Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Bali Hoohah

Regarding Bali, first you may wish to check out National Review’s in-house editorial, which, um . . . shall we say, I had some input into (hint, hint).

Then, check out Tom Friedman’s column today, which, when stripped of his typical unctuous snark, arrives at many of the same places.

There is especially this graph from Friedman about what is evident to people who pay close attention to what is really going on (which is almost no one, including Friedman):

And then something unexpected happened. For 90 minutes, Andy Karsner, who runs the Department of Energy’s renewable energy programs, James Connaughton, who heads White House climate policy, and their colleagues put on a PowerPoint performance that was riveting in its understanding of the climate problem and the technologies needed to solve it. Their mastery of the subject was so impressive that it left the room full of global activists emotionally confused. . .

Well, leaving "global activists emotionally confused" isn’t really that hard, because they show up that way in the first place.

Discussions - 7 Comments

Thank God. Can we call that the Babel Conference, then? If all that was created was a noisy, self-congratulatory confusion, then the world is safe from "serious action on climate change" for a bit longer. If the US can say "yes" to hot air and then do no harm, who cares? Could we string the political hoo-ha out until climate science gets beyond the "scientific consensus" and we have some real clue as to what, if anything can or needs to be done. "What Was That All About?" is just the conclusion desired.

What is funny about that Friedman piece is that the US IS the model country for control of output. We have managed to un-foul our nest to an amazing degree. While I miss the multi-hued sunsets of Cleveland from thirty years ago, I knew what they meant about the air quality at the time. I suppose if I really wanted to see another, I could go to Beijing and gaze in the evening. A nation has to be prosperous to clean up as we have. The world has to be prosperous to put on a conference like that, in Bali - not a place convenient, with reduced airfares to and from, I'll bet. May it be catharsis enough for them for a while, so we might get a little peace from their "activity."

Kate wrote: "I suppose if I really wanted to see another, I could go to Beijing and gaze in the evening."

I was in Beijing last summer. The air is even worse than that. Most days the sun was not visible. A thick layer of smog obscured it. Eyes burned and the throat was irritated.

The most striking element of the Bali conference was that it was held in ... Bali. Why a tropical paradise? Why not some place like ... well, Beijing? Or any place more centrally located to the bulk of the participants and one not so clearly designed to be a boondoggle trip?

Kate has it exactly right ... the key here is to avoid long-term harm. Let the fools talk and posture ... and in the meantime economic forces and technology will address the issues.

Don wrote: I was in Beijing last summer. The air is even worse than that. Most days the sun was not visible. A thick layer of smog obscured it. Eyes burned and the throat was irritated.


Yes, just like Cleveland in 1976, or Pittsburgh, for that matter.

"[U]nctuous snark...." I like that descriptive, it fits Friedman to a tee.

The Chinese, like all Communist regimes, are brutal for the environment. Cuba is dumping all kinds of toxic and poisonous stuff in the Caribbean Sea.

Never hear the Left complain about that. Never hear the Left complain about what the creepy Soviets did to the Aral Sea.

And we never will. What's that line of theirs, "No enemies to the Left."

That's because environmentalists are like watermelons. They're green on the outside, red on the inside.

Never heard that one Hal.

But if they're not altogether bright, shiny "red" on the inside, they're certainly pinkish, to be sure.

The fact that they held their conference in Bali simply points to the fraudulence of their assertions. If global warming were truly the urgent issue that they would have us believe, then surely they could have found a place to convene that would have demonstrated to the world that they are not simply socialist hucksters. How about Antarctica for a global warming conference? Or perhaps Minnesota, where a little global warming would be welcome right around this time of year.

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