Before we lapse briefly into good will toward persons, we want to note that Canada’s Captain Carbon, our GHG-hating and -spewing Prime Minister, put out an itinerary for Dec. 12 saying “National Capital Region, Canada/ No public events scheduled/ Greater Vancouver Area, British Columbia/ No public events scheduled”. And the climate-change-fearing and -denouncing New York Times offered “Here are six easy warm-weather getaways.” All of which, unless you personally have wings or a copious supply of pixie dust, will in fact involve traveling in a jet airplane, even if it’s a more efficient one than the Prime Minister will be using to fly the 4,363 kilometres between Ottawa and Vancouver to do whatever it is he feels like doing but not telling us about. At least the Times is trying to save its readers money.
On the other hand, the Times does manage to put its foot in its carbon to some degree, because that piece starts:
“Getting a splash of warm sun can help with the winter blahs – and you don’t have to travel too far or spend all that much to get a boost.”
Yes, and, you may say if the scene outside your door resembles ours. (Actually we had lots of snow, which is nice around Christmas time, until it rained, then froze, and the giant inflatable snowman blew into the LED candy canes and… but we digress.) The point is, while that observation, the one from the Times not our silly story, might seem mundane, it contains two vital admissions from the point of view of the climate cult.
The first is that winter has not died despite many predictions of its imminent demise and not a few declarations of its having happened, and the second is that we humans really like warmth. And how. And third, come to think of it, is that expensive is bad. The actual piece lays it on:
“Even if you’re a big fan of snowy mornings and cozy nights, winter can sometimes bring on the blues. The shorter, colder days cause millions of Americans, particularly those who live in the northern part of the country, to feel fatigue, depression and other symptoms that may indicate seasonal affective disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.”
And here someone was telling is it’s heat that’s making life unbearable if not actually impossible, causing intolerable psychological stress and so forth. Who was that again? Some newspaper. Oh well. On we go.
Specifically to San Juan Puerto Rico, Las Vegas Nevada, Puerto Vallarta Mexico, Cartagena Columbia, Oahu Hawaii or Surfing El Salvador. (The last being of course an activity not a city in that country.) Hands up everyone who can get to any of those places without flying. And if you say “Me, I live in Reno” then we seriously question whether a trip to Vegas will dramatically change your exposure to dreary winter conditions. Fortunately, the piece explains:
“El Salvador’s main international airport has direct flights from U.S. cities, including Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.”
By the way, we checked, and a flight from New York City to San Salvador, capital of El Salvador is 3,365 miles. Which of course is 5,415 kilometers, so a bit further than Trudeau’s little jaunt to Vancouver. Though somehow he doesn’t seem to be counting when it’s him.
"And here someone was telling is it’s heat that’s making life unbearable if not actually impossible, causing intolerable psychological stress and so forth. Who was that again?"
It may have been Gen. Phil Sheridan of Civil War fame who remarked "If I owned both Texas and Hell I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell".