The cult of climate change loses a powerful leaderThe cult of climate change recently lost one of its high priests, Pope Francis I, and humanity and the planet itself are far better off...
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By Daniel Turner The cult of climate change recently lost one of its high priests, Pope Francis I, and humanity and the planet itself are far better off. That is not easy for me, a lifelong Catholic from devoutly Catholic Irish and Italian parents, to write about anyone recently deceased, let alone a Pope, but it is my moral imperative. Fossil fuels have reduced human misery, made people healthier and more prosperous, and any effort to eliminate them is a threat against humanity itself. Pope Francis hated fossil fuels and said so often. Francis ignorantly proclaimed “enough fossil fuels!” adding we must “end the era of fossil fuels". Francis spoke about climate like a typical, boring, aged-hippie politician: soaring rhetoric indifferent to the dangerous applications. The result of ending the era of fossil fuels would be death, not life; disease, not health; misery, not well-being. Intellectual leftists have long relished the ability to agitate in the world of pure thought and immunize themselves from the ugly reality of their ideas put into action. Marxists are the best example of this as they effortlessly distinguish between Marx in theory and Marx in application. They have no shame in dismissing 150 years of Marxist bloodshed flippantly as “that wasn’t real Marxism” keeping their ideas pure. Francis did this on climate, and it was cowardice born of privilege. A message from our sponsor (piece continues below) Together With American Hartford Gold Hello Friends Bill O'Reilly Here,
I remember how the Great Recession of 2008 wiped out $2.4 trillion dollars from retirement funds. And now it looks like history is repeating itself. Experts forecast the coming recession will be even worse than the 2008 financial crisis, including: • More than 2 million lost jobs • Stocks plummeting over 20% • IRAs and 401(k)s to lock in losses of 25% and keep falling We can't stop the recession from happening, but you can prepare for it. That's why I've put together a concise guide to help you protect your finances during this downturn. Request your free guide now to recession-proof your life and protect your IRA, 401(k) and pension savings. (Continued) Francis on climate reminded me of Ghandi on politics. In his masterpiece Modern Times Paul Johnson wrote Ghandi “could have flourished only in the protected environment provided by British liberalism.” Without the British Empire, and all that it provided the impoverished Indian people, a figure like Ghandi with all the worldwide accolades and media fanfare, could not have emerged. It was not “despite” but “because of” the Empire, Ghandi could become Ghandi. The British structures made Ghandi but he was too arrogant to recognize it. So, too, with Francis. He condemned fossil fuels as Ghandi condemned The Crown, but it is exactly those structures of a fossil fuel economy which allowed for his 68 worldwide papal visits. Where was Francis’ notorious humility to recognize the millions of free market exchanges by free people which produced the energy for his Papacy? Pope Saint John Paul II wrote in his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens of the dignity of work, especially the rigorous manual labor you find in oil, gas, and coal industries. Real work full of dignity and purpose. Pope Francis linked the fossil fuel industry to pornography. On Ghandi, Johnson said “His food policy would have led to mass starvation.” So, too, with Francis. If Francis had the ability to enact climate policy, death would result. Look at recent events on the Iberian Peninsula with complete blackouts just days after boasting about their “100% green” grid. Thousands trapped in elevators and underground in subways. Thousands locked out of smart doors, stranded, unable to buy food because most stores use electronic payment and hardly anyone carries cash. We’ll never know the death toll as it does not fit the renewables narrative required in modern Europe. Even before the grid collapse, the cost of “going green” in Spain was painful. Electricity averages $0.33 per kwh compared to America’s $0.15. Gas currently averages $5.74 a gallon compared to America’s $3.16. Spain has 11% unemployment partly because its industrial utility rates have risen 22% in the past two years. Spain is just one country but there is no country in the world, not one, that can point to “going green” as a success if success is honestly understood as grid reliability and consumer cost. If success is understood as a virtue signaling and political talking points, congrats, Spain, you’re winning. “Ole!” they shouted from the darkness as grandma’s dialysis machine turned off. “Somos muy verdes”. That is the green agenda’s only metric of success: a political talking point. No one benefits from green, and the entire agenda sucks us dry of money with endless subsidies renamed “investments”. A final observation of Johnson’s criticism of Ghandi: “as one of his circle observed: ‘It costs a great deal of money to keep Ghandi living in poverty’.” So, too, with Francis. The fossil fuel economy sustained him and his Papacy the way the British system sustained Ghandi, all so both could signal to the world how far above it and morally superior they were. Virtue signaling is deadly. Brazil is hosting the next worldwide climate love fest, and in preparation, it bulldozed tens of thousands of acres of the Amazon. For the earth! Or something. That is very much Francis’ climate vision: political theater all to look apolitical. A fossil fuel powered papacy to using its powers to condemn fossil fuels. There is more humility in Dolly Parton saying “it costs a lot of money to look this cheap” than there was in the climate Pope. Dolly’s observation was rooted in brutally honest, self-aware truth. Pope Francis' ignorance let him travel the world to condemn his means of transportation. Abject silliness if not downright insulting. If you really hate fossil fuels, Holy Father, you could have stayed home. Ghandi was a larger than life figure whose persona was greater than his person. Francis was the same. Yet, in both men, the practical application of their beliefs, not as a reductio ad absurdum, but as policy implementation, show the hollowness of their political philosophy. Marxism has always failed. And green Marxism has always failed and is failing. Everywhere it is applied, everywhere it is tried, climate policies have been a disaster. Expensive. Unreliable. Intermittent. Indefensible. Wind and solar are lousy substitutes for reliable electricity production, but fossil fuels are so much more. I would need all of Substack to list the millions of products made from petrochemicals like contact lenses and laundry detergent or provided to the masses more inexpensively because of fossil fuels like food, hot water, and utilities. All of that is on the line when the intellectual elite like Francis say “enough fossil fuels”. There is no dignity condemning people to die in pain “for the planet”. There is nothing humanitarian in causing dysentery from rancid food or suffering from the bitter cold “for the planet”. There is no praise of creation to foist misery on God’s greatest creation – man – for the earth. That is misanthropy at best, neo-paganism at worst, and all of it guaranteed, as an inevitable result of the kind of climate prescriptions coming from the climate left, including the late Pope Francis. Energy is everything. It is life. It is the economy, national security, geopolitical stability, world peace. It is human dignity and prosperity. It is so much greater than the lofty rhetoric of the aged, globalist elite. The sooner the ideas of the pagan, misanthropic, evil climate cult are dead, the better off all humanity will be. Until then, we keep fighting. Honor and courage. Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on X @DanielTurnerPTF You're currently a free subscriber to PolitiBrawl. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Thursday, May 1, 2025
The cult of climate change loses a powerful leader
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