Convincing Leftists To Reject the Climate Scare

Written by Tom Harris on December 23, 2023. Posted in Current News

In part 1 of this series, I brought up two factors that do this:

• How a focus on mitigation (trying to stop climate change) has resulted in a lack of adequate adaptation support for vulnerable populations, and
• How the effort to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is resulting in energy choices that deprive poor countries of abundant, inexpensive electricity.

Today, I will present two other consequences of the climate scare that should concern so-called progressives.

Biofuel expansion causing a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe

The expanded use of biofuels to supposedly reduce CO₂ emissions to ‘stop climate change’ has resulted in the amount of grain being turned into biofuel across the world rising from 6.5% in 2015 to about 10% in 2022. In 2021, an astonishing 155 billion liters of biofuels made from different crops were burned, and European nations converted wheat, which is equivalent to over 5 billion loaves of bread, into bioethanol. According to Gro Intelligence, the annual calory needs of 1.9 billion people could be satisfied by current biofuel policies and future commitments.

This is happening in a world where, according to the World Food Programme (2022), 44 million people in 38 countries are at risk of famine. Progressives should also take note of the fact that about 800 million people go hungry each and every day, and 3.6 billion live below the poverty line. This is largely because, in the three years before mid-2022, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index rose by 58% to an all-time high, and prices of wheat and maize rose over 10%.

The situation in the United States is especially troubling. In 1981, ethanol (alcohol) made up just 0.01% of U.S. gasoline consumption. By 2021, it had grown to over 10%. This is fueled largely by the now 36% (2021) of all U.S. corn production going into biofuels. A similar share of soybean oil went to biodiesel.

Rainforest Rescue, who are justifiably concerned about the burning of rainforests and peat forests in Southeast Asia to make room for palm oil plantations, make an important point:

“The grain needed to fill the tank of a luxury car with ethanol would feed one adult for a whole year. If the car were to be refueled every 2 weeks, the amount of grain required could feed 26 people for one year. The impact can be seen in the prices for corn tortillas – the staple food for poor people in Mexico – which more than doubled within months. Food riots ensued. Even in the EU, prices for edible vegetable fats have increased significantly.”

None of this is new, of course. In its January 29, 2015 press release, Friends of Science, an Alberta-based climate realist group, cited UN Special Rapporteur of the right to food, Jean Zeigler, who in 2007 called for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production in an official UN communique. Zeigler was candid:

“It is a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil which produces foodstuff that will be burned into biofuel.”

Wind and solar power are ruining lives and the environment

As readers are aware, the late Dr. Jay Lehr and I have written extensively in America Out Loud about how wind and solar power are anything but environmentally friendly. This 2-minute clip from Michael Moore’s 2020 documentary film, Planet of the Humans, demonstrates that, when you consider how so-called green energy machines are made, they may very well be the dirtiest and most environmentally destructive energy sources on the planet. Listeners may recall my May 22, 2023, interview about this with energy expert and author Todd Royal on The Other Side of the Story.

What is less known is how wind power is hurting our most vulnerable citizens, something that should be of concern to social justice warriors. A case in point, one that is representative of what is happening across North America, took place here in my home province of Ontario.

The provincial government was determined to lead the world in reducing CO₂ emissions to ‘save the planet,’ as then Premier Kathleen Wynne put it when announcing plans to implement CO₂ cap and trade. One of the consequences of the government’s green plan was the erection of thousands of industrial wind turbines (IWT) across the province, the most recent of which are as tall as a 60-story building.

Despite massive government subsidies for wind power, windontario.ca explained that electricity rates in Ontario have more than doubled since 2007. This has essentially no impact on the wealthy since power costs represent such a small proportion of their overall living expenses. However, the impact on the poor and those living on fixed incomes can be exceptionally difficult to manage.

By now, most people have heard about the carnage IWTs often inflict on local bird and bat populations. In Ontario’s case, the situation has even drawn the attention of the Spain-based group Save the Eagles International, a member of the World Council for Nature, who, in 2015, issued a news release titled “Migrating golden eagles to be slaughtered in Ontario.”

However, most of the public does not yet recognize that the consequences for people living near IWTs can be severe as well. Besides a significant loss in property value, health concerns abound. A particularly tragic example occurred in the West Lincoln and surrounding regions of Southern Ontario. There, despite the objections of local residents, wind developers received approval to install at least seventy-seven 3 Megawatt IWTs, each 602 ft. tall, the largest such machines in North America.

One resident, Shellie Correia of Wellandport, Ontario, has the misfortune of an IWT taller than the Statue of Liberty being sited only 550 meters from their home. Concerned about the quality of life for her son, who suffered from Sensory Processing Disorder, Correia did virtually everything possible to stop the project. As she explained in her October 23rd America Out Loud interview with me, Correia secured supportive written submissions from her son’s doctor, who is a behavioral Paediatrician and a specialist in the assessment and care of children with developmental and mental health problems, statements that her son’s health would be in jeopardy due to such large machines being so close to his home. She testified before the government’s Environmental Review Tribunal in January 2015 presentation:

“On top of the incessant, cyclical noise, there is light flicker and infrasound. This is not something that my son will be able to tolerate.”

We know from my November 6th interview with Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira that, even though it is not regulated, infrasound is a huge problem for people who live near IWTs.

Shellie joined groups to fight the project, organized protests, appeared on radio programs, met with the wind industry, Wynne, and other politicians, and even started her own group, Mothers Against Wind Turbines. Carmen Krogh, BScPharm, Correia’s science expert, wrote in her May 13, 2013, open communication with Canada’s Minister of Health,

“Vigilance and long-term surveillance systems regarding risks and adverse effects related to children are lacking. Such programs are necessary to evaluate the risks to children who have been exposed to industrial wind turbines. This evaluation should take place before proceeding with additional approvals.”

But the approvals went ahead anyway. Concerns about high power prices, bird and bat deaths, and the ruin of the health of thousands of people in the surrounding community were all swept aside in the name of “saving the climate.” As in the case of biofuels, adaptation, and the urgent electricity needs of the world’s poorest people, environmental concerns about the distant future trump the needs of the most vulnerable people today.

In 1971, far-left community activist Saul Alinsky wrote Rules for Radicals, the classic book on grassroots organizing. His rule #4 was:

“Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.”

We must employ this rule to show our leftist friends that if they are really concerned about “social justice” and environmental protection, then they must vehemently oppose the climate scare.

Source: America Out Loud

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