Belief or Blather?

I often am amazed at the statements that come out of the mouth of some liberals.

Do they really believe what they are saying or is it just blather?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be prone to such statements.

It might actually be amusing until you realize that she has 2.6 million followers on Twitter and another 1.9 million on Instagram.

That leads to another question. Do her followers really believe that she believes the stuff she puts out there?

Let's take her statement last week about climate change.

“Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?'" 

"It's our World War II." 

Can she really believe that the world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change?

Can she really believe that addressing it is the equivalent to World War II?

Let me suggest three policy positions that she should be for if she truly believes what she is saying.

First, she should be in favor of a total ban on all immigration (legal and illegal) from third world countries. The carbon footprint of people in these countries is far less than it would be if these same people migrated to the United States. Therefore, she should be in favor of a total ban on immigrants from these countries in order to give everyone the best chance to survive beyond 12 years.

For example, CO2 emissions per capita in the United States are almost ten times higher than they are in India. Migration from a low emissions country to a high emissions country increases overall carbon emissions globally.

AOC should also support a border wall as we need to insure that people in countries with low CO2 emissions per capita do not migrate to higher per capita countries.

A few examples of countries near our Southern Border and their CO2 emissions per capita.

Ecuador       2.8
Guatemala   1.2
Honduras     1.1
Mexico         3.9

Second, she should support a total ban on anyone having any children. If we have only 12 years left we better address this problem head on. We should focus our efforts first on those things that will have the biggest impact.

A recent study indicated that the one action that would have the most impact in reducing carbon emissions on the planet would be to have fewer children. The study suggested everyone having one fewer child. Why stop there? AOC should realize that if we only have 12 years until the world ends it does not make any sense to procreate anyway.

China already tried the one-child policy and it did not solve the problem. It is time to really get serious if our time is this short.

Look at the numbers. You can live car-free, buy green energy, recycle, eat a plant-based diet, and refuse to use air travel and you will have almost no effect compared to having fewer children.

We will eventually reach AOC's goal. No human beings on the planet will insure we solve the climate change threat.

Finally, I am sure that AOC understands the big picture. The reality is that what the United States does with respect to carbon emissions over the next 12 years will mean very little regarding climate change. If we focus on on what the United States does we are going to lose "the war."

If we only have 12 years, China and India are going to have to stop their carbon emission increases.

Take a look at the 2017 numbers on carbon emissions.

The United States reduced carbon emissions by over 40 million tons.

China and India, combined, increased carbon emissions by over 210 million tons.

Everything the United States did was negated 5 times over by China and India alone.

Every projection of the future shows this trend continuing. All of the net increases in carbon emissions over the next 12 years will come from China, India and the remainder of the developing world as this chart from the U.S Energy Information Administration illustrates.

Carbon emissions from the developed world (the OECD countries) will essentially remain flat.

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If the world is going to end in 12 years if this is not halted, and this is comparable to the stakes of World War II, it would seem Ms. Ocasio Cortez should be advocating for a reinstatement of military conscription in preparation for challenging China and India to force them to halt their continued increases in carbon emissions.

There is no other way to do it unless everyone in the United States is willing to make major changes in their way of life.

The technology is simply not available to replace the fossil fuels that sustain our modern lifestyle today nor is it realistic that it will be within the next decade.

Of course, the problem with that is that there are only 76 million Americans aged 18-34.  About 39 million are males. China has 370 million aged 18-34. 200 million are males. Those numbers do not work in our favor and that does even include 440 million who are aged 18-34 in India.

There might also be a problem in convincing the American people of the need as well. A recent survey found that only 28% of Americans would support a $10 fee per month to be used to combat climate change. 68% were opposed. Support for a $1 month fee was only 58%.

One more problem is that those 810 million Chinese and Indian Millennials also want to have the opportunity to enjoy the same quality of life as the 76 million American Millennials. They want the cars, the air conditioning, the high speed internet connection and all the rest.

Perhaps they also want to follow Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter and Instagram.

My only suggestion is that they should not believe her blather.

She cannot possibly believe what she is saying. If she really, really believed what she is saying, her policy solutions would go far beyond a "Green New Deal".