Almost unbelievable stupidity

Reducing the use of fossil fuels is 'immoral' according to the US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. It seems he believes poor people should not be denied the economic development that developed countries enjoyed on the back of coal and oil. “Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” Perry told a room full of energy leaders and policymakers on Wednesday. “Because as a society we decided fossil fuels were bad. I think that is immoral” (see link below).

All the climate change predictions I have read, e.g. about sea level rise show that poor countries like Bangladesh will be hardest hit. What they need are resilient and sustainable energy sources - and the technologies are growing at a rapid rate. Yet subsidies to fossil fuels still outweigh those to renewable energy. But Perry's crocodile tears for the poor could have an upside, although I doubt he's heard of Contraction and Convergence, which is the framework which posits an equitable global per capita share of future CO2 emissions. This is the fairest way to ease off the fossil fuel pedal. But if you don't believe in science, why bother to think rationally about anything? Perhaps Mr Perry doesn't care about the world's poor after all.

e360.yale.edu/digest/u-s-energy-secretary-calls-reducing-fossil-fuel-use-immoral?utm_source=EHN&utm_campaign=c52daae598-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8573f35474-c52daae598-99388481