Hundreds of environmental activists recently flocked to New York City to parade their principles--and some less tasteful characteristics--before the United Nations Summit on Climate Change. They brought packaged answers for environmental issues, but also an unwillingness to satisfy the questions of others.
The national media showered the marchers with favorable coverage rarely granted to causes outside the progressive spectrum. The three evening network newscasts devoted a combined three minutes and 27 seconds to the climate march. This far outstripped the 46 seconds devoted by ABC and NBC combined to the January 2014 “March For Life,”which was much better attended.
While marchers offered slogans and talking points, they refused to answer important questions. Actor Mark Ruffalo deflected a question about celebrity climate footprints, saying “Oh brother. That is a question you shouldn’t be asking here today because that defies the spirit of what this is about.”
Celebrities, such as Al Gore and Leonardo Di Caprio flew to New York on private jets. Ironically, one could drive from southern Brazil to Dearborn, Michigan eight times in a Hummer and not equal a mid-sized private plane’s cross-country consumption.
And few in the media challenged the record of socialism, nor did it talk about the real world impact of the “revolution” loosely demanded by climate marchers.
New EPA rules threaten to shut down coal fired power plants, with many areas already feeling the ripple effects. In the past few months, 1,100 coal miners in West Virginia alone have received layoff notices. In many states, a lot of families already hard hit by the economic downturn will see their electric bills double or even triple. States such as West Virginia and Virginia also rely heavily on coal severance taxes for basic services such as public schools.
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These costly mandates come despite the fact that coal fired plants have reduced pollutants by at least 70 percent since 1970, while increasing efficiency by 150 percent. Unfortunately, these facts get drowned out by the “dire predictions” of President Obama and his agenda driven EPA.
Most marchers also appeared to agree with the “Party of Socialism and Liberation” members who brandished a sign that read “Climate Change is the Symptom/Capitalism Is the Disease/Socialism Is the Cure.”
Unfortunately, socialist nations usually fail to protect their people from environmental disasters. Those who have successfully cleaned up "have all been democratic, constitution-based societies," according to Donald Worster, an environmental historian at the University of Kansas.
In fact, the National Resources Defense Council and other groups reported in 1992 that 74 years of the Soviet Union’s structural incompetence created “enormous waste” that expanded environmental problems without benefiting the people what-so-ever. And Mao Tse Dong’s legacy dirtied the Earth even more than Vladimir Lenin’s. The worst days for air pollution in Los Angeles, once infamous for smog, were normal in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
But never mind the facts. The elite and famous mingled with funky dressed activists to put on a parade in the media capital of the world. Unfortunately, if we want to move our country forward, we need real solutions, not an endless string of PR stunts.
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