Global Scamming

I have been quite convinced for some time now that this whole “global warming” phenomenon is part of a scam from the Left wing of American politics. The whole thing really took off around the time Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth came out. (The fact that he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the IPCC is immensely disturbing.) The American Left, along with their friends in the MSM, have been able to convince us that we are somehow responsible for a shift in global climate change.

Every year, people around the globe invest in billions of dollars into “green” products. How did the Greens (the term for these environmentalist whackos from Paul Johnson’s article) accomplish this? They used a different kind of green: money. The Greens, predominately made up of the liberal elite, have convinced the rest of America (and the world at large) to invest in the “environmentally-friendly” programs that they run. They have bullied us into buying “green”: green appliances, green cars, and green shopping bags. It is a myth that “going green” will have a significant effect on Earth’s climate. In fact, many of these so-called green items do more to harm the environment than help it. (Check out Ellen Gamerman of WSJ’s “An Inconvenient Bag”.)
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-environment, but I am anti-global warming propaganda. I do not deny that climate change exists, but I refute the notion that it is man-made and thus we are mandated (note the pun) to somehow put a stop to it. The actual science behind global warming is shaky at best. You can’t tell me there is proof when there is scientific evidence showing the exact opposite. The scary thing is that global warming has become both a science and a religion for these environmentalist nutjobs. Eminent British historian and author Paul Johnson articulates it well in his column “The Nonsense of Global Warming”:

The idea that human beings have changed and are changing the basic climate system of the Earth through their industrial activities and burning of fossil fuels–the essence of the Greens’ theory of global warming–has about as much basis in science as Marxism and Freudianism. Global warming, like Marxism, is a political theory of actions, demanding compliance with its rules. Those who buy in to global warming wish to drastically curb human economic and industrial activities, regardless of the consequences for people, especially the poor. If the theory’s conclusions are accepted and agreed upon, the destructive results will be felt most severely in those states that adhere to the rule of law and will observe restrictions most faithfully. The global warming activists’ target is the U.S. If America is driven to accept crippling restraints on its economy it will rapidly become unable to shoulder its burdens as the world’s sole superpower and ultimate defender of human freedoms. We shall all suffer, however, as progress falters and then ceases and living standards decline.

With many more real problems worldwide, it is such a tragedy that we have been suckered into this global warming scam. Environmental waste is a problem, but buying off your “carbon footprint” is not the solution. I should give credit to the liberals for coming up with such an ingenious idea: Make every day Earth Day and make everyone else pay for it. In all likeliness, we will use up our oil supplies and run out of food, as a result of these eco-friendly projects, before the Earth ignites into a giant fireball. Now that’s the inconvenient truth.

Article(s):

Top Ten ‘Global-Warming’ Myths

The Nonsense of Global Warming

Global warming — myth, threat or opportunity?

Leave the Sleeve

Just the other day, my Starbucks store ran out of sleeves. (In interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I am employed part-time by Starbucks Co.) If you don’t know what “sleeves” are, they are those pieces of cardboard that fit nicely around your Starbucks coffee cup. So anyway, our store ran out of them and for whatever reason we were not able to get more from the nearby stores. One would think this would be a minor incident: causing no direct harm to anyone, other than having to handle a warm cup without the added comfort of a heat buffer.

Why are these little things so important to people? When customers asked me why I didn’t give them a sleeve with their tall-nonfat-no whip-white chocolate mocha, they sounded like it was the worst thing that could happen to them all day. It is as if I told them that we ran out of coffee. I believe customer satisfaction is critical to any business, but I don’t think it has to come with the cost of unnecessary waste. It is such a disgrace that almost every customer mindlessly puts a sleeve on their drink every time. (I have seen people put them on iced drinks, too!) There is no excuse for being wasteful.

Incidentally, the cups are well designed so that hot sleeves are NOT required. (The only exceptions might be a Venti tea and Americano because of the hot water.) Saying it’s more “environmentally-friendly” than using a second paper cup is not a good enough excuse. Drinking (good) coffee is a privilege, not a right. Being able to put a sleeve on a drink you deem to be too-hot-to-handle is also luxury. You do not have a right to a drink sleeve.  It’s amusing to me that some customers now call the sleeves “holders” (as if it is required in order to “hold” the cup).  I think people are becoming too dependent on such luxuries that they now view them as indispensable.

I believe Starbucks should stop giving away the sleeves so involuntarily. There should not be trays full of them on every surface where drinks are handed over. Customers should have to ask each and every time they want a sleeve. These pieces of cardboard do cost money. And what happens to them when a hot drink cools off in five minutes? I would not be completely opposed to the idea of charging people a little extra for the luxury of having a sleeve on their latte. This discussion has provoked an interesting question in my mind, “Would our ancestors really be complaining about things as trivial as cup sleeves?” I think people need to grow thicker skin.

I would like to hear what my sensible audience has to say about this. I want your honest opinion, but I don’t want a lecture about possible lawsuits. If the cup is really too hot to hold, it must be too hot to drink, too.