Give Bill McKibben credit for being honest about the goals of the anti-global warming collectivists. The co-founder of Step It Up 2007, lays out the agenda in its full economy-crushing splendor in a Saturday op-ed in the Washington Post, “The Race Against Warming“:
The only real hope is for decisive legislation from Congress; activists are calling for a law that commits the United States to early cuts, closes all coal-fired power plants and auctions the right to pollute so that we can raise the revenue to fund the transformation of our energy system. President Bush won’t sign such a law, so it doesn’t have to pass this fall; we’re working to set the stage for 2009, when a new leader takes over.
Coal represents about half of the total U.S. electricity production. One cannot accomplish McKibben’s goals without replacing the free market with a command-and-control economy, destroying millions of jobs in the process, and beggaring the United States as a nation. That’s his agenda.
Note, too, that McKibben’s solutions to supposed man-made global warming do not include nuclear energy.
Still, props to McKibben for making his statist goals so clear. In his world view, there’s no room for compromise.
October 4th, 2007 on 2:05 pm
How about we stop subsidizing polluting industries by making society and the government pay for their externalities? The sky doesn’t belong to corporations, it belongs to all of us. By making polluters pay for the right to our common assets, we could raise billions of dollars. That money should go directly into citizens’ pockets, offsetting the cost of higher energy. Yes, Exxon Mobile would not be as profitable. No, it would not wreck the economy.
It’s your planet, protect it. It’s your money, take it back.
October 1st, 2007 on 3:35 pm
This is what the whole global warming debate really boils down to: Some groups trying to control the national agenda with their “The sky is falling” chants and half truths. Let’s be realistic. The aim of these people is to tax and control industry. If they were really concerned about saving the planet, they would focus their efforts on population control rather than taxing those that actually create wealth. I doubt seriously that any of them have the political will to tackle the population control issue.
October 1st, 2007 on 2:41 pm
McKibben’s goals can be accomplished by using a balanced combination of solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear power, by increasing fuel efficiency standards for motor vehicles, and by making consumer appliances more energy efficient. This would create millions of jobs in the process and strengthen America by eliminating our dependance on imported oil.
October 1st, 2007 on 10:43 am
Coal-burning power plants are also polluting America’s rivers, lakes, and streams with mercury. If we stopped burning coal, people could eat fish again without worrying about mercury poison.
October 1st, 2007 on 10:33 am
Instead of criticizing Bill McKibben, why doesn’t the National Association of Manufacturers propose a solution to the global warming crisis? Action needs to be taken now to stop global warming, yet NAM doesn’t have any constructive solution to the problem.
September 30th, 2007 on 9:45 pm
“There’s no room for compromise.” Exactly. When thousands of the world’s top scientists, those not paid by fossil fuel companies, tell us we must take action soon, there is no room for compromise. It’s a life and death decision, and those who deny for profit are condemning the planet to misery and doom.
Why doesn’t the National Association of Manufacturers enter the 21st century and embrace the hundreds of thousands or millions of jobs to create in a thriving efficiency and renewable energy economy? Have you so lost your ingenuity and creativity that you insist on killing the planet by clinging to fossil fuels? Shame, shame.