Beware! Environmental Redistributionism By James Reed
As noted by farmer and real environmentalist John Klar, so-called "climate science" has long ago moved beyond the normal bounds of science, which involved carful observation and hypothesis formation, into power politics. Normal science, practiced in another era, eschewed value commitments, but modern climate change science is up to its neck in it. The idea here is that the planet is in just great peril, an existential threat, that scientists need to abandon their previous value-free and politics free stance and become committed to radical social change, always within a Leftist framework of course.
Thus, a recent paper in Environmental Research Letters, January 9, 2024 by W. Ripple et al., "An Environmental and Socially Just Climates Mitigation Pathway for Planet Earth," proposes an environmental redistributionism, which unlike the distributionism of the pre-World War II era such as G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), has the new idea to take the reversal of carbon dioxide levels as the basic reality, and contrary to human needs and flourishing as Chesterton saw,to rework all social institutions along the lines of reducing carbon emissions.
This is eco-socialism in action: "....we call for the development of a new restorative pathway scenario that would go further for sustainability and equity than the current SSP1. …. The scenario would also focus on reducing the consumption of primary resources to keep environmental pressures within planetary boundaries. The restorative pathway would represent a more equitable and resilient world with a focus on nature preservation with vast reserves as a natural climate solution; post-growth economics; societal well-being and quality of life; equality and high levels of education for girls and women resulting in low fertility rates with higher standards of living; more efficient crop fertilizer use; a diet shift with major reductions in meat production; and a rapid transition towards renewable energy…."
In other words, basic liberties, private property and the freedoms it gives, even meat, will all be steam-rolled for the ideology of "saving the planet" and the entire grab bag of woke values of the Left. In opposing this, for a start, the premises are wrong that there is a climate emergency, and even if there was, this is a disaster in the making. It is far better to establish a world of local self-reliance, of moving away from the free trade made-in-China world, which would not only preserve freedom, but would aid the environment as well if that was really needed.
https://johnklar.substack.com/p/new-study-extolling-greenie-redistribution
"So-called "climate science" extends far beyond the traditional bounds of science built on facts and logic and is driven by emotions, amounting to essentially a religious cult masquerading as scientific discipline.
The more climate "studies" depart from traditional scientific foundations, the more bizarre the efforts to taint objective determinations with moralizing policies.
A recent example is displayed by a climate ecologist who has undertaken to solve humanity's most ancient moral challenges through globally orchestrated renewable energy and wealth redistribution.
Take the example of "environmental redistributism."
These climate "scientists" promise to rework all human social relations to reverse the existence of carbon dioxide.
A recent "study" seeks to employ climate modeling to reallocate wealth and solve the moral conundrum of human inequality. The researchers claim this is "paradigm shifting" plan for "environmental redistributionism" (a.k.a., ecosocialism).
Professor of Ecology at Oregon State University's College of Forestry William Ripple said:
"We aim to bend the curves on a wide range of planetary vital signs with a holistic vision for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and socioeconomic injustice. Our work presents a case for how humanity can embark on the journey of saving the world from these environmental and social crises."
This is science fiction fantasy: Prof. Ripple has left the science class and entered the climate chapel. He did not propound a new currency, tax structures, or motivations for humanity to give up personal property, but that will likely infuse his environmental justice pseudo-scientific sequel.
Other voices are joining him.
The Climate CacophanyWithin the recent "climate" study are the visible seeds of justification for governments, globalists, and corporations to take totalitarian control of individuals and their liberties (including eating choices) and wealth (to balance the world "equitably"):
....we call for the development of a new restorative pathway scenario that would go further for sustainability and equity than the current SSP1. ….The scenario would also focus on reducing the consumption of primary resources to keep environmental pressures within planetary boundaries. The restorative pathway would represent a more equitable and resilient world with a focus on nature preservation with vast reserves as a natural climate solution; post-growth economics; societal well-being and quality of life; equality and high levels of education for girls and women resulting in low fertility rates with higher standards of living; more efficient crop fertilizer use; a diet shift with major reductions in meat production; and a rapid transition towards renewable energy….
This distillation of the Green New Deal into the guise of scientific study is a bait-and-switch too far. The more climate ideology steers humans toward grand schemes of totalitarian domination, the more apparently disconnected from established liberties and traditional scientific methods it becomes. The climate priests of woke theocracy are polluting science in the name of ending pollution.
Then there's ecosocialism.Governments which have failed to provide equity, a perfect society, and an end to all evil thought are to be replaced by a globalist power which will now cure all of these problems, in toto.
The Biden administration has announced its own pseudo-scientific plans, claiming Joe Biden is:
….laying the foundation for the most ambitious environmental justice agenda ever undertaken by an Administration and putting environmental justice and climate action at the center of the federal government's work.
The executive order formalized the President and the Vice President's commitment to ensuring that all federal agencies develop programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse health, environmental, economic, climate, and other cumulative impacts on communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.
The environment has become the Marxist Trojan horse through which the government seizes all power over all humanity.
Other areas of science have similarly abandoned trusted moorings for strange skies. Scientific reasoning has been jettisoned for an ideological agenda that has nothing to do with the scientific method but instead abuses science to attain totalitarian domination.
Scientific research may one day establish unequivocally that totalitarian domination is evil. In the interim, what used to be called science has lost its way, and in 2024 looks more like necromancy, wizardry, or plain old-fashioned snake-oil chicanery.
"An international team of scientists led by Oregon State University researchers has used a novel 500-year dataset to frame a "restorative" pathway through which humanity can avoid the worst ecological and social outcomes of climate change.
In addition to charting a possible new course for society, the researchers say their "paradigm shifting" plan can support climate modeling and discussion by providing a set of actions that strongly emphasize social and economic justice as well as environmental sustainability.
Oregon State's William Ripple, former OSU postdoctoral researcher Christopher Wolf and collaborators argue their scenario should be included in climate models along with the five "shared socioeconomic pathways," or SSPs, that are used by the U.N."s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"We understand that our proposed scenario may be a major challenge to implement given current trends in emissions, a lack of political will and widespread social denial, but its merits can't even be honestly debated if it's not included in the suite of options," said Ripple, distinguished professor of ecology in the OSU College of Forestry.
"We're arguing for radical incrementalism: achieving massive change through small, short-term steps. And we're offering a much-needed contrast to many other climate scenarios, which may be more aligned with the status quo, which isn't working."
Ripple and co-authors from the United States, the Netherlands and Australia present their restorative pathway in a paper published in Environmental Research Letters. They say the pathway is inspired by a unique compilation of Earth system variables that vividly illustrate how humanity's resource demands have exploded since 1850, indicating ecological overshoot.
"The supporting data underscore the urgent need for action," said Wolf, now a scientist with Corvallis-based Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates. "The growth in human population, gross domestic product and energy consumption, primarily reliant on fossil fuels, has led to an extraordinary surge in greenhouse gas emissions, dramatically altering land use and triggering a massive biodiversity decline."
The authors note that current climate change modeling relies on multiple assumptions and factors related to policy options and societal developments. An international team of climate scientists, economists and energy systems modelers developed the SSPs, which are used to derive greenhouse gas emissions scenarios under different sets of policies that assume continued and significant GDP growth through 2100."
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