Democrats are predicting a climate-change-fueled apocalypse 12 years from now, but 3,800 miles away in Paris, we’re seeing a preview of the real doomsday scenario that would result from radical policies such as the Green New Deal.

For the 18th weekend in a row, violent protests broke out in the streets of one of Europe’s oldest cities as French citizens protested their government’s efforts to make them bear the costs of transitioning to clean energy. The mouvement des gilets jaunes, or Yellow Vests Movement, started in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise gas taxes by 12 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24 cents per gallon for diesel, prompting the working-class protesters to complain that “the government talks about the end of the world. We are worried about the end of the month.”

With gas prices at nearly $6 per gallon, driving in France is already very expensive, and while public transportation is available in urban centers, most people in rural areas have no realistic alternative to driving.

It’s understandable that French workers would recoil from Macron’s effort to make them bear the costs of his environmentalist agenda, but his brand of elitist authoritarianism actually pales in comparison to the “green dream” being pushed by liberal elites here in America.

The Democrats’ neo-socialist Green New Deal calls for achieving “net-zero” carbon emissions within 10 years, a goal that would impose enormous hardships on American workers and consumers. The plan would be economically crippling to American taxpayers, exceeding $93 trillion in costs while displacing some 10 million Americans in high-paying oil and gas industries from their jobs.

Energy costs for home heating and electrical power would likely double or triple, according to a recent Heritage Foundation study.

That’s a far more onerous burden than the 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax hike that has paralyzed Paris with protests, and it’s hard to imagine that the American people would meekly sit by and let elitist politicians sacrifice their livelihoods on the altar of environmental extremism.

Riots in the streets, though, could actually be the least of our problems if the U.S. adopts this radical environmentalist pipe dream. Without fossil fuels, basic necessities such as heating and food would become precious commodities, exposing American citizens to the risks of starvation and exposure.

The freedom-loving gilets jaunes protesters in Paris have seen the handwriting on the wall, and they’re taking a stand now before their leaders impoverish them completely. Will Americans prove as prescient?