The Great Retreat from climate action insanity continues. European countries like Britain can see the locomotive f economic reckoning barreling down the “net-zero” tracks and are jumping out of the way.
Last week, Bill Gates pulled a head-snapping reversal when he publicly abandoned the “climate change is an existential threat” doomsday-ism he’s been funding for years. Gates has figured out what sober environmentalists like Bjorn Lomborg have been saying for a long time: climate change will not wipe out civilization. It is happening, but thanks for human ingenuity and prosperity, we can adapt and thrive and don’t need to impoverish non-elites with authoritarian climate policies.
There’s a doomsday view of climate change that goes like this:
In a few decades, cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization. The evidence is all around us—just look at all the heat waves and storms caused by rising global temperatures. Nothing matters more than limiting the rise in temperature.
Fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong. Although climate change will have serious consequences—particularly for people in the poorest countries—it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future. Emissions projections have gone down, and with the right policies and investments, innovation will allow us to drive emissions down much further.
It’s good to know that even mega-billionaires can be redeemed by common sense.
Sanity also prevailed at the Irvine City Council when climate action ideologue Kathleen Treseder pulled her “Climate Action and Adaptation Plan” (CAAP) from the October 28 council agenda at the last minute.
Treseder, a tenured UCI professor who specializes in fungal ecology (yes, that is a real thing) is a “climate action” true believer. She’s been pushing this plan along since taking office.
Like the knight’s of the Round Table questing for the Holy Grail in order to heal the land, the goal of CAAP climate warriors is cutting Irvine’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and then to 90% by 2040.
At what cost, you may ask? According to the staff report, Treseder’s plan would impose an additional $314 million in direct costs to Irvine taxpayers over the next 15 years.
But that’s small change compared to the total economic cost Treseder’s regulatory Cordyceps imposes on Irvine, which city staff pegs at $4.9 billion over the next 15 years.
All in, Treseder’s exercise in central government will cost nearly $5.5 billion.
Surely, there must be some impact global warming…err…climate change, or whatever the Enviro Left is calling it at the moment.
Don’t ask Treseder or the city or anyone involved in crafting this dystopian plan. They couldn’t tell you…because that isn’t the point! This is a performative exercise to demonstrate to anyone who may be paying attention that Irvine cares about The Planet.
So what if the cost of this virtue signaling to Irvine taxpayers, businesses and workers would be five-and-a-half BILLION dollars?
What is maddening is that anyone with an ounce of common sense can see Treseder’s “Climate Action” plan will have less than zero impact on the climate. Keep inn mind that Communist China is opening a new coal-fired power plant an average of every 5 days.
The effect on Treseder’s plan on the climate would be akin to impact a drop of rain would have on the surface of the sun.
Color us skeptical that pulling her climate action plan from council consideration signals Treseder is having an awakening similar to Bill Gates. More likely, she sensed the votes weren’t there.
Regardless, the good people of Irvine – and the businesses that fund the city’s amenities and services – have dodged a bullet for now.
Desiring a clean environment doesn’t necessitate subscribing to climate Armageddon ideologies. Climate doomsday predictions have consistently failed to materialize. Hopefully, other voices on the Irvine City Council will have the nerve to claim the moral high ground of common sense environmentalism.
