The pope should give a climate change speech in China
Pope Francis spoke before Congress. I heard it on the radio and did not hear anything explosive. He did talk about refugees and immigration, but he was careful not to step on anyone's shoes. Same on abortion and marriage. It was a vanilla speech, and very difficult to understand because of the pope's thick accent.
My suggestion is that Pope Francis take his climate change message to China, because that's where the problem is, as reported by the BBC a couple of months ago:
China -- the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases -- has announced details of its climate action plan.
The office of Premier Li Keqiang said that emissions "will peak by around 2030" and China would work hard to achieve the target even earlier.
The pope should also travel to India and give a similar speech. India is third on the list! The U.S. is #2.
My point is that too much of the climate change criticism is directed at the U.S. Even American environmentalists do not challenge China or India.
I will give Pope Francis the benefit of the doubt on intentions. I'm sure that he means well. However, you can't fix this problem without involving other countries or discussing the real-world consequences, as Senator Rubio said in the last debate:
"Here’s the bottom line,” Rubio answered. “Every proposal they put forward will make it harder to do business in America. Harder to create jobs in America.
Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families.
Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida or anywhere across the country cannot afford it.”
That's correct. No one has discussed or analyzed how all of these ideas will impact the middle or lower middle classes. How are people going to cool or heat their homes? What are they going to put in their cars or the trucks that move commerce? What is the jobs impact of all of this?
And the U.S. is not a planet. We can do only so much anyway. This is a global problem, but you wouldn't believe it by the criticisms always directed at the U.S.
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