By Vijay Jayaraj

There is widespread concern about the human tragedy in Ukraine. How could there not be? Yet, among us are people who are sufficiently heartless and opportunistic to celebrate the bloodshed as a victory for the “green” movement.

A cabal of political leaders and media houses are now dancing on the graves of innocent civilians as the Ukraine conflict disrupts Europe’s gas supplies and supposedly helps end the West’s “addiction” to fossil fuels.

There is much with which to take issue. In the first place, the war has accelerated a move back to fossil fuels – especially to coal – that was initiated by ill-advised climate polices that forced the adoption of unreliable wind and solar technologies and led to energy shortages. So the trend is toward an increased reliance on fossil fuels, not an abandonment of these energy sources.

However, our main complaint here is the disturbingly callous attitude among prominent people with the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and major news outlets like Politico.

“From climate perspective, the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing,” said Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary General, who believes that the war “is speeding up this green transition.” Do not such thoughts betray a cult-like obsession with climate hysteria?

At the heart of the green movement, is a fundamental disregard for human life. It is an irony that a movement that claims to save the planet for future generations is celebrating deaths of the present generation. This is not a one-time gaffe, but rather a systemic characteristic of the green movement.

Echoing the secretary general, some popular media credited the war with advancing the green agenda. Going even further, Politico declared Russian President Vladimir Putin a green champion for his unintentional efforts to end natural gas addiction in Europe.

“It took a war criminal to speed up Europe’s green revolution,” wrote Politico Europe in its twitter feed. “Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has forced Europe to finally break its fossil fuel addiction. For this reason, he has topped our inaugural #POLITICOGreen28 list.”

Though these statements of opportunism are shocking, they are not new.

Consider the green movement’s tolerance for the environmental impact of wind energy. The mainstream media has long defended the wind turbines against complaints about bird deaths. But as a conservationist who has worked on bird species of critical importance, I can assure you that no avian enthusiast is happy with ignoring the carcasses beneath turbine blades.

Not only do wind turbines directly kill birds, they alter ecosystems and destroy bird habitat. Be it the U.S. or Europe or Asia, bird mortality in hundreds of thousands is a scientifically established fact. Bald eagles, a highly protected species in the U.S., are allowed by regulation to be slaughtered by turbines — as are other raptors and migratory species.

The most absurd argument in defense of wind turbines is that these deaths are no different than that of bird deaths from cats and tall buildings. But when did you last see a house cat kill a bald eagle or falcon or hawk? Or when did you see a tall building chop off a bird’s wings?

Also overlooked by the greens is the ecological and human damage done by the industrial process of obtaining rare earth minerals for manufacturing wind and solar machines. Entire lakes and villages have been made toxic in the mad rush for so-called renewable technology.

Regardless of our opinion on climate issues, there is a dangerous pattern that should concern all — a willingness to sacrifice lives to reduce the emission of the harmless gas CO2.

The hostility toward fossil fuels alone costs lives as energy is made too expensive or simply unavailable for poor people who are doomed to poverty, disease and early death.

The cult cares not whether you can afford your energy bills or whether you have a robust economy that offers personal and generational growth and well-being. Neither does it care about the birds in the sky or the whales in the ocean. It is certainly unconcerned about markets running out of food because of a war on nitrogen emissions in agricultural fields. In short, the climate cult is willing – perhaps duty bound – to sacrifice people and the beautiful creatures on this earth for its absurd religion.

This commentary was first published at Real Clear Energy, November 16, 2022, and can be accessed here.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, located in Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK, and resides in India.