The premise sounds outrageous: why would any thoughtful person find good in a virus that has killed, at this writing, over 12K people? And that butcher’s bill is climbing, too. But leave it to climate activists to find their own silver lining in pestilence and death.

For example, take this fresh video from France 24, which shows how the virus is giving the world “clearer water, cleaner air.” No tourists, no travel, people not working, but yippee-skippy! The water in Venice is clean!

In addition, “Medical Daily,” a medical and nutrition website published by Newsweek, writes that coronavirus is helping climate change “more than humanity ever will”:

“Amid the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and quarantine, it seems as if the virus is proving to have unexpected benefits for the planet: less carbon emissions, bluer skies and even clearer waters.” 

Notice how they didn’t say “less carbon emissions from people.” But you know they probably think that’s a plus, too. If people have to die, well, so be it. It’s for the good of the planet.

In addition, Jon Erickson, an ecological economist from the University of Vermont, seemed giddy at the prospect of recession:

“The only time we see emissions significantly reduce is when countries — or the globe — goes into recession. These moments really point to how intimately greenhouse gas emissions are tied to economic growth.”

Climate activists are now gleefully rubbing their hands together, hoping that the pandemic will help spur further action on their pet cause. In other words, how can they use this to put a boot on the neck of human activity? Like Amy Jaffe of the Council of Foreign Relations, who said that if you were a policy maker, “you just got a pretty good instruction.”

Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse symbolizing pestilence and death. Wikimedia Commons/public domain.

Instructions start with the young and gullible, of course. Teen Vogue published a hair-on-fire op-ed demanding “rapid global response” to the climate change. Coronavirus can show us the way, they said:

“. . . political leaders actually do have the ability to make rapid change happen if they want. So where is that rapid response for the climate crisis?” 

Add the voice of a leftover from the Clinton administration. Dan Reicher, who served in the Department of Energy, says we can turn the “virus into a virtue.” How? By big government programs, of course!

Reicher lists the usual projects that big government spenders love. Things like funding solar power, wind energy, and electric cars. Plus, let’s give tax credits to companies that will develop these things, too. Forget if they’re efficient or not — we can’t let this crisis go to waste.

On top of all that, add a dollop of globalization. As Erickson told Deutsche Welle:

“If we truly treat climate as an emergency, as we are treating this pandemic as an emergency, we have to have a similar level of international coordination.”

That would be laughable, if it weren’t frightening. China launched this virus on the world and didn’t tell anyone for weeks. Yet now we’re supposed to trust them for “international coordination”? And while China is now crowing that they have “zero coronavirus infections,” can anyone trust that?  As Steve Tsang of the University of London’s China Institute wrote:

“We are in the midst of the most intensive propaganda operation of the [Communist] Party state in living memory, in trying to project its success in dealing with the virus.”

The bottom line is this: Climate activists are not mourning the disaster that coronavirus has brought. Deep down they’re doing a Happy Dance. Because they see this as an opportunity to stifle liberty in the name of “saving the planet.” And whom will they use to enact their plans? Big government and globalization, of course, through politicians more eager to extend their power than to protect their citizens. They wouldn’t mind if life for the rest of us becomes, in the words of Thomas Hobbes, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” It’s all about the “existential threat” of climate change.

Featured image: Marcus Spiske/flickr/cropped/CC BY 2.0.