OPINION:
Hollywood producer James Cameron has the Midas touch when it comes to the silver screen, but his grasp on his favorite subject, the environment, is less confident than it once was. A debate between Mr. Cameron and climate realists set to take place last weekend at the American Renewable Energy Day conference in Aspen, Colo., was canceled after Mr. Cameron pulled out at the last minute.
The director of “Avatar” - a science-fiction flick with an environmentalist theme that grossed a glacier-melting $2.8 billion - apparently was itching to take on the opposition for months. In March, he spouted off against those who dared question whether mankind’s actions have heated the globe, saying “I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads.” A few weeks later, Mr. Cameron was making the rounds on Capitol Hill to promote his latest DVD and to preach on so-called climate change. He grew so self-assured after his softball media interviews that he began to issue challenges.
Mr. Cameron’s handlers eventually settled on Andrew Breitbart, founder of the popular BigGovernment and BigHollywood websites, to captain the “Climate Change denier” team that included documentary filmmaker Ann McElhinney and Marc Morano, editor of the Climate Depot website. Mr. Cameron was to be supported by a pair of scientists who share his faith that the planet faces cataclysm unless other people limit their consumption of the earth’s resources. (Mr. Cameron appears not to limit his personal consumption as he owns not just one, but two adjacent 8,000 square-foot mansions in Malibu.)
Mr. Breitbart’s team agreed to every single stipulation made by Mr. Cameron’s side, no matter how limiting and unreasonable. It was only after Mr. Morano’s flight from Washington touched down in Colorado that the other side was informed Mr. Cameron had withdrawn from the great event. “He went from king of the world to chicken of the sea,” Mr. Morano told The Washington Times. “He closed up shop and ran scared.”
There’s good reason for global warmists to be afraid. To take just one example,we’ve heard Hollywood big shots and United Nations bureaucrats peddling the tale for years that man has angered Mother Earth with development and she has struck back with “extreme” hurricanes, floods and other disasters. Unfortunately for the hysterics, the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society earlier this month debunked this nonsensical plotline. “The studies show no trends in losses, corrected for changes (increases) in population and capital at risk, that could be attributed to anthropogenic climate change,” the peer-reviewed journal article concluded.
As in Mr. Cameron’s vapid blockbuster “Titanic,” some adherents to the global warming religion will refuse to acknowledge their once unsinkable ship has sprung a leak. Perhaps Mr. Cameron bailed out early because he realizes the issue is not as clear-cut as he once imagined.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.