PrintFebruary 16, 2007
Global Whining
"We are at a tipping point. We must act, and act swiftly ... Such action requires international cooperation.
This was Al Gore on February 3rd, gloating over the 46 nations--most of them European--that backed a new French-led environmental body to save us from global warming. Did you honestly think it was about combating terrorism?
Unless stuck in a cave or flying around in one of Laurie David's private planes the past few weeks, one couldn't help but hear that "warming" is approaching us faster than ever.
We have now been blamed for creating it, and according to those who attended that enthusiastic conference in Paris, it is "unstoppable." So, if you were saving your alarmist concerns about the Jihad in Western Europe, America, Israel or elsewhere, forget about it; Al Gore was right and you were wrong. And soon he'll have the Nobel "Peace" Prize and Oscar to prove it.
From the AP and the BBC to Brian Williams and Energy Czaress Barbara Boxer, Global Warming--along with Scooter Libby updates--is the intangible enemy we must fear. He, she or it is the news that should matter to us, they think.
That established, as I look out my window in Indianapolis, I should forget about the snow falling and tonight's temps being five below; that's just a passing trend. After all, a friend recently e-mailed me an LA Times article saying that we will have freezing winters before the real "climate change" occurs that wipes out the world. Either way, the Ad Council and others are pulling out all the stops right now, from movies and political statements to children going "tick, tick" like a clock in an advertisement for fightglobalwarming.com. Believe it or be accused of doubting science.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the end of the world some thousand generations from now--a natural phenomenon that began in the Ice Age became a clever political tool of the left to divide this country along the electoral campaign trail these next 21 months.
Whether it's Rolling Stone lionizing Gore for becoming the first "environmental" candidate or "grassroots" bloggers begging Uncle Al to get revenge for 2000 in 2008, these publicity hounds forgot to check their common sense and their personal lives first.
Rises in temperature are natural over time, and there is no qualitative evidence that the US has more culpability in this "disaster" than other nations. In fact, despite being criticized for ignoring this imminent threat, the Bush Administration should be commended for judiciously not signing the Kyoto Protocol a few years back (or this most recent effort), as these flawed documents fail to cover the world's biggest polluters: China, India, Brazil and many others.
And then there is the hypocrisy. The most fervent critics of our policies are typically the folks that are far too important to practice what they preach.
"Enviros" like Laurie David, Ted Kennedy and Babs will whine and kvetch until they can hate America no more, yet ask them to close down the 12,000 square foot air-conditioned barns at their Malibu estates or install electricity-generating wind turbines along their sailing route on Nantucket Sound and expect a tongue-lashing. John Edwards, the populist who incessantly rants about "Two Americas" is having a 30,000 square foot house built for him. Apparently, this is more of that do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do liberal doublespeak that Michael Moore employs while he flies his jets to the mansions he financed with Halliburton stock.
If Americans paid more attention to the personal duplicity of folks with purely ideological agendas, we'd be better off. As it is, we're using our beautiful country's natural atmosphere to be as divisive as we can and ignore the inherent threat of terrorism that is as real as ever.
But I'm sure that the aforementioned millionaires have spent a lot of time researching this issue, traveling to a dozen national parks in the past year and writing a book about it (like I did) before spewing their balderdash. At least Gore did some research. Then again, his documentary ends by filming Al jumping into his private jet. I hope it uses "environmentally sensitive fuel," though.
In a June 2006 article, Dennis Prager wrote,
"People who don't confront the greatest evils will confront far lesser ones...One day, our grandchildren may ask us what we did when Islamic fascism threatened the free world. Some of us will say we were preoccupied with fighting that threat wherever possible; others will be able to say they fought carbon dioxide emissions. One of us will look bad."
Perfectly put. Enough said.
Ari Kaufman works as a military history researcher and writer in Indianapolis. He is the author of "Reclamation," an upcoming book on educational reform. Access his archived work here.
