Climate Change

CNN recently had a SEVEN HOUR town hall on the subject of climate change. It wasn’t a discussion of the issue; it was a series of sermons by Democrats running to be President. A duel of virtue signaling. The term “preaching to the choir” doesn’t do justice to what went on. I doubt that any minds were changed.

Let us stipulate for these purposes that human beings are responsible for climate change. We do emit CO2, primarily by exhaling and passing gas. If we were serious about limiting the amount of carbon we pump into the atmosphere, what would we do? What follows are a few suggestions.

1. Decouple the climate agenda from the progressive agenda. Major changes of course require a relatively broad consensus. That means enlisting voters who are not lusting for the progressive paradise. There are lots of useful steps we can take that could attract broad support.
2. Build nuclear power plants. They emit ZERO carbon and can operate when the sun isn’t shining and/or the wind blowing. France gets something like 80% of its power from nuclear and has for years without incident. There have been 3 serious accidents in the whole history of nuclear power. In each case, the problem was egregious human error, easily foreseen. We can build safe plants and store the waste under Yucca Mountain (objections from the Vegas casino owners notwithstanding).
3. Harness that other form of solar power. The sun evaporates water which comes back in the form or rain and snow. Rain runs downhill, creating channels in the process. Melting snow adds to the flow. The motion of water can be harnessed to produce electricity. Rivers don’t have to be damned. They can be partially diverted through a generator or turbines can be placed on the riverbed.
4. Remove carbon from the atmosphere. The technology exists. If we offered a large bounty to whomever developed the most efficient system, we could get something that would scale up. A carbon tax that specifically funded payment to carbon extraction operators would have a good chance of passing.
5. Research battery technology. Solar and wind will never be reliable sources if power can’t be stored efficiently and in large volume.

If CNN were serious about addressing the problem, they could interview some folks who weren’t preaching to the choir.