Environmental activists are at it again—using well-meaning college students to further their political agenda.
Activists tried to turn February 13th and 14th into “Global Divestment Day.”
Petitions circulated and pledges were taken by students and faculty at dozens of colleges across America (and the globe) to try to convince their respective schools to “rid their portfolios of investments in coal, oil, and natural gas interests.”
But the divestment movement, which began a few years ago, is not what it is made out to be.
If achieved, it’s end goals would worsen the environment, make life more difficult for most of humanity, and restrict freedom in the name of one of the greatest scientific scams ever.
The organizers claim fossil fuels are “wrecking the planet,” and that’s “wrong.” Therefore, they say, fossil fuels should be phased out of existence. Companies involved in extracting energy resources are described by the movement’s front, Fossil Free, as “rogue entities seeking profits at the expense of people and planet.”
Unsurprisingly, Fossil Free presents absolutely zero facts to back any of it’s claims.
None! Zilch! Zappo!
They just simply make claims and call for action. “The sky is falling so show up and protest!” screams the pages of their site. But if you don’t already agree with their beliefs hook, line, and sinker, they don’t even try to bait you in.
The justification of the divestment movement relies entirely on the assumption that greenhouse gas (namely carbon dioxide) emissions will disrupt the Earth’s climate system and cause cataclysmic weather events. But again, where’s their evidence?
Thankfully, the evidence continues to pile up against them.
Even though the President has constantly touted climate change as the greatest threat the world has ever seen, global warming is consistently ranked last on issues Americans are most concerned about.
But it’s not just Americans who aren’t buying into the scare.
The Pope and the UN aren’t having any success selling it as a top priority to the rest of the world, either.
And for good reason!
Despite increases in carbon dioxide there has been no discernable global warming for at least the past 18 years, and indeed, there has actually been a slight cooling.
If burning fossil fuels causes global warming, like the climate models and IPCC says it does, where is it?
Earth’s temperature has always fluctuated—before and after fossil fuels came into existence, and it always will. The Medieval Warm Period is a prime example.
In fact, the comparison of historic CO2 levels with temperatures in Earth’s past show quite clearly how carbon dioxide is not the big driver of climate change.
Not only is CO2 not bad for the climate, it’s actually great for the earth!
As we all learned in 3rd grade, plants eat carbon dioxide. The more of it is in the air, the faster the vegetation grows.
Carbon dioxide is the essential limiting ingredient for plant growth. It’s demonstrably true that wild plants are growing faster simply because we have burned fossil fuels and thus increased the atmospheric CO2 levels. In other words, we’re making the world more fertile and luscious.
But, for some reason, environmental activists always ignore these facts.
There is no mention anywhere on the organizer’s site about other major benefits of fossil fuel use.
What benefits?
How about running water, electricity, plumbing, refrigeration, hospitals, weather-resistant housing, cell phones, cars, trains, planes, computers, internet, abundant food, and medicine?
But that’s not all!
Fossil fuels are the only viable source of abundant, affordable energy currently in existence. With this type of fuel, Western countries threw off the yoke of extreme poverty, and created a society of health, wealth, and comfort. And it is only through fossil fuels that developing nations can rise out of poverty.
As a millennial, I can relate to the urge to be part of something important. We want vision, need purpose, and love movements greater than ourselves. There’s a vacuum inside us for camaraderie and belonging, and we experience these feelings when we’re united for a cause.
But the causes we often sell our souls to don’t always keep their promises. Social movements always hold forth hope for a brighter future but sometimes they actually wind up making the world worse. That’s exactly the case with “Global Divestment Day.”
And by the way, Divestment Day is an entirely astroturf (intentionally faked grassroots) movement. It is the farthest thing from an organic uprising. Fossil Free, with it’s parent organization, the environmentalist radical Bill McKibben’s 350.org, are artificial movements kicked off and backed by some of the world’s wealthiest elites.
Instead of supporting Global Divestment Day, let’s support a Global Fossil Fuel End Poverty Day, and we’ll have a profoundly positive impact on the well-being of humanity. Plants will also flourish better, together with the animals and ecosystems that rely on them. Talk about changing the world!
