Despite the mounting evidence of the snow job that is Climategate (well documented by my colleagues Carrie and Julie!), the Associated Press still calls this week’s UN climate talks in Copenhagen “the last best chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.”
According to the AP, “At stake is a deal that aims to wean the world away from fossil fuels and other pollutants to greener sources of energy, and to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from rich to poor countries every year over decades to help them adapt to climate change.”
We all know that the administration is really good at taking the American people’s tax dollars and giving them away to dubious projects… but transferring hundreds of billions of dollars to the third world in the name of falsified climate data takes insanity to a whole new level!
A better way to protect the global environment – and help the world’s poor at the same time – would be to drop trade barriers. Doing so raises the standards of living both in the U.S. and overseas by expanding access to cheaper goods and services and gives people more purchasing power. As history has shown us, once people don’t have to spend their time scraping by to procure food, clothing, and shelter, they will have the time and resources to consider environmental protections. Redistributing money does not address the root cause of environmental degradation in the first place – and is doomed to fail.