Two years ago during Covid lockdowns, I wrote about climate control freaks, facetiously anticipating a future headline: “Bad CO2 Day, Lockdowns Enforced.” A joke that would never happen, right? Well . . .
Last month President Biden was asked on the Weather Channel if he was ready to declare a national climate emergency and responded, “We’ve already done that.” Asked again if he declared a climate emergency, he said, “Practically speaking, yes.” There is no official emergency, but the president certainly thinks we need one.
The fawning press gave him a break—he didn’t really mean that, did he? But the notion of a national emergency today isn’t farfetched. The United Nations website blares: “What you need to know about the Climate Emergency.” The European Parliament has declared one. So have hundreds of jurisdictions in at least 39 countries, including the U.K., Canada, Japan and Bangladesh. Climate-activist teenager Greta Thunberg gave away the game in 2019 when she said, “I want you to panic,” and, “I want you to act as if you would in a crisis.” Emergencies are an excuse to do whatever you want.
U.S. presidents can declare national emergencies, as spelled out in the 1976 National Emergencies Act, but they must be explicit: “When the President declares a national emergency, no powers or authorities made available by statute for use in the event of an emergency shall be exercised unless and until the President specifies the provisions of law under which he proposes that he, or other officers will act.” I’ve searched far and wide for such provisions and can’t find them.
No matter, we’re living as if we’re already under emergency conditions. As of Aug. 1, the Biden administration has halted the sale of lightbulbs with less than 45 lumens of brightness per watt. Incandescent bulbs don’t make the cut and are now banned. Thomas Alva Edison is rolling over in his grave. Will electricity be rationed next?
Oops, too late. In September 2022, the California Independent System Operator—which runs the state’s power grid, attached to sporadic renewables—declared an “energy emergency alert,” urging residents to ration power from 4 to 9 p.m. In March, the European Union mandated energy consumption be cut by 11.7% by 2030. Brits are urged to turn their heat off at night for “emissions savings.” The Swiss considered jail time if your thermostat is set above 66 degrees in the winter. Sit in the cold and dark and like it! And wait till you see the menu. The EU already allows crickets and mealworm larvae as food. Are high-protein maggots next?
This nonsense could never happen in the U.S., could it? Well, in 2016, New York University professor Matthew Liao suggested, “possibly we can use human engineering to make the case that we’re intolerant to certain kinds of meat.” He even suggested deploying a “Lone Star tick where, if it bites you, you will become allergic to meat.” . . . Climate lockdowns still sound like crazytown, but the urge to curtail individual freedom is visible in countless government, media and think-tank blueprints for a controlled future.
The failure to impose any consequences on the architects of the failed and overreaching Covid response will only encourage this sort of thing. Curtailing individual freedom is always the goal; the crisis of the moment is just an excuse.