Re: King Charles III appears to signal an end to climate change activism

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[email protected] wrote:
>
> Global warming is bullshit.
>

Outspoken about the "existential" threat posed by climate change 
when he was Prince of Wales, King Charles III on Friday seemed 
to signal an effective end to his decades-long public advocacy 
for lowering greenhouse gas emissions, which are warming global 
temperatures.

In his first speech as king, Charles pledged to uphold the 
constitutional principles that kept the sovereign, including his 
late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, from weighing in on what could 
be seen as political matters.

"My life will of course change as I take up my new 
responsibilities," Charles said in his videotaped speech. "It 
will no longer be possible to give so much of my time and 
energies to the charities and issues for which I cared so 
deeply, but I know this important work will go on in the trusted 
hands of others."

For more than 40 years, Charles had championed environmental 
causes, including the need to transition the global economy off 
of fossil fuels so as to avert a climate catastrophe. In 
November, at the start of COP 26, the United Nations climate 
change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Charles said climate 
change was an "existential threat to the extent that we have to 
put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing" and 
called on world governments to begin "radically transforming our 
current fossil fuel based economy to one that is genuinely 
renewable and sustainable."

Three months later, however, Russia launched its own war on 
Ukraine, disrupting oil and gas supplies for Europe and the U.K. 
in the process and throwing the British government's pledge of 
reaching net zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 into doubt.

With Russia cutting off deliveries of natural gas, the continent 
is bracing for an energy crisis that will send energy prices 
skyrocketing during the cold winter months and cause governments 
to resume oil exploration and using coal at a time when climate 
scientists have warned that mankind needs to immediately 
transition to renewable sources of energy or face dire 
consequences such as those witnessed this summer in places like 
Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, Europe and the American West.

On Thursday, newly appointed Prime Minister Liz Truss announced 
measures to try to blunt the impact of skyrocketing energy 
prices over the coming months, including lifting a ban on 
hydraulic fracking and green-lighting new oil and gas drilling 
in the North Sea. She has also appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg, who 
environmental activists call a climate science denier, to 
oversee the country's energy sector.

In 2020, Charles addressed the World Economic Forum, calling for 
"a shift in our economic model that places nature and the 
world's transition to net zero at the heart of how we operate."

Needless to say, a continued reliance on oil was not exactly 
what Charles had in mind. The king, being a symbolic figure who 
is not elected, has no control over the government's policies, 
however.

Truss also named Ranil Jayawardena, who has spoken out against 
the installation of solar farms on agricultural land, as 
environment secretary.

Over the years, Charles has been a champion of solar power, 
winning approval in 2021 to install panels atop London's 
Clarence House, his former residence, and praising India's 
expansion of solar capacity.

Charles had delivered countless speeches on addressing climate 
change, written books on the topic and had made the issue 
central to his role as Prince of Wales. That decision also 
earned him ample criticism from those who saw his activism as 
overstepping the bounds of the monarchy.

In his Friday speech, the new king did not mention the words 
"climate change," and that, in and of itself, spoke volumes.

https://news.yahoo.com/king-charles-iii-appears-to-signal-an-end-
to-climate-change-activism-174330601.html