The Real Goal Of Environmentalism - De-Industrialization

It doesn't take a PhD from an Ivy League school to get that the main idea of the political arm of environmental movement is to reduce the standard of living of western nations. Kyoto was only aimed at the first worlders in the west. Carbon taxes are going to diminish the manufacturing sectors of the EU and the US while making us work harder just to get the basics.

Then there is this report from the EU Parliament meeting on energy and environment policy.

Power generation, construction, coal and aluminum are the biggest losers after a day of votes by the European Parliament's environment committee yesterday. The winners on "Super Tuesday", as it was dubbed, will be investors in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and Russia.

The committee was staking out a position on the next phase of the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme, which began in 2003. ETS involves sucking some €30bn out of industry by mandating that manufacturing and power generators must bid for permits. Most permits are now free, but the committee voted to force power plants into full auctioning from 2013. The goal is to enforce full auctioning across all parts of the economy (or what's left of it) by 2020. The committee's votes inform the EU's negotiating position in global climate negotiations.

So much for energy independence since Poland generates most of its power from home-mined coal, but will be dependent on Russian gas in the next decade.

The money quote is:

"Europe will export jobs and import energy-intensive products, with no environmental gain," said Patrick de Schrynmakers, secretary general of the European Aluminium Association (EAA). The EU will be able to fine member states which fail to meet their national targets, at the rate of €100 for every extra tonne of CO2 emitted.

If this was a straight up and down desire to help the environment, there would be a scientific list of what we should do to make the most difference for our envirnment. Instead, we see every effort loaded with political goals that have nothing to do with potential climate change.

Piggy-backing unpalatable ideas onto a concern that nobody could reasonably argue with has been done many times. Examples include the War on Poverty and the massive expansion of federal money in education. As in previous cases, the anti-capitalists will do little for the environment while they implement their plan for de-industrialization.