For most climate alarmists, a world that embraces degrowth, powered by windmills and solar panels, without fossil fuels and gasoline-powered automobiles, is nirvana.

As the World Economic Forum puts it, “Degrowth broadly means shrinking rather than growing economies, so we use less of the world’s energy and resources and put wellbeing ahead of profit.”

The WEF says we must “move away from the assumption that growth is good.”

The opposite of economic growth is economic contraction. This is generally known as an economic depression. As history shows, these events tend to be terrible times that wreak hardship, unemployment, poverty, and despondency.

Economic subtraction, or degrowth, is associated with less productivity, stagnation, and misery.

On the other hand, periods of massive economic growth foster economic mobility, increases in living standards, and other benefits.

Believe it or not, the degrowth movement is not some freak, fringe group. It has adherents in places of influence.

From studies in the prestigious journal Nature to a full endorsement in the Harvard Business Review, the degrowth movement is accelerating (pardon the pun).

Now, there are some outliers. Take Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, for instance.

He not only argues for economic degrowth; he also advocates what he calls “the need to curb population growth.”

Back in 2019, when he was running for president, Sanders agreed that “population control” should be “a key feature” to “address climate catastrophe.”

This is sick stuff, in my opinion.

But this is what happens when political ideology devolves into religious zealotry.

For several decades, the climate alarmists have been screaming that the world is on the brink of devastation.

First, it was the coming ice age. Then, it was global warming. We were told coastal cities would be swallowed by rising waters. We were told that entire islands would disappear!

By now, the glaciers should have melted, and the Arctic should be a sauna.

Yet here we are. None of these cataclysmic events has occurred.

The world has warmed slightly, which might be more beneficial than originally thought.

Despite these failed dire predictions of impending planetary apocalypse, the climate alarmists continue to double down on their idiotic calls for a so-called green transition.

According to climate alarmists, if we just abandon fossil fuels and gasoline-powered vehicles, then all will be right in the world.

This is not only imbecilic, but also downright dangerous. Perhaps evil.

As of now, it is crystal clear that windmills and solar panels are not even close to being ready to supply the present demand for energy in the United States.

Moreover, the dirty little secret is: these so-called environmentally friendly power sources are worse for the environment than natural gas or coal!

If the climate alarmists had their way and we “instantly” transitioned from fossil fuels to wind and solar, the U.S. economy would absolutely crater. Living standards would be drastically reduced.

Life would be more like the Medieval era than the modern age. That is, for the masses.

I’ll bet the top echelon of the climate alarmist cabal would never, under any circumstances, voluntarily give up fossil fuels. That would mean no more private jets. No more gas-guzzling SUVs. That would mean they would have to make major sacrifices.

We’ve seen this story before: Rules for me, not for thee; do as I say, not as I do; etc.

Climate alarmists who worship windmills, solar panels, and EVs while denigrating fossil fuels and the gasoline-powered automobile also stand to make a fortune as they force their transition upon us.

While they shut down perfectly operational fossil fuel power plants, they seek to build sprawling fields of solar panels, litter the landscape with windmills, and clear-cut forests for thousands of miles of transmission lines.

At this point, I fear the die-hard climate alarmists are a lost cause. No matter what, they can’t bring themselves to admit that they’ve been wrong.

However, there are many Americans who are still on the fence when it comes to the left’s calls for a green transition.

Many still believe that climate change is a problem, but many more are unwilling to pay exorbitant energy bills, and only a miniscule number of Americans want to outlaw gasoline-powered vehicles.

In my little orbit of people I know and interact with, I’ve noticed less climate-change fanaticism and a shift toward climate realism.

Slowly but surely, the American people are becoming aware that the climate-change crisis is really about degrowth for the masses, not about saving the planet.

Nearly all Americans want to live in a place that is getting better, not worse. Therefore, I predict that over the long term — the very, very long term — the climate alarmist message is doomed to fail.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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