Just months ago, one couldn’t walk down a city street without encountering someone glued to the pavement, waving hand-painted signs – about knee level – bearing apocalyptic predictions of the end of the earth in a decade or so. The hit-and-run climate change activists disrupted traffic, held powwows, danced in their petroleum-based sneaks, and left a path of single-use plastic water bottles behind as they went to the next city to throw a tantrum.
Where did they all go? Is the world not going to end in a decade? Did the election of the current president solve the melting of the glaciers? It is a curious situation, indeed.
Hippies Have Lost Their Luster
Protests are nearly non-existent in 2022. A cursory glance indicates that eco-anarchists aren’t rallying in the streets. But they are plotting and scheming behind the scenes: immune from name-calling, jail time, and spending hours rubbing Goo-Gone through their hair and clothing. Anarchy is neither clean nor easy. Celebrities also seem tight-lipped about the cause these days and have no worries as they increase their private air travel and usage of fossil fuels -- as if we have solved the carbon emission Armageddon.
Sensing the Hippie style of non-violent protests, make love, not war, is not something the latest generation of change activists can stomach. These newbies prefer a hot shower to week-long abstinence for the cause and probably consult the CDC for guidelines before engaging in person-to-person activities. Did COVID kill off the unity in the streets? If not, Monkeypox will certainly halt all the cavorting, touching, and sharing of bodily fluids in the cause of saving Mother Earth.
Of course, there are the throwbacks: Extinction Rebellion members, radical and known for their Elmer’s Glue approach, are still irritating folks just trying to get through their day. Most recently, in Italy, members of the eco-club blocked a busy motorway in Rome. Police were unnecessary. Motorists hauled the rebels off the road, tossed them in a ditch, and everyone went on their way.
It does appear that the years of mass gathering of protesters have quieted. In fact, climate activists had to join in with the pro-abortion folks in a march on the Supreme Court to double their numbers. But it’s not over by any means, and eco-anarchy’s movement has gone full-tilt digital.
Most organizations – except for the hands-on style of Extinction Rebellion – are putting sponsorship dollars into streaming services, television, and platforms such as YouTube.
Far-Left and Radical Right Agree – To Some Degree
The far-left and even further-left progressives aren’t the only political folks focused on the environment. RepublicEn touts its belief system as conservative and libertarian and advocates for zero carbon emissions – eventually. Their home page describes their growing organization: “Together, we encourage, embolden, and applaud conservative climate leadership.” Part of their bragging lineup of support includes Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), among other local and national politicians. The stated goal of RepublicEn is “balance to the Environmental Left.”
In 2007, a report was issued by a few of America’s esteemed retired military leaders. The report, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change, warned that there will be “wars over water, increased hunger, instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels, and global warming-induced refugees.” The report continued, “The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide, and the growth of terrorism.” Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gordon Sullivan told Associated Press Radio at the time, “Everybody needs to start paying attention to what’s going on. I don’t think this is a particularly hard sell in the Pentagon ... We’re paying attention to what those security implications are.”
No one seems to be lamenting the claim that terrorism is increasing over the possibility of man-made climate change. So why would that not be the most significant talking point for any politician who believes in getting rid of fossil fuels?
They Are Out There
In the United States alone, some 15,000 registered non-profits focus on the environment and animal welfare. Suppose you add in unregistered green groups created by the wealthy, community activists, or just those wishing to be involved in finding climate change solutions. In that case, the number of eco-groups in this country is simply staggering. As such, why the chasm of disconnect between the need for environmental change and actual change? It’s just a talking point for the left.
