Top Green Admits: “We Are Lost!”

The American Interest ^ | 5/3/2011 | Walter Russell Meade

[Lakeshark]

George Monbiot of the left-leaning British newspaper The Guardian has a must-read column in which he admits that because of a whole series of intellectual mistakes, the global green movement’s policy prescriptions are hopelessly flawed.

Read the whole piece for a thoughtful and brutally clear expose of the intellectual bankruptcy of the green movement from one of the smartest people in it. This is what I’ve been getting at for more than a year here: regardless of what is happening to Planet Earth, the green movement does not have coherent and workable solutions.

[Lakeshark]

Quietly, the "green revolution" continues to destroy us. Thankfully, some voices are showing how nonsensical the greens are. Good article here.

[Moonman62]

regardless of what is happening to Planet Earth, the green movement does not have coherent and workable solutions.

The Green Movement is suicidal. It was never interested in coherent or workable solutions.

[Psalm 144]

“I hope that by laying out the problem I can encourage us to address it more logically, to abandon magical thinking and to recognise the contradictions we confront. But even that could be a tall order.”

Tall order? What an optimist!

[jpl]

We're halfway through the spring, and most of the country is still cool as heck.

Most of the country is now fully aware that the enviro-hysteria was nothing but a bunch of bunk, and that many of the people pushing it are liars.

[Psalm 144]

“The Green Movement is suicidal. It was never interested in coherent or workable solutions.”

You touch the heart of the matter. All leftist movements are to some extent deformed with guilt and self loathing. “Greens” have carried it to its almost final extreme, embracing a hatred for our very species.

[central_va]

Green movement is about socialism and state control, it has been wildly successful.

[lurk]

There’s a misspelling. The headline says ‘lost’; the correct spelling is ‘fools’.

[Red Badger]

George MoonBat.......how apropos................

[Mark was here]

Not all that glitters is green.

[FreedomPoster]

Clicking through twice, Monbiot suggests going to ~50% of current energy use. To put that in perspective, that would put the U.S. back to roughly mid-1960s levels of electrical energy consumption on a per-capita basis. Energy is a fundamental driver of economic activity. Are we really going to accept the poverty that such a move would create at the hands of our Green extremists? Screw that!

[Buckeye McFrog]

just wait till we get a solid majority in this country and GE executives start going to jail...

[brownsfan]

“just wait till we get a solid majority in this country and GE executives start going to jail...”

A nice dream, but it’s just about as likely as the Buckeye football team surviving this coming season.

[Sir Napsalot]

>>> Top Green Admits: “We Are Lost!”
George Monbiot .... admits that because of a whole series of intellectual mistakes, the global green movement’s policy prescriptions are hopelessly flawed. <<<

No worries, George Moonbat-idiot, your global green movement only suffered a temporary setback.

The current young generation and the next generation have all been thoroughly indoctrinated.

[Lakeshark]

We have the normal bunch of greenies in our area. Every once in a while I love asking them why they have big houses, central heat, and two or more cars (usually one of them is an SUV).

They do all the right things in little, inconsequential ways, put out green signs and flags, they vote for democrats, but they never change their lifestyle in ways that show they really believe what they are saying.

It's all show to make themselves feel better.

[bigbob]

The original article is a fairly objective about the trade-offs and fact that there is no free lunch:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/02/environmental-fixes-all-greens-lost

Most people fail to understand the basic science involved, and keep hoping for some magic to happen that will remove the fundamental trade-offs and make everything sunshine and roses. Must like the article I posted yesterday about the NJ suburb that is adding solar panels to it’s utility poles, the fist thing you hear is bitching about them being “eyesores”.

We have yet to figure out how to cost-effectively come anywhere near the energy density of a gallon of gasoline.

[RWB Patriot]

In a rational world where politicians were objective and didn’t throw their support behind retarded movements, this would be good news. But alas, as long as a politician supports it, he has the power to keep it going regardless of whether it works or not.

[RWB Patriot]

In a rational world where politicians were objective and didn’t throw their support behind retarded movements, this would be good news. But alas, as long as a politician supports it, he has the power to keep it going regardless of whether it works or not.

[TStro]

A few weeks ago an article was posted about the English energy minister (or some other title) commenting about the future. He said the British were just going to have to get used to doing without electricity when demand was high, due to increased dependence on “green” energy. They will divert power to those that need it most. Anyone have their “smart” meters yet? They just put mine in. They will be able to shut off individual homes or businesses if they want.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[zeugma]

BFl

[bigbob]

Sorry this is too small to be self-explanatory, but a complete picture of our energy production and use can be found in the DOE AER report at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/consump.html (for all the tax $ it sucks up, at least DOE produces some useful reports).

