Flip the switch

by Dennis Sun

For the past week, news outlets have been reporting on the annual climate change meeting named COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As the title implies, these meetings have been going on for 28 years and are sponsored by the United Nations (UN). 

Discussion at this meeting is focused on climate change – what is the cause and how can we fix the problem? The only problem is, those attending past meetings believe if we flip a switch and change, everything will be perfect. 

Dubai is one of the most modern cities in the world. Oil and natural gas were once its only economic driver, but the country used dollars from fossil fuels to build up the city to how we see it today. They established free trade zones, built one of the largest and most modern airports in the world and welcomed over 6,400 worldwide countries to set up businesses. 

It is the place to go in the Middle East to do business.

The reason I’m telling readers this is because in past climate meetings, richer countries have agreed to shut down all fossil fuels – not phase out, but completely shut down. The U.S. is one of them. 

We were told ice caps would be gone in so many years and all coastal cities and lands would be flooded. All of these predictions of doom and gloom have not materialized. 

Currently COP28 also wants to get rid of all livestock, similar to how Ireland and a couple of other European countries are doing, not realizing livestock – especially cattle – provide more benefits than problems for the planet. 

COP28 meets in the Middle East where oil is king, and climate extremists wonder why they are receiving pushback from some countries. If they think getting rid of cattle is the answer to climate change, they should hold the next meeting in Dallas, Texas. That would be fun to watch.

Some 1,300 people from oil and natural gas are attending the meeting and are pushing back, along with other countries who are not on board to end the use of fossil fuels. 

Developed countries in the world are responsible for just under one-half of the world’s pollution, so simply “flipping the switch” will really hurt developing countries that aren’t able to stop using fossil fuels as they don’t have the economies to do so. Countries like India, Russia and China talk the talk, but their pollution continues to increase. 

Developing countries and the UN look to climate change as a means to raise huge amounts of money. If these funds are not spent wisely, all countries will suffer.

According to individuals like John Kerry, the cabinet climate official for the U.S., who are always making predictions, we only have a few years to save the Earth. These people need to tone the rhetoric down, as they have society planning for the next few years, instead of for a lifetime. 

None of us like pollution, but learning to control it will help developing countries grow and developed countries change. But, we can’t do it through controlling people’s lives and flipping the switch.