Environmental Blinders

A friend recently puzzled over the astounding dearth of caterwauling from the pro-environment crowd over the toxic mess in East Palestine, OH, where a hundred fifty train cars derailed, spilling hundreds of thousands of pounds of known carcinogens into the earth. This video breaks down the what and how much, if you want details.

Environmental concerns have, after all, been given such priority by the government and the Left that our entire economy is in thrall to the greens' demands. Everyone is either talking "green" or has had his life impacted by the greens' demands. From food and drink to appliances to heating and cooling your home to the cars you’re permitted to buy to countless other consumer products, "green" is everywhere and in everything.

So, why the lack of screeching over East Palestine?

Two reasons come to mind.

The first is base partisan politics. The crash is a problem for the Democrats, given that they are in charge, that one of their favorite sons and potential future Presidential candidates is in charge of the Department of Transportation, and that they've descended so deep into tribalism that they cannot bring themselves to say anything that might harm their team. No news there.

The second is the eye-opener, though there is ample prior evidence to consider. The Green movement is about one thing only: global warming. Localized enviro-disasters are something to tut-tut about if there's political hay to be made, but all their focus is on coercing the rest of us into carbonless energy misery. A broadly futile endeavor, given global realities (as in, the BRICS nations and the developing world are going to continue burning carbon fuels - and their increases will FAR outstrip the West's reductions), but one that not only makes them feel good, it gives them an excuse to impose their will on everyone else.

Make no mistake, "green" is about political power and coercion, full stop.

Once you understand this reality, many puzzlements start making sense. The aversion to nuclear power, which would be the quickest and easiest way to effect a wholesale shift away from carbon-based electricity. The dismissal of the messiness (and human toll) of extracting the metals needed for solar and wind power generation. The millions of birds killed by wind turbines (and power lines, which would grow in quantity in a shift to WASABI). The questions regarding whales and off-shore windmills. The fallowing of arable land for wind and solar farms. The looming waste management problem that turbine blades and solar panels represent.

All these and more are either dismissed because PLANET IS DYING! hyperbole or whatabouted away with blithe dismissiveness.

About the only benefit to be extracted from the East Palestine disaster for those of this mindset is the ability to impose more controls and grab more power over the private sector. That none of the Administration's proposed policies would have prevented it is of little interest, let alone consequence. Regulation-minded people see regulations as a "tally," as in the more there are the happier they are. What the regs actually say, whether they actually work, or if they do more harm than good do not matter.

Economic fascism is definitionally heavy government control over privately owned business, and this is the model and aspiration of not only this administration, but all the main aspirants in the Democratic Party. Global warming is a phenomenal excuse for seizing this sort of control and imposing this sort of model, which is actually of greater utility to such people than higher-fidelity socialism because it leaves risk in the private sector while taking only benefit for the public sector. The pitfalls and perils of the WASABI agenda are either exported (as in, let other nations do the dirty digging) or 'diminished' in a relative sense by hamstringing every other power source. The futility of the effort is likewise dismissed, because the real goal has nothing to do with saving the planet (if it did, the focus would be VERY different).

Given all this, we can come to terms with why our greens are mostly shrugging off the East Palestine mess. Add in the fact that it's "flyover country" and a Red state, and it all makes sense. They couldn't care less about the town's residents, and are only acting as they are now because they fear political repercussion.