I have a very basic axiom about environmentalists and energy; call it “Hayward’s First Law of Green Thermodynamics,” and it goes as follows: There is no source of energy, no matter how clean, that left-environmentalists won’t oppose if it becomes practical to scale up. It is now forgotten that nearly 50 years ago, the famous Port Huron Statement that Tom Hayden co-wrote to launch the New Left endorsed nuclear power. Then he met Jane Fonda and we know the rest of that story. Environmentalist opposition to wind power, now that it is expanding (thanks to huge subsidies), is well known, and not just where Kennedys live. Earlier this week in the Washington Examiner I warned the natural-gas industry against entering a “bootleggers and Baptists” coalition with greens to promote more natural gas use:
The green-gas coalition is another example of the short-sightedness of industry. Climate orthodoxy requires about a 50 percent reduction in natural gas use if its ambitious target for the year 2050 is to be met. Natural gas interests are likely to find that in the fullness of time they will become the next target of environmentalist opposition once coal is interred next to nuclear power. The “bridge” of natural gas will turn out to be a drawbridge, which environmental opposition will seek to draw up and close off, strangling or stranding many investments.
Well, I didn’t even have to wait 48 hours for this prediction to start coming true. Behold this headline from yesterday’s Politico: “Greens Sour on Natural Gas.” The copy could have come straight from my prediction:
Whatever happened to the romance between the environmental lobby and natural gas? After years of basking in a green glow as the cleanest fossil fuel and a favorite short-term choice to replace cheap-but-dirty coal, gas now finds itself under attack from environmentalists, filmmakers and congressional Democrats — and even from some scientists who raise doubts about whether its total emissions are as climate-friendly as commonly believed. Case in point: the Sierra Club, whose former executive director, Carl Pope, has spoken warmly in recent years about gas as an alternative to coal in power plants. Now, the group is considering calling for natural gas to be phased out by 2050 — about 20 years after it wants coal eliminated.
QED, as the mathematicians say. Up next: solar power, probably. It will require too much mining of rare minerals to scale up.
I'd suggest a minor modification to your last comment. The greens seem to be fine with any energy source that doesn't muck up the US itself. Rare minerals are fine as long as we get them from China. We can't mine them from the US (or Canada).
I'd bet we could suggest dropping wind turbines all over Siberia and piping the electricity in a big cable across the Bering Sea, and they'd tell the president to fund it. If we tried the same thing in Oklahoma, they'd scream.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think solar will also fall prey to land-use issues. The size of an array to simply pre-heat water at a coal plant is many acres. As the greens will tell you, that land is better used for urban farming/agriculture, "open space", or whatever excuse it takes to prevent efficient land use/development.
Greens are very anti-building, and they hate land developers as much or more than they hate oil companies. Just ask the ELFs.
When the POTUS announced more nuclear plants last year, you'll recall nobody on the (D) side of the aisle applauded. Pelosi looked like she was going to hurl. Well...more than usual anyway.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is yet another confirmation that the ultimate goal of the Gaia worshippers is the extinction of humans. They see their own race as an infection on the body of their beautiful goddess, and ultimately, the only real solution is for us to go away. No change of habit will ever be good enough, because they'll always see their own kin as an invasive species. George Carlin wistfully dreamed about our extinction in his skits. So did another progressive icon of comedy, Bill Hicks. "Humanity is a virus with shoes", he famously quipped. I used to joke that the greenies goal was to have us swinging in the trees, chewing grass, and living in caves. But even that would be an affront to their Mother, methinks. So in their view, the only option is that we all go away.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe goal of some radicals may fall short of total human extinction; they may be more focused on smashing capitalist society by making all energy sources unavailable or unaffordable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI agree with Jim Fister.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI remember my uncle getting solar panels in the 70's. I never thought of them again until about 20 years later when he was trying to get rid of them. I asked him why he would want to do that and he honestly answered, "Well, because they don't work. I mean, they do, a little, but not enough to make any difference. What a waste of money!"
We have many practical examples now from people who got caught up in the mass brain washing/feelgood/save the environment movement the first time, and learned the truth for themselves.
And yet, we can't drill our own oil in this country due to the enviro lawsuits. Cut the funding out from under the ACLU among other groups, and you will see the economy free up pretty fast.
It's a religion, a warped one at that. Actually, no, correct me: Environmentalism is a form of extreme bigotry. What these people hate is humanity and they see any attempt to improve humanity as an act of destroying the planet. This is not science or religion, but stark raving madness. It's a shame that so many in the political sphere are within this dangerous belief's grasp.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA friend of mine once told me of environmentalists:
"The environmentalist can't take yes for an answer"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSolar is already in trouble. In my neck of the woods (*extremely* sunny southern California), I'm aware of two projects that have been shut down by greenies.
In one case, the project was stopped because it might annoy some tortoises.
In another case, difficulties ranged from water usage to keep dust off the panels to concerns about dust that might be thrown into the air during construction.
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