Walking The Talk Is Not Enough To Solve ‘Climate Change’ Or Something

Yet another piece explaining why it is A-OK for Warmists to be utter hypocrites

Personal responsibility is not enough to fix climate change

Is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a climate hypocrite? That was the recent charge leveled against the freshman member of Congress, due to her apparent preference for car travel over public transit. The New York Democrat is outspoken on the need to take action on climate change and is the motivating force behind the much hyped Green New Deal, which aims to zero out greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 2030.

Ocasio-Cortez is only the latest in a long line of green advocates who have been tagged with the hypocrisy label. The home of former vice president Al Gore uses 20 times the electricity of the typical house. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio warns of the dangers of fossil fuels while flying around on private jets. Not that green activists are necessarily great at giving others advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint either. When she was asked what people could do personally to fight climate change, Ocasio-Cortez had decided to suggest not using disposable plastic razors when you shave.

I enjoy poking fun at these folks as much as the next guy, but there is a deeper point involved here. In fact, one of the things that makes climate change such a difficult problem to solve is that it is impossible for a single person, or perhaps even a single nation, to do much to reduce emissions at all. Climate change is an example of what is called a collective action problem. This is a situation where everyone would benefit by taking a certain action, but only if everyone else does as well.

Of course, in Warmist World, it’s always about forcing Someone Else to live the tenants of the Cult of Climastrology. About government force. Screed writer Josiah Neely really, really, really tries to make the point about it not being hypocrisy for many more paragraphs before getting to

So how do you solve a collective action problem? Well that is easier said than done. Sometimes a collective action problem can be overcome by having the group make a decision binding on everyone. Before 1979, few hockey players wore helmets despite the increased risk of injury because a player in a helmet was thought to be at a competitive disadvantage to one without a helmet. Now all players wear helmets. What changed? The National Hockey League made wearing helmets mandatory. This option is not available in the case of climate change, however, because thankfully there is no world government that can mandate emissions reductions.

Yes, the NHL demanded this, and most of the players were on board with it. But, then, they are a private group. The point Josiah is trying to note here is that government should force everyone to comply. Josiah can yammer about being thankful that there is no world government to mandate reductions, but, it all leads up to government force. But, until such time as Warmists show us that this is real by practicing what they preach, we can see this for what it is: hard left politics, with all the money grabbing, redistribution of wealth, controlling people’s lives, etc.