There’s more than one sucker born every minute, and most of them born in the past few decades are decidedly green, or so the U.S. business community is increasingly coming to think. (And they should know.)
As numerous companies increasingly market "green," supposedly environmentally friendly products, the U.S. business community is doing what free people always do: admirably adapt to changing conditions, however farcical the situation may be. The vast majority of scientists are convinced that (1) the world is warming naturally today, slightly, as part of a natural warming and cooling cycle that has existed since the atmosphere was formed; (2) that human activities contribute negligibly or not at all to this effect; and (3) the slight level of warming that we get in this go-round of the cycle will be entirely beneficial to human, animal, and plant life.
Despite these facts, countless influential politicians and other celebrities have decided that a scare over global warming is a great way to take more control over the economy and erode our minuscule freedoms even further. Businesses initially opposed the global warming movement, but many have backed off their support in the past year.
Clearly, they have realized that they simply cannot beat the Greens, with their political and media power, and have decided to join them.
It’s a tragedy, and one that we will see as such in future decades, but for now it is the reality.
The latest manifestation of the power of this entirely irrational movement is yesterday’s announcement that the Discovery TV channel operation will start a "Green channel." The New York Times reports:
Discovery Communications, the cable channel operator, plans to start a 24-hour channel focused on eco-friendly living, as part of a push into the rising environmental movement.
The company, based in Silver Spring, Md., will next year rebrand its Discovery Home Channel with a name that has not been selected but will reflect its position as the centerpiece of an initiative called PlanetGreen.
In addition to the cable channel, which will be carried initially in 50 million homes, other Discovery outlets including its flagship Discovery Channel will carry documentaries and other programming highlighting the new green lifestyle channel, said the chief executive, David M. Zaslav. . . .
PlanetGreen is one of the biggest efforts that a media company has made to tap into the growing movement that has spawned everything from green cars, food and architecture to green weddings and talk of a green Olympics. . . .
In addition to satisfying the interests of viewers, Mr. Zaslav said that advertisers now have distinct green budgets in the same way that they have online budgets.
Tragic. Stupid and tragic.
The best antidote to this nonsense, regarding the media, is still Michael Crichton’s novel State of Fear. Purchase it here.
Gladly. Try the following, just for starters. They’re from a variety of sources both left and right but easily accessible using The Heartland Institute’s PolicyBot, a database of articles and policy studies from all over. Of course, much more such information is available, but this should provide a good start for your investigation of the matter. Thanks for inquiring.
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20861
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20512
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20161
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20512
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20192
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6150
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12392
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17784
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20803
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=11825
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20814
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17433
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9569
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17352
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20163
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20814
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20732
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20773
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=19213
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17568
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17407
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17181
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=15488&CFID=3418072&CFTOKEN=35440485
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=11308
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9607
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9855
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6599
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6689
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=5638
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14281
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14022
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9540
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9533
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9559
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9560
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9610
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9586
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9611
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9616
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9633
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9644
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9664
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9693
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9713
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9714
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9744
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9778
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9801
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9802
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9831
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9830
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9881
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9880
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6702
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6685
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6688
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6727
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6686
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6602
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6139
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=6622
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20516
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20336
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17571
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17434
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=13109
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=8959
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=7510
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9724
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20645
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=11548&CFID=3418072&CFTOKEN=35440485
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20641
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9806
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9887
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=19215
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12284
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=2559
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20505
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20506
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=20518
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=2551
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12284
Do you have a citation for these claims? These would be useful to us if we could substantiate them.
Mike, your entire comment is spot-on. I concur fully. The human effect on global temperature, in my view, is virtually nil, and only a fool can fail to realize that the earth’s temperature rises and falls naturally over time. When human production of “greenhouse gases” was at its highest–between WWII and the 1970s, the global temperature steadily fell, and since then, human production of ggs has fallen and the temperature has risen.
Plus, an increase in global temperatures on the level that we can expect to happen in coming years would be an unalloyed good for the planet: plants breathe carbon dioxide, and they thrive when there is more of it. That is a matter of science, as opposed to the heathen superstitions of the Greens.
Dear Mr. Karnick:
Your comments on the Greens resonated with an article in today’s (April 11th) paper:
“Climate changes in North America: Heat waves, storm surges, water shortages” screamed the headline posted from the United Nations by an anonymous AP reporter. (“AP, that bastion of the Truth,” remarked my sarcastic wife.) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has brought down from the lofty heights its latest addenda to the Ten
Commandments: “Thou shalt not be prosperous if thou art a Western democracy” and “Thou shalt not raise any objections to anything we assert, even on the flimsiest evidence.”
The article states that the executive director of the U.N. Environmental Program which co-founded the panel “said the findings underline that the best way to reduce the effects of global warming is ‘deep and decisive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous climate change in the first place.'” Which is Newspeak for, “We’re jealous of the American system, we hate it, and we’re going to bring it down somehow.”
So far all I’ve seen from the Greenies is scare-mongering buttressed by tons of Bad Science; it is doubtful that anyone can ever prove beyond doubt’s shadow that what human beings do with their technology can cause the Earth either to warm up or cool down. Perhaps “global warming” is a natural change unrelated to arrogant man, who thinks he can somehow significantly alter a planet that masses out at nearly 6,600 billion billion billion tons, moves around the Sun at 67 thousand miles an hour, and undergoes periodic volcanic convulsions any one of which is more energetic than all the Cold War nuclear arsenals combined–and some of which change the climate in actually measurable ways.
Just as telling was the deliberate juxtaposition right over said article of a photo captioned: “Greek crews struggle to prevent environmental disaster”, the photo being slightly larger than the global warming report. This is, I believe, a subtle use of a propaganda technique known as “transference”: You’re supposed to transfer your negative feelings about the “global warming” report to the sunken cruise ship and link the two together. In other words, a “twofer”: one “man-made” disaster (“global warming”) plus one REAL man-made disaster (a ship sinking) equals a hair-pulling, hand-wringing, despair-inducing “I’ll do anything you say, just save me from this!” reaction–they hope.
One final thought: The Greenies, by personifying the Earth (“Gaia”) and using imagery of a benign Planet Earth that “breathes” and “cries” out at our “rapacious” depredations, seems to be a recrudescence of ancient pagan nature religion of the kind that worships the creature rather than the Creator.
Respectfully,
Mike (not Linda)
Great idea–just don’t hold your breath….
I wonder if Discovery or History Channel will start a “PlanetLiberty” channel…
Whenever I think about the Green/Al Gore movement, I always think about Anthem, Ayn Rand’s first novel, I believe. I just noticed in my local paper that someone who has been “trained” by one of Al Gore’s institutes will lecture about global warming at the Earth Day ceremonies at my local state college. I did glance at an article about him & he is a minister, not a scientist. It seems to me that he is nothing than a trained propagandist for Al Gore’s views.