We’re Living the Green Endgame

Very many people reacted with confusion when teen climate activist, Greta Thunberg, was named to a CNN expert panel on coronavirus. Greta has never claimed to be an expert on epidemiology or virology. Neither, for that matter, is she an expert on any political topic as she is still a teenager. Her claim to fame is lecturing the world on the supposed inadequacy of its response to climate change. It’s subtle, but this is why it should come as a surprise to no one that the corporate press is once again dragging Greta to the limelight to talk about this pandemic.

There have been some truly upsetting takes regarding the coronavirus from the environmentalists. Some claim that humanity “is the virus” and the pandemic is the cure for the earth’s woes. Some are delighting that, while tens of thousands die, carbon emissions have gone down and some level of water pollution has receded. You do have to give them credit for never losing sight of their agenda.

It is important to put this in perspective for anyone missing the broader point, especially when there are outlets like Bloomberg going out of their way to make the point that these lockdowns aren’t enough to slow climate change. This is what the environmentalists want in the end. The end of the line for the “Green Agenda” has always been the devastation of global capitalism, slashing of international commerce, widespread dependence on the government, and restriction of domestic life. This pandemic has provided them a nice demonstration of what that looks like.

To be clear, this is in no way, shape, or form an endorsement of any theory that posits this virus was engineered or manufactured by leftists. That is categorically false.

This does, however, provide an opportunity for them to gauge how their restrictions might play out when enacted. If, as Bloomberg and others have stated, this isn’t enough to slow global warming then we should expect far more draconian policy proposals from environmentalists in the near future to slow the spread.

So, why is Thunberg being trotted out as a virus expert? Because she is the world’s leading environmentalist figure now, for better or for worse, and there is a green angle to all of this. Some of the present restrictions have to be normalized and rationalized if they are to ever have public policy victory. As Sonny Bunch wrote in the Washington Post, “Environmentalists make good movie villains, because they want to make your real life worse.” We’re now getting a glimpse of what that means.

This is why so many on the left bristle at states like Florida and Georgia reopening. This is despite the fact that Florida has seen markedly better results than states like New York, that imposed strict lockdowns. It also ignores the fact that after weeks of having been reopened, states like Florida, Georgia, and Colorado have not seen any real increase in case rates or death rates from the virus.

It’s why they bristle at the fact the Trump administration has rolled back so many of the onerous environmental regulations promulgated under the Obama administration. Regulatory rollbacks decrease dependence on the government and allow global commerce to thrive rather than be constricted. It’s also why they are now conveniently ignoring the fact that some environmental regulations have actually made responding to the virus more difficult.

Remember that we are living in a world that looks remarkably similar to what Greta and people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) want to bring about. They don’t want to reopen the economy, because they think doing so will help the planet heal and that doing so will prevent citizens of every nation from getting used to this new regime. Greta’s presence on a coronavirus expert panel was not a mistake. This is perhaps the biggest global policy test for environmentalists that will come along in a while. They have to make their case now and the corporate press is happy to provide them a platform to do so, even if it doesn’t make sense to most.

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