Pirate's Cove

I know how I would do it: I’d put all the climahypocrites on it. Biden, Obama, Kerry, the tens of thousands who fly to climate conferences each year, especially on their private jets. Bill Gates, Taylor Swift, Leonardo DeCaprio, Harrison Ford, most Democrats. For starters. I’d feature a visual representation of Biden heading out for the weekend, from helicopter to jumbo jet to large motorcade. That’s not what the NY Times is thinking, though

Let’s Build a Climate Wall of Shame

Here is a proposal for the environmental movement: Pool philanthropic funds for a day, buy a small plot of land in Washington, D.C., and put up a tall marble wall to serve as a climate memorial. Carve on this memorial the names of public figures actively denying the existence of climate change. Carve the names so deep and large, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren need not search the archives.

This is not a metaphor. The problem with climate change is the disconnect between action and impact. If politicians vote against construction standards and a school collapses, the next election will be their last. But with climate change, cause and effect are at a vast distance.

Two points: first, most aren’t denying that the climate has changed, their denying that the causation is mostly/solely the fault of Mankind. Second, why not tag all those who demand action but only for Other People? Who complain about doom from sea rise then buy luxury homes at the beach? Who take lots of private jet flights and then large fossil fueled SUVs?

We are already seeing the consequences of our past and present greenhouse gas emissions. In coming decades, those emissions will wreak their full havoc on the climate, and it will take hundreds, possibly thousands, of years for those pollutants to fully dissipate. But in the short term, the most immediate burdens are borne mostly by the poor in America and distant people in distant lands. Misaligned incentives are at the heart of why some political and business leaders deny and delay.

The author, Nate Loewentheil, is part of a venture capitalist group specializing in “green” stuff. Not sure if I’d trust my money to someone invested in doomsday.

For them, there can be immediate political and economic benefits to avowed ignorance, and by the time the waters rise, their deeds and words will be forgotten. A memorial would help adjust for this temporal gap. It would serve as a permanent testament of climate deniers whose actions might otherwise be lost to history and a reminder to those weighing their words today of what the future may bring.

I’d be thrilled if they put my name on it. Hell, I probably do more in my life to have a lower carbon footprint than them. Not because I intentionally do that, but, because I am frugal and try to be environmentally conscious.

The climate memorial would need to be in a highly visible place. Perhaps a commission could be established to select one climate antihero from academia or politics or business to be added to the memorial each quarter. Better yet, the names could be crowdsourced.

That might not go over so well, as Skeptics nominate climahypocrites. How about Al Gore, who bleated about climate doom for decades, then sold his TV station to Al Jazeera, which is backed by a nation which makes most of its money on fossil fuels? And all Al’s travel in fossil fueled private jets?

Anyhow, this seems like something climafascists would do.

Read: Hotcold Take: Let’s Build A Climate Wall Of Shame »