The Environmentalist Wacko Chronicles

Did you know that women are now sterilizing themselves because they feel that having babies pollutes the planet? If they don't want to have kids, that's fine, but to equate having children with polluting the planet seems obscene.

Also, did you hear what happened at the environmentalist conference in tropical paradise Bali? In the name of environmental awareness, this conference turned out to be the height of hypocrisy, with horrendous overspending, huge carbon footprints in travel, and open talk of how to fleece the world of more money to perpetuate global warming awareness.

My favorite example of the hypocrisy run rampant here was that so many people flew in on private jets that there wasn't enough room to park them all, so they had to be flown to four other airports -- between 60 and 600 miles away -- to store them until the conference was over. Yeah, that's a great example of how to 'save' the planet! If there's a better example of hypocrisy, I don't know what it is!

Remember the Kyoto treaty? Supposedly, the entire world was going to get on board, reduce their carbon emissions, and save the planet. The U.S. didn't join up, but how's it going for the countries that did?

They're getting completely hosed.

Japan, Italy, and Spain, for example, have been slapped with fines of $33 billion for missing their target emissions goals. Why? Because they underestimated future economic growth! Since the economies of these countries are growing much better than expected, these countries are being penalized! Where are those penalties going to come from? Spain will pass 60% of the cost on to taxpayers; Japan will tax its citizens for 2/3 of the penalty, and Italy will pass 75% on to taxpayers. As America embarks on the 'going green' debate, we don't have to speculate what will happen - we know for certain because we are watching it happen to these other countries!

So, is it even possible to live a carbon neutral life? David Freddoso gives it a try:

I don’t have natural gas or heating oil. I have never owned an automobile or flown in a private plane, and I usually work from home.

I wash all of my clothes in cold water. While shopping for my groceries online this month (and yes, that saves gasoline by consolidating deliveries), I even bought a few of those new twisty light bulbs that all the environmentalists want us to start using. I had been burning through incandescent bulbs so quickly that I was cannibalizing my light fixtures just to keep a few of the lamps on. (There’s really no need to have three light bulbs in the same overhead fixture, is there?) My new "green" bulbs are a bit dimmer, and sometimes they freak me out by illuminating more than a full second after I flip the switch.

So, does it work?

For all of my needless austerity, I still emitted more than 3,500 kg of carbon dioxide in October (as calculated here), almost entirely because I took two plane trips. Great Britain, in its effort to meet its Kyoto obligations, has as its goal to limit subjects to an average of just 8,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year — and in the future they want to cut that in half to 4,000 kg per year!

It's not possible, even if you go overboard like Freddoso did.

Lastly, the self-anointed high priest of the Green religion, Al Gore, appears to be selling out his own cause by joining a venture capital firm that seeks to profit from global warming alarmism (in addition to the company he already owns that sells carbon credits). This is particularly ironic since he regularly accuses anyone who doesn't subscribe to his hype of selling out to oil companies.

Remember, global warming is not really about 'saving' the planet...it's all about the money. Specifically, it's about the liberal elite taking money from YOU, the citizen. Don't fall prey to the hype, or you will (literally) pay for it!

There's my two cents.


***UPDATE***
Bloomberg reports that the conference will create as much pollution as 20,000+ mid-size cars operating for a year. Some countries have committed to offset their carbon footprint by purchasing carbon credits or planting trees. For example, Indonesia said it will plant 79 million trees. Riiiiiight... Where are they going to do that? Do they have vast acres of unused land that can be used to simply plant trees? Fortunately, the U.S. hasn't gone completely wacko (although it's questionable since they're even attending):

[W]e feel the best use of taxpayer dollars is for technology advancement, not purchasing carbon offsets,'' said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the delegation.

At least there's hope...