OPINION:
John Kerry is crazy. This is not hyperbole or exaggeration.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word crazy means “not mentally sound: marked by thought or action that lacks reason.”
I was convinced that Mr. Kerry was truly crazy after seeing his recent emotional speech at the U.N. Climate Change Conference.
Mr. Kerry pleaded to end all coal-burning power plant construction in the world. This was precisely an example of a statement “marked by thought or action that lacks reason.”
While speaking for the United States — not merely as a private citizen climate extremist — Mr. Kerry clearly articulated bold but utterly unrealistic goals.
At the same conference, according to CNBC, conference President Sultan Al-Jaber (who is also the United Arab Emirates’ climate chief) “claimed there was ‘no science’ behind calls for a phase-out of fossil fuels.” He went on to assert that a fossil fuel phaseout would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves.”
Ironically, according to The Washington Post, “If the climate summit now has the vibe of a business expo, then the fossil fuel industry might have the greatest number of booths. More than 2,400 people with ties to oil, gas and coal companies or trade associations have registered to attend this year’s summit, known as COP28.”
So, while the president of the conference asserted that outlawing fossil fuels would set humanity back centuries (and while surrounded by several thousand fossil-fuel lobbyists), Mr. Kerry decided to go all-out to demand radical, ridiculous change.
Mr. Kerry asserted, “I am becoming more and more militant about this because we are not getting where we need to be.”
Of course, I debated Mr. Kerry on environmental issues in 2007, and he was drifting toward militant and crazy then.
His current idea of greater militancy was to call for the elimination of all new coal-burning electric generation.
In today’s real-world context, Mr. Kerry’s battle cry is silly and self-destructive. It makes the United States look delusional.
After Mr. Kerry’s many trips to Beijing and his earnest pleas for cooperation on climate, the Chinese government announced a 42% increase in the production of coal-based electric generation.
India is even more aggressive. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air: “Three non-captive coal plant expansions (3.9 gigawatts, or GW) received permits in the first five months of 2023 alone, up from zero the year before, as well as seven other coal plant proposals (7.6 GW) also moving forward in the permitting process by receiving Terms of Reference, and two additional coal plants (2.9 GW) appeared under consideration for the first time this year. …
“India has an estimated 65.3 GW of proposed, on-grid coal capacity under active development: 30.4 GW under construction and 34.9 GW in pre-construction (14.4 GW permitted, 11.8 GW pre-permit, and 8.8 GW announced). This capacity represents nearly a third of the country’s operational on-grid, non-export coal capacity (212.5 GW).”
Other countries expanding their coal-based electric generation include Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Vietnam, Mongolia and Laos.
King Canute (who was king of England, Norway and Denmark in the early 1000s) became famous for teaching his sycophantic staff that, despite all their praise, he could not control the ocean. Canute knew that reality was bigger than he or any idea he had.
Mr. Kerry never learned this. A lot of countries want to build more coal-based, electric-generating plants. Does Mr. Kerry think his sincerity, passion, and moral superiority will bend them all to his will?
It appears so. It’s clearly nonsense, “not mentally sound,” and “lacks reason.”
Of course, it makes sense for a cognitively challenged President Biden to have a crazy “climate czar” in his administration.
America needs new leadership soon. Otherwise, the world will believe we are all crazy.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.
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