Not Oppressive -- Just Different
now that’s a tag line
Climate Pilots [are] guinea pigs in a Swedish experiment aimed at helping U.S. citizens understand that a lifestyle that curbs greenhouse-gas emissions is not necessarily oppressive, just different. ...
The Climate Pilots program exemplifies the broader dynamics at play in the international climate debate: Europeans impatiently nudging the United States and other countries toward a less carbon-intensive lifestyle.
Hm… “Nudging”... Where have I heard that term before.... Oh, yeah! Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein’s book on “choice architects” [read the interview]
Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Maud Olofsson, who visited the [Climate Pilots,] Stokeses’ comfortable [Falls Church VA] home in November, told them and the other program participants that their example could change that.
“We are building something new,” she said, sitting at the Stokeses’ dining room table. “You are the leaders when you say to politicians, ‘Now we are prepared to change.’ We want you to be brave when you make decisions. Then they will do so."
Political activism within the COTUS by a head of a foreign government; hm..... If I were a redneck, moron, heatist, ruralite being ideologically stubborn I might think there was a little something wrong with that…
The gap between American and European attitudes on global warming was on striking display during the recent U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen. The Europeans had already decided to impose constraints on themselves and were willing to accept them in an international agreement, while the Obama administration, for all of the president’s interest in the issue, was wary of political backlash at home and pushed for a more modest pact.
Aside from the facts, M’am, we ideologically stubborn rationalists do have some allies—*cough*IndiaSouthAfricaChinaBrazil*cough* [yes - another stunning moment in *facepalm*OTUS]
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my breakfast steak and rev up my Giant SUV of Doom, drive it across the yard to my 3/4 ton diesel, start that up and drive it the quarter-mile to check the cows and make sure they’re sufficiently flatulent.
“Nolan Stokes and Kathy Harman-Stokes ... are installing a geothermal heat pump in their front yard...”
Geo-thermal!!! Don’t they know that geo-thermal causes earthquakes? And if’n they suck all the heat out of the ground, their little corner of the world is gonna freeze over?
Call the EPA!! Call the Feds!!!
“And they’ve cut back on their consumption of meat ...”
Their vegetarian children could grow up to be just like Dennis Kucinich.“But it remains unclear whether there is enough grass-roots support for a dramatic change in U.S. climate policy, ...”
The Washington Post seems unclear on the concept.
“... while the Obama administration, for all of the president’s interest in the issue, was wary of political backlash at home and pushed for a more modest pact.”
Does that help, editors?“In Sweden, every community has a climate and energy adviser...”
He can be recognized by his long black leather trenchcoat, black leather riding boots, and the monocle on his right eye.If the Stokes’s want to do all that, fine. It’ll keep the family busy doing things together rather than sitting around all day watching the Disney channel. But I’m not about to give up my 1/4-ton barbecue and smokehouse machine.
Posted by ZZMike on 01/04/10 at 12:58 PM
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