Pirate's Cove

Because ‘climate change’ is the top issue of the campaigns!

This Year, Every Vote Is a Vote for or Against Climate Change

YESTERDAY, THE 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia aired a five and a half minute video about climate change. Directed by James Cameron and narrated by Sigourney Weaver, it featured Don Cheadle, Jack Black, America Ferrera, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other celebs. Instead of scientists and hockey sticks, it had forest fires, Hurricane Sandy survivors, and a summer blockbuster soundtrack. The gist: Climate change is causing awful things in America and abroad. If you care to stop it, vote for Hillary Clinton.

None of that is as remarkable as the context in which it was shown. In the decades since scientists first warned a US president that greenhouse gas emissions would doom us all, no political party has ever presented itself as taking the issue seriously during a presidential election. This year is different. And not because the Republican candidate calls climate change a hoax. What’s new is Democrats are going on the offense. Speaker after speaker at the convention has laid into Donald Trump and his party’s denialism. Climate action is a prominent plank in the Democratic Party platform. They’ve made the stakes clear: A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for planet Earth.

So, vote Hillary or die. Uh huh. The interesting part here is that Hillary hasn’t really shown that much passion for the subject, mostly treating it as a box to be check to patronize her unhinged base (which refuses to give up their own use of fossil fuels and go carbon neutral). Will she actually push Hotcoldwetdry policies? They don’t seem important to her. A President Hillary would most likely allow her federal agencies to run wild in implementing policies, but, wouldn’t actively push them herself.

Even Hillary surely realizes that ‘climate change’ is last or next to last on the list of American concerns.

This election year is different. “I would say, just taking a moment and looking back, there is no question that this year climate change is in the forefront of presidential election issues, much more than it every has been and with greater urgency,” says Cristine Russell, senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, who covered science and environment for decades for the Washington Post. Why? Well, Gore’s documentary amplified popular culture’s acceptance of climate science. Katrina, Sandy, and the Great Western Drought happened. Scientists got better at attributing specific weather events to climate change. One hundred and seventy-six countries signed an international accord to collectively confront global warming. Climate change is no longer subordinate to other issues. It encompasses them.

Got that? No longer is ‘climate change’ just subsuming actual, real, important environmental issues and placing them under the Hotcoldwetdry banner: it’s putting every issue under the banner. Which will turn people off, not too mention that the wrong fix will be applied.

As far as the film goes, there are lots of whoppers, duckspeak, and misinformation. I’ll let you read it for yourself, while noting that the people who put it together and appeared in it tend to use lots and lots of fossil fuels. Also, how much fossil fuel was used for the entire Democratic National Convention, from putting it together, to holding it, to get people to and fro? How much energy was used, how much trash was created, all the rubber for the balloon drop, all the wasted food, the dead tree signs? What was the carbon footprint?

All in all, no one really cares, but, keep beating that drum, Warmists.