If you missed the new video interview with Jerry Taylor, go there now.
You’re back? Ok, here’s more from former Cato Institute “climate skeptic” spokesman Jerry Taylor, on how he now engages fellow conservatives on climate.
Below, how to bust Republicans out of Climate Denial prison.
Taylor’s still calling denying delayalists skeptics. They’re not, and his own definition (about 1:52 in the first video) shows they’re not; people who refuse to examine the evidence are not skeptics, they’re in denial about reality and that overrides their ability to objectively examine anything.
His assertion that it’s not only a problem on the right (2:40) is nonsense. Certainly there are people on the left who don’t spend years (which is what it takes) fully examining the scientific evidence. But that’s not a problem because they’re trusting scientists to do that through peer review, which is exactly what’s happened and how we know with virtual certainty climate cataclysm is happening now, human-caused and threatens civilization and millions of species. It’s only when people stop trusting science, evidence and scientists, and insist on policies that go directly against what all those are saying that they cause a problem–at least on a societal scale. While there are certainly some on the “left” who are in the irrational despair camp with Guy McPherson et al, and some along the spectrum of lukewarmists (luckwarmists) all the way into the “I don’t care” ground, without the right wing media-amplified denying delayalist lies (including Taylor’s) we could completely ignore them, No Problem.
But unless I’ve missed something, Taylor’s telling the truth–pretty much sorta –about climate science, but is still trying to sell luckwarm actions that won’t solve anything–market religion reactions. A price on carbon is fine; it probably won’t hurt but also won’t help much unless it’s fast and drastic. It won’t be either unless progressives have control of the decision-making process in the US, and once we have that, we can implement real solutions that will actually solve the problem: a massive, rapid US WWII level climate mobilization; nationalizing the fossil fuel industries to coordinate their demise with building clean safe renewable energy infrastructure; equally massive help to poor countries to reverse deforestation and start to reforest while they build renewables even faster than they are–which is faster than we are.
The US, with its incredible wealth in both money and untapped renewable resources has gone up 1%, from 17% renewable electrical grid to 18% in the last couple of years, 4% in the last 5 years plus. Meanwhile, countries like Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Peru, China, India and others (Kenya is the world leader in the number of solar power systems installed per capita) are forging ahead with less money and often not nearly as rich diverse resources as the US has. At least 61 countries have grids mostly powered by clean safe renewable energy; 21 of them at or near 100%. Meanwhile 3 countries perfectly able to develop their resources, the US, Russia and Australia, are on the low end of the scale at 17-18%, though now that Australia has been freed from its yoke of national govt. deniers and mostly working at the state level, is beginning to make rapid progress. That leaves the 2 main petrostates in the world to drag along behind, and market religion is not going to help, even when it’s the belief of people who sorta accept some of the science of climate Götterdämmerung.