The left in general has a big, big problem. Their messages stink on ice. They're pessimistic, they're condescending, they're discriminatory, they promote failure and criticize success; the messages are bad. But they think it's the messaging, not the message, that sinks them, every time.
Every time the left reboots a discussion, they try to frame the same bad arguments in a slightly different way, but the arguments are still bad.
The climate scolds are no exception. One of their number, a guy named Gilad Regev, is troubled that the general public isn't buying the climate change disaster - and, yes, he thinks it's the message. Master Resource's Robert Bradley Jr. has some details.
Gilad Regev, self described as “empowering people to take climate action,” is very discouraged. Government climate policies are all pain, no gain, and the general public has alarm fatigue. And even climate campaigners are moving toward adaption instead of (futile) mitigation.
He recently stated:
Maybe the problem isn’t climate denial. Maybe it’s climate messaging. We’ve been attempting to scare or shame people into caring, and it’s not effective. Is it time to completely rethink how we talk about climate and sustainability? We’ve spent years trying to influence people through fear, data, and moral urgency. The results? Mixed.
No, Mr. Regev, it's not the messaging. It's the message. You can't scare people into caring, and you can't persuade people to care. Why? Because the data doesn't support your claims.
Here are a few of the messaging mistakes he points out:
Talking About “The Planet” Instead of People: People don’t wake up thinking about biodiversity – they think about bills, housing, jobs. Make climate personal. What can THEY GAIN out of changing their behaviour?
They can't gain anything. The only results you can offer are more expensive, less reliable electricity, more expensive gasoline, and more expensive everything. People are thinking about bills, housing, jobs, and there, you offer no solutions - none.
Assuming Rational Facts Will Change Behavior: 1.5°C Warming Is Essential, But Not Sufficient.
Facts Inform, but Emotions Drive Action.
Note the utter lack of self-awareness; as I've written time and again in these virtual pages, as I've been saying and writing for years, as we have provided data piled upon data, the climate scolds have no facts. They have a lot of conjecture, a lot of hyperbole, but no facts.
Read More: Electric Vehicles Are Proving an Increasingly Tough Sell
Climate Scolds Panic Again: This Time It's Ocean Temperatures
Neglecting economic and social equity when we assume everyone can afford an EV or solar system, we lose trust. Green should be accessible to everyone – not just the wealthy.
Oh, so making it another welfare program will help? That seems unlikely. When Mr. Regev says "Green should be accessible to everyone," he means, "at taxpayer expense." So not only will electricity and gasoline be more expensive, but every product and commodity will be more expensive, and the taxpayers are expected to pick up the tab to spread this around, to make matters worse.
Now, Mr. Regev has some solutions, and they're about what you'd expect from someone who doesn't understand the problem.
Shift from sacrifice to solutions. Replace “cut back” with “get more” – resilience, savings, mobility, and wellbeing.
We've seen time and again, when actual data is crunched, that the climate agenda won't result in anyone having more, only less. If the climate scolds got their way, humanity would reverse thousands of years of progress in the energy front, with a decrease of energy density, trading high-density, reliable, constant energy for low-density, unreliable, intermittent energy.
Make it simple. Use plain, human language. Instead of “decarbonize the grid,” say “cleaner, cheaper energy in every home. Help people to measure their carbon footprint.”
Ordinary people don't care about their carbon footprint. Nor should they. And the energy you offer, once again, won't be cleaner or cheaper.
Embed climate into everything. Don’t treat it like a separate crusade – show how it strengthens the economy, creates jobs, and benefits communities.
It won't strengthen the economy, of course; just the opposite. But note this language: "Embed climate into everything." He's proposing exactly the kind of behavior that is the reason I call these people "climate scolds." They hector, they lecture, they harangue, and they never, ever shut up about it. They are the political equivalent of Amway recruiters; they never talk about anything else.
Mr. Bradley concludes his piece:
Sum the arguments and … it is time for free market energy policies to replace crony capitalism and the termite aspirations of the Climate Industrial Complex. To all climate alarmists and forced energy transformationists, check your premises for mid-course correction. Climate anxiety not. (sic)
And that, happily, is where we're headed, at least in the United States. The Trump administration is opening up the nation's oil and gas fields, our mineral resources, and yanking federal funds from green energy boondoggles. Here in the Great Land, the North Slope oil and gas fields are open for business, which will not only expand our energy sources but will bring jobs to some of the nation's poorer communities. That's the future, and the climate scolds tweaking their arguments around the edges won't help them any.
It's a good day in America right now.
