The Cult of Climate Change convenes in Dubai

Until December 12, leftists from around the world will be meeting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for COP28, the 28th annual meeting of the “Conference of Parties” of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In the beginning, the conference attracted only 5,000 attendees; however, 70,000 people will attend this event. Ironically, many of the attendees will be flying into Dubai on their private jets. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, private jets emit ten times “more pollutants than commercial planes per passenger.”
One presenter who was not able to attend in person was Pope Francis due to “inflammation of the lungs.” His speech was given by his representative, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Once again, the Pope lamented the evils of nationalism and capitalism and stressed that the road forward needed to be one of “multilateralism.” He declared that he could hear “the cry of the earth” for a “decisive acceleration of ecological transition” and “the elimination of fossil fuels.”
Another famous leftist who gave a presentation in Dubai was the king of climate alarmism, King Charles III. He arrived at “Green Davos” in a private jet, of course. The King preached about “transformational action” and “warned…we’re seeing alarming tipping points being reached.” The King claimed that “the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.”
The dream for King Charles and his fellow “climate change” fanatics is for meat to be removed from our diets, nitrogen fertilizer to be drastically reduced and methane emissions from cows to be significantly curtailed. Such changes to our agriculture and diet will lead to “worldwide famine,” but the “climate change” zealots believe it is necessary to combat the dangers of taking no action.
One of the theoretical pieces of evidence of “climate change” is the increase of extreme “weather emergencies.” However, a study by four Italian scientists shows that the number of cyclones and hurricanes occurring worldwide has not increased in the last fifty years.
The “climate change” devotees also claim that wildfires are occurring in greater numbers due to this supposed crisis. Yet, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that wildfires are mostly occurring due to human activities such as arson and improper land management. In addition, science researcher Roger Pielke, Jr. discovered that the number of global wildfires has decreased in the last twenty years.
The “doom and gloom” reports from “climate change” alarmists are not sufficient to support the change in lifestyles that they want to enforce on humanity. Not only will economic activity be curtailed, but trillions of dollars in wealth will be transferred from the middle class to the elitists.
No wonder there is no mass popular movement for these changes. In the last annual Gallup survey of Americans, “climate change” did not make the list of the top 14 problems facing Americans. Instead of worrying about something that may or may not be man-made or impact them in the decades to come, the poll indicates Americans are more concerned about the problems we face today: dissatisfaction with government, high inflation, the poor economy and the massive increase in illegal immigration.
Regardless of the true concerns of Americans, the Biden administration is investing heavily in the “green agenda.” The U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, promised that the United States will “stop building new unabated coal power plants.” President Joe Biden has already committed to replacing all coal plants in the country with “wind and solar.” A study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Finance Analysis estimated that 173 coal plants would close by 2030.
While the United States moves away from coal toward more expensive sources of energy, China is massively increasing their “coal power capacity,” permitting 106 gigawatts in 2022, a 400% increase from the previous year. Instead of attempting to rein in China, delegates at the Dubai conference were circulating a petition demanding the United States and other Western nations end the construction of new natural gas infrastructure projects. Those who signed the anti-natural gas petition must have overlooked the fact that natural gas is very efficient, producing only 117 pounds of “heat-trapping carbon dioxide per million BTUs of energy produced,” which is much less than gasoline or coal.
For the “climate change” radicals, the facts do not matter, they are obsessed with eliminating fossil fuels. Not surprisingly, the Biden administration is fully supportive of this effort. At COP28, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States will contribute $3 billion to the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund, which will be used to support poor countries’ transition away from fossil fuels.
Fortunately, not all world leaders subscribe to this radical agenda. Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott blasted the “green cult” and noted, “10,000 years or so back we had an Ice Age, that was rather dramatic climate change, but presumably that had nothing to do with mankind’s carbon dioxide emissions.” Well said.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at jcrouere@gmail.com.