“This is an emergency, damn it!” screams the headline of a Vox article written by a man named David Roberts. We’re already dealing with the environmental equivalent of World War II, and we’re losing. The Republicans won’t help; bipartisan action is impossible. And so, the only possible solution is “people power;” inspire millennials with a vision of forceful action, throw in some “socialism” to resolve their economic issues, and the Republicans will drown in a blue/green tidal wave. Otherwise, we’re all basically doomed.
It’s the “revolution,” with polar bears substituting for Bernie Sanders.
Based on the science, Roberts has a case. The problem, of course, is that the weather here was perfectly pleasant yesterday. It doesn’t feel like an emergency. There is no meteorological equivalent of Pearl Harbor. And so, by my estimate, 30 percent of the American public rejects the entire notion of climate change, while 65 percent view it as a serious problem, but one that is less urgent than, say, health care costs or cheap Chinese imports. That leaves about 5 percent of the population to engineer the green “revolution.”
Washington’s rejection of a carbon tax suggests that 5 percent simply isn’t enough “people power” to win elections in a blue state, let alone the country as a whole. If Mr. Roberts thinks the green “revolution” is essential for our survival, he needs to stop wasting his time writing explainers for left-leaning Vox readers and take his message to old people in mobile home parks who are terrified of socialism and who, unlike most younger people, actually vote.