by Craig Richardson
Executive Director

While world leaders, United Nations officials, green activists, and thousands of friendly media and corporate supporters meet in the suburbs of Paris in an attempt to ink a ‘climate change’ agreement at COP-21, a small but hearty group of ‘climate realists’ dared to enter the French capital to provide an opposing view to the official events of the two-week summit.

From the onset, it is clear that those who dare to provide an alternative view to the ‘settled’ issue of ‘climate change’ (97% of scientists agree don’t you know) were as welcome in Paris as a skunk at a garden party.  The first clue is a series of ‘Wanted Posters’ that adorn lamp posts around the historic city featuring photographs of E&E Legal’s Chris Horner, as well as the likes of Myron Ebell of CEI and director of the ‘Cooler Heads’ coalition, Climate Depot publisher Marc Morano, who was also in town to premiere a new feature movie, Climate Hustle (more on that in a later post), and James Taylor, Heartland Institute Senior Fellow.

The ‘Wanted Poster’ campaign was the brainchild Avaaz, a group dedicated to organizing “citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want,” whatever that means.  The purpose of the childish effort, according an Avaaz press release, is “to shine a spotlight on their dirty backroom dealings and stop them from destroying our future.”  In addition to littering the city streets with these posters, the campaign also include activists leafleting unsuspecting Parisians as they exited the Metro, as well as production of “insider dossiers on their activities,” which is nothing more than a cut and paste job of hit pieces on those profiled from sympathetic media outlets.

Explained Emma Ruby-Sachs, Acting Executive-Director of Avaaz, “These lobbyists have come to Paris to sabotage a global deal for ambitious climate action, despite over 3.6 million citizens around the world calling for 100% clean energy. Ministers must listen to their people, not polluters, and refuse meetings with climate criminals who want to derail a deal the whole world wants.”  Refuse meetings?!  Doesn’t sound very democratic to me.

On Monday, December 7, these ‘climate criminals’ dared to hold a press conference, where several rude and unruly media types attempted to shout down members of the Cooler Heads coalition.  Heartland Institute then hosted a Day of Examining the Data, which they dubbed a “counter conference to demonstrate there is strong and informed opposition to Obama’s plans and to expose the agendas and true costs of the agreement being negotiated there.”

The event, which they simulcasted, included two panel discussions that sandwiched a luncheon event featuring a welcome video from U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK).  The first panel, The Latest Science and the Errors of the UN’s IPCC, featured renowned scientists like Willie Soon, Ph.D., USA, S. Fred Singer, Ph.D., USA, and Christopher Essex, Ph.D., Canada, who made it clear that despite the talking points and wishes of ‘climate change’ activists, the science is not settled.  And, in fact, if anything the modeling used to push these horribly expensive and catestrophic ‘climate policies’ are seriously flawed.

The second panel, Sensible Energy Policy for the Poor vs. UN Energy Policies, included Patrick Moore, Ph.D., Canada, Nick Loris, USA, Wolfgang Müller, Germany, and Christopher Monckton, United Kingdom.  The issue of ‘energy poverty,’ a phenomenon devastating Europe’s most vulnerable due to skyrocketing electricity rates locked to ‘climate policies’ that mandate unachievable renewable energy targets, is very real and morally reprehensible.  E&E Legal has produced short videos highlighting this issue.

As I walked home last night through the quiet streets of this beautiful and historic city – a much more subdued place these days I’m told as a result of the recent terrorist attacks – I was struck by how precious and fragile this whole notion of freedom is really.  Paris was one of the epicenters of the freedom and liberty movement that helped give birth to our own great country and without the support of the French during our revolution there may have been no ‘America.’  These ideals of liberty and self governance so beautifully encapsulated in the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights, helped spawn their own revolution in 1789.

Yet in the last 75 years – which include the Nazi occupation of this great city, decades of stifling socialistic policies, terrorist attacks, and yes, sophomoric attempts like this ‘Wanted Poster’ campaign aimed at stifling an open and responsible discussion of ‘climate’ policies – these ideals seem once again under siege.  As President Reagan once admonished all of us:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Liberté, égalité, fraternité!