The Hypocrisy of Global Warming Alarmists

Now that we have achieved "consensus" on Global Warming what will the environmental activists force down our throat? No doubt it will be something to hurt our economic growth and reduce our lifestyle. Few are advocates for nuclear energy and many even oppose windmills (like the Kennedy's off the shore of Martha's Vineyard). I don't see many screaming about the coal fired plants that China will build (expected to be double the number that the US has by 2011), even though China is already one of the prime emitters of CO2.

I have speculated that environmentalists are irreligious people that have adopted love of the earth as their new religion. But maybe:

• they are anti-capitalist Marxists who are bent on the destruction of the US economy because we consume "too much" of the worlds resources (even though we produce much of the worlds goods). Many just plain hate the US.
• they are naive and ignorant do-gooders who have no idea of the economics involved in reducing carbon emissions (gee, if we all replace our light bulbs that will solve the problem)
• they are radicals who advocate massive reduction of human population and a return of the earth to its "natural" state (i.e. the animals rule) [Don't think these people are that uncommon - my son's 9th grade science teacher was preaching this during his classes all last year]
• they are people that wish for a return to an agrarian society where each individual uses solar or wind power to generates power for their own needs and we grow our own food so there's no need to drive (in this case we better hope for global warming or we'll all have to move further south)

Here's a post with lots of interesting discussion on the topic. I'm not sure if all environmentalists can be lumped together, but most have one thing in common - hypocrisy. Al Gore flying around the planet and consuming 10x the normal household consumption of electricity, while his movie asks for you to sacrifice, is one prime example. Few actually live the minimalist lifestyle and often their actions create more pollution (e.g. Prius owners are worse polluters than Hummer owners)

I've written numerous posts about global warming. My opinions:

• There is not enough statistical data to determine if the planet is warming or not
• Even if the planet is warming, there is no evidence that the cause is man-made
• Even if the planet is warming and the cause is man-made, there is nothing we could do to change the trend. CO2 does will not go away and our contribution is but a small fraction of the whole.
  
• There is no evidence that a warmer planet is a bad thing. Temperatures during the Medieval Warming were higher and the population was better off

The reality is that carbon based fuels are abundant beyond what we will consume for the next hundred years and for transportation are the only source available for the foreseeable future. For electrical generation nuclear is the best alternative. Nobody has died in a nuclear power plant accident in the US, while hundreds have died in refinery explosions. Our fear of nuclear energy is irrational and counterproductive.

There's only one thing you can do if you are really worried about global warming; stop building your beach house so close to the ocean.