Yielding to fanatics gains you no peace

 Vincent J. Curtis

6 Nov 20

RE: City’s lack of detail, action on climate lamented.  The Hamilton Spectator 6 Nov 20.

At the height of the blitz in 1940, Winston Churchill visited his old school, Harrow, and gave this advice to the assembled students, “Never give in.  Never, never, never, never, except to good sense.”

When City Council was asked to declare a climate emergency, a declaration which they had no competence to determine, to issue, or to do anything about, Councillors surrendered to tomfoolery in the hope they go home and live a quiet life.  Not so fast.  Having admitted the premise of the climate fanatics (a fanatic is a person who can’t change their mind and won’t change the subject) Council is now being castigated for not taking seriously the climate crisis they themselves declared.

Councillor Lloyd Ferguson said that he was tired of special interest groups coming before council and being critical.  Environmental groups are special interests that engage in special pleading, except that environmentalists can say that they are pleading on behalf of everyone.

Economists are fond of asking, “at what cost?” and saying, “there are only trade-offs.”  A climate emergency doesn’t relieve anyone of analyzing the costs and trade-offs concerning the actions demanded by environmentalists.  There is nothing Hamilton can do about the coal-fired power plants planned and operating in China, India, and South Korea..  What Hamilton can do is nothing compared to these, and achievement is overwhelmed by costs.

The mistake of Council was to yield to the demand to declare a "climate emergency" in the first place, and not to recognize the fanaticism before them.

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