ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The “climate change” movement is full of hypocrites:

• Politicians who fly in private jets but tell the rest of us to consider a world without planes.

• Movie stars advocating that we ditch our vehicles when their idea of mass transit is a stretch limo.

• Activists preaching that America has to cripple our economy while posting on their iPhones made in China.

• Candidates telling us we have to give up meat while helping grill 10,500 steaks in Iowa.

There is plenty of hypocrisy to go with all of their hype. But what about the hype?

As Aaron Rodgers would say, “R-E-L-A-X.” The world is not going to end in 12 years.

Remember all of the times former Vice President Al Gore predicted doom and gloom? “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr. [Wieslaw] Maslowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years,” said Mr. Gore on Dec. 14, 2009. But it did not happen. In 2014 and 2015, there was more arctic sea ice than in the previous years. Mr. Gore was as wrong as he is a hypocrite.

Around the time Mr. Gore won an Oscar for the best documentary feature, the Associated Press reported that Mr. Gore’s mansion in Nashville used more than 12 times the average amount of energy for a home in that area. That was his own inconvenient truth.

A decade later and Mr. Gore was still a hypocrite. He told Jake Tapper on CNN, “I live a carbon-free lifestyle, to the maximum extent possible.”

An analysis by the National Center for Public Policy Research at the time found that Mr. Gore’s mansion used more electricity in one month than the average family uses in 34 months. It noted that just the electricity used to heat the pool could power six homes for a year.

All of this after he installed new “green” updates. Ironically, the report says that Mr. Gore’s home used more electricity in 2016 than it did in 2007.

Mr. Gore claims to “live a carbon-free lifestyle, to the maximum extent possible,” really come from purchasing “carbon offsets” for the carbon dioxide related to the home. The report says that he pays $432 a month into a Green Power Switch program that helps fund renewable energy projects.

Carbon offsets are really a way for rich liberals to claim that they are helping fight climate change without changing their lifestyle. It is the modern-day selling of indulgences. The elites can pay the “high church of climate change activism” for the benefit of being forgiven for their sins of having a large carbon footprint while the masses have to change their lifestyles — all while still getting stuck with the bill.

Worst of all, there are many politicians who want to do things that will cripple our economy when the biggest threat actually comes from countries like China. A report in Power Engineering claims that China would add “290 GW of new coal-fired capacity this year — that is more than 10 percent higher than the entire U.S. existing coal-fired generation fleet of about 261 GW.”

There are many better solutions to preserving our natural resources that do not put America at a competitive disadvantage for little or no global impact:

Plant more trees. A 25 percent increase in the forested areas throughout the world has the potential to cut the atmospheric carbon pool by about 25 percent, according to a study released earlier this year.

Use more nuclear energy. Unlike fossil fuel-fired power plants, nuclear reactors do not produce air pollution or carbon dioxide while operating. Plus, nuclear power plants already generate nearly 20 percent of the electricity in the United States and they operate over 90 percent of the time versus hydroelectric systems (under 40 percent), wind turbines (less than 35 percent) or solar (about 25 percent).

Conserve energy. One of the best ways to be green is to make green or save green. In other words, if you can make money or save money, it is truly sustainable - both economically as well as environmentally.

These ideas could be part of a Green Real Deal instead of the so-called Green New Deal. As reported, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff exposed the fraud saying that “the interesting thing about the Green New Deal is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.”

Saikat Chakrabarti went on to say to the governor of Washington, “Do you guys think of it as a climate thing? Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.” In a weird sort of way, Ms. Chakrabarti did more to expose the hypocrisy of the Green New Deal than anyone on the right.

Think about that the next time you see a climate change protest on the news.

• Scott Walker was the 45th governor of Wisconsin. You can contact him at [email protected] or follow him @ScottWalker.

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