Schwarzenegger the Environmental Wacko: Global Warming & Symbolism - Empty Agenda and Little Else

by: Steve Yuhas

You would have thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke had it not been two months over due when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined with the environmental crowd to “join the world” in stomping out global warming – beginning in California. 

Schwarzenegger calls his plan to reduce global warming an “Environmental Action Plan,” but it really is a joke because the plan is not a plan at all, but a broad statement that global warming is happening and the appointment of, you guessed it, another commission to stomp it out. 

In an effort to placate the California Assembly that voted to meet international greenhouse gas reduction standards by 2010, Schwarzenegger signed an executive order that created the "Climate Action Team" to meet the obligations.  The Commission will have no real power or authority and they have not been asked to explain how they’re going to keep the greenhouse gasses from Arizona, Nevada, Oregon or China (that take about three days to cross the Pacific and enter California) from coming in and disrupting his plan, but the newspapers in California seem to love the “GOP” governor talking about global warming.

The Associated Press gleefully reported that Schwarzenegger was “on an opposite course from the Bush administration” that did not send a representative to the conference (being held in San Francisco, California), but it was not exactly the Bush administration that disagreed with global warming strategies.  I’m sure it was simply a case of needing a quick story, but the “global standards” from Kyoto were thrown out under Bill Clinton and floundered on both sides of the Senate: Democrat and Republican, but we’ll let the fact checkers have a “gimme” for filling space.

A few of the other attendees of the conference in San Francisco truly have problems with pollution in their cities: representative from London, Rio de Janiero and Shanghai (all three cities wish they were only as polluted as California cities) sat around and talked about how to get more people out of their cars and how to get the United States to sign on to job killing measures that would increase the cost of doing business by stopping production in the manufacturing sector. 

After all, if California were to increase the cost of doing business, which it often does, it will only make doing business in other states more attractive; listening closely on Wednesday night you could actually hear the people in Nevada clapping at the thought of more jobs moving out of the Golden State as a result of idiotic government programs.  But let’s at least give the HUMVEE driving, private plane flying and mansion living Governor at his word: he wants to stop global warming.

What is California going to do to stop those evil gasses, hardly a speck given the amount of gas and yuck produced by a burp by Mount Saint Helen’s, from entering the atmosphere and killing off the world as we know it? 

Well, we’re going to invest more in renewable energy (heard that before), recycle (we already do that) and we’re going to invest more in public transportation (we spend billions, but nobody wants it).  The money spent on the conference could have actually been used to clean water for some tribe in Africa rather than go through the same ideas over and over again. 

There is nothing new coming out of this “conference” and it seems just a way for the GOP governor to help with his falling poll numbers since it is silly to think that any Republican truly wants to have dirty water or air, but you wouldn’t know it if you listened to the speakers or even Schwarzenegger himself, “I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know the time for action is now."

If only if it were that simple – then Arnold could demand that everyone take mass transit to work or outfit their homes with solar panels, but until the science agrees that global warming is a people problem rather than an earth one, there is certainly room for debate.

Schwarzenegger has pushed the "hydrogen highways" program that will put hydrogen fueling stations along the highways of California (of course nobody wants tiny hydrogen powered cars and the costs of installing them would be much better spent building roads for the cars people actually want and have) and then there is the brilliant "million solar roofs" program that will allow for the installation, through tax incentives, for people to install solar roofs into their homes and business (again – nobody wants them and they are much more expensive than traditional roofs, but who cares – lets get those solar roofs going because Arnold wants them).

It is like living in the land of Oz – Schwarzenegger uses a few one liners, throws in an “I’ll be back” and the whole of the left jumps to their feet because they think global warming is over (if it is even happening) because California – a speck on the world – is going to force people into cars they don’t want and buses and trains loaded with stinky homeless people).  It is mind-numbing.

The AP reported the following: “the United States, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, did not sign because Bush administration officials believed the treaty would result in the loss of 5 million U.S. jobs and raise energy prices, said Michele St. Martin, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.” 

For the benefit of the Associated Press, it should also be noted that the United States produces more than any other nation on the planet and although it may not have signed the Kyoto protocol it was not because of the Bush administration, it was put forward in 1997 during the Clinton administration so blaming President Bush for the problems with passing the job killing Kyoto would be like blaming him for the blue dress – it is just junk science.

In keeping with the silly notions that individual cities and states can accomplish the Kyoto protocols other states and cities will probably continue to adopt these standards.  All it will do is lead to job loss, higher prices for power and fuel and unless an actual bubble is built around the towns and states that adopt these protocols – they’ll continue to be polluted.  The largest polluters in the world, even ones who signed on to Kyoto, are still polluting at an enormous and record pace.

It seems that environmentalists want the same for the human population that radical Islam wants to the Umma – a world back to the days of horse and buggy when we all just got along and nobody bothered anyone with their industrial waste.  An interesting contrast considering that Schwarzenegger and most of the people demanding that we live like paupers and 12th Century street people themselves live in 20,000 square foot mansions as well as drive a fleet of polluting vehicles and private planes; unless they are showing up at a red carpet – then they break out the non-polluting little car just to show their fans that they care. 

There seems to be a theme among environmentalists (and wanna be greens): do as I say, not as I do.

The American people do not want to drive tiny little cars like the people in Europe seem not to mind (except those who can afford gasoline who buy big ones because they can afford them), Americans don’t want to take public transportation (except those in metro areas where there is little choice and convenience, but people in southern California certainly don’t mind “high” gasoline prices or long traffic delays) and Americans don’t want to sign on to a treaty that would take jobs from one state and export them to another all in the name of creating an imaginary bubble around California that will do nothing for pollution and everything for killing jobs, but none of that matters to the Governor of the Earth Lovers.

It would be an April Fool’s joke to assume that a state here or there or a couple hundred little cities would do anything to stop “global warming” (remember 20 years ago when there was another ice age coming) – anyway – in the minds of some, though, pollution recognizes borders and even though the factories just across the border in Mexico that pollute San Diego on a daily basis will still continue to put out smoke and sludge, California will lead the way by pushing through silly changes that nobody wants and that when given the opportunity (as in public transportation) ignore.

Governor Schwarzenegger would have been better off signing off on a treaty against his return to movies or promising not to run for re-election as the ideas that he comes up with are right out of Hollywood.  Can you see it in a film: the state of California is fed up with pollution so it protects itself with an imaginary bubble that neighboring states suckered California into erecting because it will force people and businesses to move out and into their tax base.  Sound like Hollywood?

It is and that is because California was silly enough to elect an actor (who was not Ronald Reagan) governor and his advisors have decided that instead of dealing with pollution in a way that the people of California will actually go along with; Schwarzenegger will set up Hydrogen Highways that nobody will use because there are no hydrogen cars to drive on them and solar powered homes that are too expensive for real people to afford.

And people wonder why California is laughed at – we deserve it.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 out of San Diego.  He may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com