the agency was loaded with regulation-happy scientists. One of their first effort will be to return to stiffening café standard on automobiles and trucks.
Biden is heavily committed to electric vehicles, but it appears there’s trouble waiting for his administration there as Consumer Reports revealed that several newer models are beset with problems, contradicting the conventional wisdom that EVs with their simpler power trains should have fewer issues than gasoline and diesel-powered cars. They have decided to downgrade the predicted reliability of a number of new models.
Then, along comes Tesla CEO Elon Musk to drop another bomb on Biden’s move to electric. While revealing that the move from combustion engines to battery-driven electric motors will take two decades (it will no doubt take longer), he predicted that electricity consumption will double if the world’s cars are electrified, increasing the need to significantly expand sustainable energy sources.
Meanwhile, those all-electric dreamers probably haven’t been told about the increased mining that will have to be done to meet the demands for copper, lithium and cobalt needed in battery production, and the adverse environmental and social impacts mining brings.
And they still haven’t come up with a way to recycle those giant wind power blades when they need to be replaced, so they are now sent to landfills.
About the only thing we mere mortals can do is to make our next auto or car purchase, one with a combustion engine.
Side Note
Walter Williams passed away this week at the age of 84. I wouldn’t be surprised if that name wasn’t familiar to you. Williams was a conservative author and economist, up there with the likes of Thomas Sowell.
He was a professor at George Mason University, where students knew him as an affable, popular and brilliant economic professor. I always marveled how he managed at a university, where left-leaning professors are in the majority.
While he was a prolific writer of pieces in scholarly journals and an author of 10 books, I first came to know about him when he was the sub-host on the Rush Limbaugh radio show.
Known for his sharp mind, he was also known for his wit, dry sense of humor and his kindness. Most of all, I recall how he would poke fun with anecdotes about his wife, Connie, suggesting he was spoiling her by allowing her to shovel the snow, for instance.
He will be missed.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
