The Most Futile March Ever
Green Activists Fear Loss Of US Senate Firewall
Street marches today are to real politics what street
mime is to Shakespeare. This was an ersatz event: no laws will change, no
political balance will tip, no UN delegate will have a change of heart. The
world will roll on as if this march had never happened. And the marchers would
have emitted less carbon and done more good for the world if they had all
stayed home and studied books on economics, politics, science, religion and
law. Marches like this create an illusion of politics and an illusion of
meaningful activity to fill the void of postmodern life; the tribal ritual
matters more than the political result……It was the usual post-communist leftie
march. That is, it was a petit-bourgeois re-enactment of meaningless ritual
that passes for serious politics among those too inexperienced, too emotionally
excited or too poorly read and too unpracticed at self-reflection or political
analysis to know or perhaps care how futile and tired the conventional march
has become. Crazed grouplets of anti-capitalist movements trying to fan the
embers of Marxism back to life, gender and transgender groups with their own
spin on climate, earnest eco-warriors, publicity-seeking hucksters, adrenalin
junkies, college kids wanting a taste of the venerable tradition of public
protest, and, as always, a great many people who don’t think that burning
marijuana adds to the world’s CO2 load, marched down Manhattan’s streets. --Walter
Russell Mead, The American Interest, 21 September 2014
Tens of thousands of environmental protestors paraded
through New York City on Sunday, in a “people’s climate march” designed to
lobby world leaders arriving for the latest United Nations climate summit. The
march did succeed in messing up traffic, but President Obama won’t achieve much
more when he speaks Tuesday at this latest pit stop on the global warming grand
prix. Regardless of what the West does, poorer countries that are reluctant to
sign agreements that impede economic progress hold the dominant carbon hand. --The Wall Street Journal, 21 September 2014
Green groups are fearful of Republicans winning the
Senate majority in November, predicting it could lead to a “whittling away” of
environmental regulations at the hands of GOP leaders. While environmental
groups are spending millions of dollars trying to save the Senate for
Democrats, they acknowledge the possibility that they could be forced to play
defense against an all-Republican Congress in 2015. Republicans feel bullish
about their chances of gaining the six seats they need to win Senate control.
That outcome could elevate Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a staunch opponent of
Obama’s environmental policies, to majority leader, provided he wins his own
tough reelection race. --Timothy Cama, The Hill, 21 September 2014
Barack Obama will not be pledging any cash to a near-empty
fund for poor countries at a United Nations summit on climate change next week,
the UN special climate change envoy said on Friday. “We are putting a lot of
pressure for them to do it at the summit on the 23rd,” the UN envoy and former
Irish president, Mary Robinson, told the Guardian on the sidelines of a US
Agency for International Development meeting. But she added: “I know the United
States is not going to commit because I’ve asked.” --Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 20 September 2014
China led calls by emerging economies on Friday for the
rich to raise financial aid to the poor as a precondition for a United Nations
deal to combat global warming. “When the financing is resolved, this will set a
very good foundation to negotiate a good agreement,” China’s chief negotiator
Xie Zhenhua told delegates from about 170 nations. Xie said developed nations,
which have promised to raise aid to $100 billion a year by 2020, should have
legally binding obligations to provide finance and technology to emerging
economies, along with legally binding cuts in emissions. --Alister Doyle, Reuters, 6 June 2014
Spurred chiefly by China, the United States and India,
the world spewed far more carbon pollution into the air last year than ever
before, scientists announced Sunday as world leaders gather to discuss how to
reduce heat-trapping gases. The world pumped an estimated 39.8 billion tons
(36.1 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air last year by burning
coal, oil and gas. That is 778 million tons (706 metric tons) or 2.3 percent
more than the previous year. --Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, 21 September 2014
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