Erratic AOC Talks with Airport About Solar Panels, Forgets She Wants Planes Done Away With
When Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez first introduced her radical environmentalist Green New Deal resolution that would all but upend the U.S. economy and American way of life, there were a number of proposals within that overtly socialist resolution that jumped out as being impossible to ever achieve.
One of the more ridiculous suggestions was a proposal to work toward eliminating virtually all air travel in favor of high-speed rail within the next 10 years, an exorbitantly costly move that would limit the ability of individuals and goods to be transported around the country in a timely fashion.
Thus, considering Ocasio-Cortez’s purported strong stance against the massive amounts of carbon pollution produced by air travel — she still travels by air regardless — it was surprising to see the freshman congresswoman at New York City’s La Guardia airport on Wednesday speaking with airport officials about things they could do to address climate change concerns.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Meanwhile as folks wring their hands over a nonbinding #GreenNewDeal, I spent this AM touring LaGuardia airport + discussing: – Securing solar panels on every roof – Living wage jobs – Electric shuttle fleets – Building for rising sea levels coming in – Centering community issues”
Meanwhile as folks wring their hands over a nonbinding #GreenNewDeal, I spent this AM touring LaGuardia airport + discussing:
– Securing solar panels on every roof
– Living wage jobs
– Electric shuttle fleets
– Building for rising sea levels coming in
– Centering community issues pic.twitter.com/GriEO7ew9U— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 20, 2019
So, Ocasio-Cortez wants to eliminate air travel but is talking with airport officials about ways to improve the eventually unnecessary airport against potential climate change issues that may or may not materialize — even though we only have 12 years left until Earth is destroyed or something?
As confusing and muddled as all of that might be, let’s take a moment to look a bit closer at subjects the congresswoman mentioned in her tweet.
First, solar panels on the roofs of all the airport’s buildings. Sure, go ahead, as that would significantly reduce, if not eliminate altogether, the airport’s reliance on fossil fuel-derived energy — except for when it is raining or snowing or too cloudy for the sun’s rays to power the panels.
In such a case, the airport would still need to rely on fossil fuel-derived energy to maintain operations. And do we even need to address the massive pollution caused by the creation of solar panels, what with the need to strip mine the earth for the rare minerals used in solar panels, not to mention the carbon-spewing manufacturing factories that produce said panels?
Next, “living wage jobs,” or in other words, an arbitrary minimum wage set by government officials, and not the natural ebb and flow of the market based on supply and demand, or the abilities, education level and skills of prospective employees.
Artificially set minimum wages, while nice for the employees who receive them, routinely result in workers being laid off or having hours cut for the business employing them to maintain some measure of control over increased, and at times unsustainable, labor costs.
Then there is the supposed impending rise of sea levels that are predicted to swamp the coasts of our nation and place cities such as New York underwater at an unspecified point in the future. Except that climate alarmists have been warning about rising sea levels and underwater cities for decades, while actual sea levels have risen by minuscule amounts.
As for the airport developing a fleet of electric shuttles to ferry passengers around, or getting the surrounding community more involved — whatever that means — go for it, for whatever good that may do to address climate change.
If all of the things put forward in Ocasio-Cortez’s post seem rather jumbled and hypocritical and meaningless — well, that is generally par for the course for progressive leftists, who in the name of “progress” seem intent on tearing down and destroying the status quo with no meaningful ideas about how to fix or replace things that are being destroyed, or worse, outlawed.
Meanwhile, conservatives generally avoid destroying what works now, even if it doesn’t work 100 percent of the time, unless they already have a solid and workable idea to fix or replace those things and keep everything running with minimal disruption.
If LaGuardia Airport authorities want to install solar panels and electric shuttles and sea walls against the ocean while raising wages for workers and getting more involved with the community, more power to them. What tangible effect those moves will have in the long run, however, remain in question for now.
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