Coming to Philly: ‘Brilliance’

PennFuture and other climate catastrophists are promoting a fall global warming conference in Philadelphia, and they’ve invited the unintentionally amusing Bill McKibben as their keynote speaker. The groups call the founder of 350.org (named for the target amount of carbon dioxide that “scientists say” is the maximum safe level to maintain life on the planet) “brilliant.”

The overwrought McKibben visited Copenhagen last year for the failed follow-up summit that was intended to produce the sequel to the Kyoto Protocol. One of his first orders of business upon arrival was to attend church, which he blogged about for Mother Jones and I recounted for American Spectator:

…my tears started before anyone said a word. As the service started, dozens choristers from around the world carried three things down the aisle and to the altar: pieces of dead coral bleached by hot ocean temperatures; stones uncovered by retreating glaciers; and small, shriveled ears of corn from drought-stricken parts of Africa. As I watched them go by, all I could think of was the people I’ve met in the last couple of years traveling the world: the people living in the valleys where those glaciers are disappearing, and the people downstream who have no backup plan for where their water is going to come from. The people who live on the islands surrounded by that coral, who depend on the reefs for the fish they eat, and to protect their homes from the waves. And the people, on every corner of the world, dealing with drought and flood, already unable to earn their daily bread in the places where their ancestors farmed for generations.

Those damned shriveled ears of corn. I’ve done everything I can think of, and millions of people around the world have joined us at 350.org in the most international campaign there ever was. But I just sat there thinking: It’s not enough. We didn’t do enough. I should have started earlier. People are dying already; people are sitting tonight in their small homes trying to figure out how they’re going to make the maize meal they have stretch far enough to fill the tummies of the kids sitting there waiting for dinner. And that’s with 390 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere.

McKibben is also author of the recent book “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet,” and explained the reason for the title:

“The world hasn’t ended, but the world as we know it has — even if we don’t quite know it yet. It’s a different place. A different planet. It needs a new name. Since it’s earth-like, let’s call it ‘Eaarth.'”

I have other ideas about why he came up with the title, which I discussed at Spectator. Whatever McKibben brings to Philly, I am sure it will be entertaining and passionate, and will float the boats of his fellow enviroiacs in attendance.