However, this shows the basic facts in one picture. Most "greenies" want to nibble around the edges with insignificant programs that do far more harm than good.

To the Green Freeaks: This is our economy. Last year we consumed 95 quads and produced 73 quads - the gap was filled by imports. So, given that we're already behind the game, tell us what you want to do without, and make it big enough to move the needle. Then go out and convince hundreds of millions of people that their standard of living needs to go down to make it happen.

The author is right- we're not going to give up our energy. And I'm not holding my breath for any magic either.

[doug from upland]

This conservative recognizes that man can have some effect. We need to do a better job of conserving resources. I am concerned about the future potential of damage to the ocean that will threaten the food supply. All that having been said, there is a balance between taking care of this planet and killing business, which will ultimately destroy everything.

[pabianice]

Meanwhile, the electric company in western Massachusetts is building laughable recharging stations for the millions of electric cars they claim to expect. LOL!

[rottndog]

The Green Movement is suicidal genocidal. It was never interested in coherent or workable solutions.

Fixed. Humans are a virus making Gaia sick, and must be cleansed from the planet...and like most other leftist endeavors, it's everybody other than themselves that has to be made to pay the price.

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx for the ping AAC !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[TheOldLady]

Hey, look at that!
A whole bunch of people coming
To support Free Republic
Cool!

Sponsoring FReepers leapfrog0202 and another person will contribute $10
Each time a new monthly donor signs up!
Get more bang for your buck
Sign up today

Save Lazamataz

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Lakeshark.

[rlmorel]

"...because of a whole series of intellectual mistakes..."

Ya think? How about "Man made greenhouse gas emissions will have catastrophic consequences, and we must destroy the economies of the developed world to save ourselves"?

That counts as a pretty big "intellectual mistake" right there.

[rlmorel]

Yep. See “Red Hot Lies” by Christopher Horner. Spot on!

[Lakeshark]

We can always do better, but the green movement thinks we need a big government regulation to force that on us, meaning a socialist type dictatorship that forces us to go back to the middle ages. They are nothing but Luddites reborn in the guise of environmentalists.

I think the more conservative approach appreciates our freedom to do better, our freedom to innovate, our freedom to enjoy the bounty the earth provides us and make our lives better. You can support a clean environment without being crazy as the warmist alarmists are, and you can be for conservation without hampering the genius of the free market and human ingenuity.

[bIlluminati]

In a rational world, people aspiring to be politicians supporting “green” with other people’s money would either be laughed at into oblivion, or tried, convicted and executed for armed robbery under color of law.

[Issaquahking]

Greenie = F’n moron!

[La Enchiladita]

You know what, this is all a fake-out.
The Greenies don’t care about planet earth.
They care only about furthering leftism, socialism, etcetera.
They will become vocal again if and when we have a Republican administration, or conservatism surges again in the world.
Then they blame AMERICA for destroying the environment of the whole, entire world!!
Right now, things are going their way, but they are like a sleeping snake.
They are a political movement, not an earth-saving, environmental movement.
Don’t be fooled.

[fire and forget]

Not only that, the invevitability of the environmental catastrophe that would follow their (and Obama’s) policies is apparent with but a moment’s reflection. They want to crush the economy, its output and the FIRST WORLD population. If these things happens, be sure that millions of hungry people won’t care a flash for the environment. They may die (which the lefties evidently want), but they’ll first destroy everything trying to squeeze a little food out of the proverbial turnip. I don’t much care for Michael Savage, but he’s right, “liberalism is a mental disorder” is a maxim and so appropos.

[IncPen]

These Green fools don’t understand that the problem is not consumption, it’s capacity.

If you legislate consumption ‘over here’, it will thrive ‘over there’. Over there will probably be India or China.

Why not hit capacity head on and meet the challenge? Otherwise, will we allow these idiots to drive us to ruin? Really?

[Flag_This]

"Humans are a virus making Gaia sick, and must be cleansed from the planet..."

If you read the same article on The Guardian's site, it seems like the majority of comments from readers bray about the need for population control.

[okie01]

Monbiot’s sober assessment of the consequences is dead on; when the greens digest his analysis and go a bit further to ask how they got into this mess, they will be ready to join something that the world truly and urgently needs: a serious and grownup conversation about how to conserve the beauty and viability of our glorious home as the human race continues to develop the extraordinary intelligence Mother Nature has seen fit to give us.

Good article. But the author's conclusion is wishful thinking.

The Green Movement has never been about "conserving the beauty and viability of our glorious home". Instead, it has been about destroying capitalism -- not saving the planet. And gaining raw power -- not seeking utopia.

If the Green Movement is at a dead end, they will re-direct their communism and it will re-surface in another movement.

[SierraWasp]

GANG-GREEN... GANG-GREENING THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT!!!