OPINION:
The message is clear from the mounds of People’s Climate March literature littering the landscape: “Progressives” want to take us back to the “good old days,” when life was brutal, banal and brief. That’s when governments ruled with an iron fist, wars for territory and religious domination abounded, and humans were at the mercy of nature.
Perhaps the fastest way to achieve this sort of progress is to force retreat to the most ancient of energy sources — sunbeams and breezes. Ignore true advancements in energy extraction from heretofore unattainable sources like the atom and mile-deep fuel deposits.
If the numerous gigantic wind propellers impaling the landscape and the Ivanpah solar-electric generating plant brilliantly blotting the Mojave Desert are any bellwether, the progressive energy future belongs to the birds: sliced, diced and deep fried.
It turns out that as wind turbine blades cut through the air, they also do the same to birds, including the endangered kind. Ditto on the gargantuan Mojave sun-catcher, and down go the feathered flyers in flames.
Despite the propaganda pushed by “progressives,” the United States is still the most tolerant and technologically advanced nation in the history of the world. The freedom to responsibly extract and develop modern energy sources will only increase our power, independence and influence to be a force for good across the globe.
This force for good is desperately needed right now with the world so bent on returning to the “bad old days”: With governments (including our own, unfortunately) vying for more control over the lives of its citizens; religion harking back to pre-Medieval days as impious, pitiless punks impose free-choice conversions — convert-or-die — on innocent victims; and, of course, nature doing what it does naturally, making life as challenging as possible for everyone.
However, by liberal environmental religionists crusading for phantom issues like “climate justice,” attention and finances are being diverted from the truly desperate situations in the world. More attention and money should be paid to critical dangers such as Russian, Chinese and Iranian aggression, the Islamic State and Ebola (an authentic public-health menace).
Furthermore, those with true concern for the environment should maintain a broad perspective. For example, investing in the fight against terrorists protects the environment in a big way and pays huge dividends. After all, if the Islamic State finds human life so expendable, it probably won’t give a hoot about preserving the spotted owl.
What’s a better alternative to marching against the ethereal enemy of man-made climate change? Baylor University professor Rodney Stark provides an answer. In his latest book “How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity,” Mr. Stark aptly notes that Western modernity, even with all its limitations and discontents, is still “far better than the known alternatives — not only, or even primarily, because of its advanced technology but because of its fundamental commitment to freedom, reason and human dignity.”
Freedom, reason and human dignity — now those are conditions worthy of a commitment to worldwide dissemination.
Why would we want to return to our ancestor’s life that was severe, though at least it was mercifully short? With greatly prolonged life expectancies today and with so much potential for expanded comfort and convenience for people across the planet, we could all experience the fullness of life. However, “progressives” are working tirelessly to march everyone backward to the future —a future once again likely to be brutal, banal and brief.
Anthony J. Sadar is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and author of “In Global Warming We Trust: A Heretic’s Guide to Climate Science” (Telescope Books, 2012).
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