Craig Rucker
cfact.org
Craig Rucker is a co-founder of CFACT and currently serves as its president.
(Glasgow, Scotland)
Before COP 26 began, Greta Thunberg grabbed headlines by saying UN climate conferences were full of “Blah, Blah, Blah.”
Ironically CFACT found itself — for perhaps the first time ever — in agreement with her!
Why? Because “Blah, Blah, Blah” seems to characterize the UN climate negotiations perfectly.
Of course, there is a marked difference between CFACT’s and Greta’s perspective on the matter. Greta was complaining that there wasn’t enough action being taken by world leaders to stop CO2 emissions from increasing. Here she has a point. Despite all the rhetoric and promises, world CO2 emissions continue to climb – thanks principally to China and India.
But while CFACT may not find elevated CO2 emissions to be particularly troubling, it does concur with Greta that even if the world did face a crisis, the UN has proven itself to be ill suited to address it. Case in point: the supposed agreement by nations last week to ban coal that actually did no such thing – rather, it only pushed any real action to 2050.
Blah, Blah, Blah indeed.
To mark this rare occasion of agreement, CFACT took to the streets outside COP 26 to announce to the world that “skeptics and alarmists” have finally found “solidarity” at least on one point: Namely, that the UN’s annual gatherings are filled with nothing but hot air.
Sporting a banner with the words — “Amazingly Greta is correct! UN Climate COP 26 is … Blah! Blah! Blah!” — Marc Morano and I donned traditional Scottish garb (including kilts) and paraded in front the COP 26 entrance. We were joined by “Nessie,” the mythical Loch Ness monster, who came out of hiding to also show her support for our stunt.
How did it pan out?
Simply put, the attendees ate it up. Many stopped to take pictures. Others asked questions. Many were surprised that skeptics and Greta could agree on “something.” Many wanted to meet and greet Nessie. No doubt there were also some hoping to see Marc and I handcuffed and thrown in jail by UN security.
The good thing, however, is we made our point to world delegates in a light-hearted, yet memorable manner. Even a Financial Times reporter on the scene was amused. He made it a point to stop and talk with us and give us his card.
The parade was a success. Expect to see CFACT continue to get its message out to the international community by whatever means possible – including street theatre!
