UROPE appears to be falling apart. Germany is now officially in recession as de-industrialisation follows its green energy policies and the catastrophic damage to the Nord Stream pipelines. As Bloomberg put it last week: ‘Europe’s economic engine is breaking down’. France remains in uproar as protests continue nationwide. And any idea that that it is trying to free itself from the shackles of carbon neutrality is wishful thinking at best, naïve at worst. Dutch farmers are still under attack from their own government after the EU approved a farm buy-out plan to meet their climate goals.
Perhaps it is not surprising that the European Parliament hosted an event a couple of weeks ago titled ‘Beyond Growth‘, as that is the clear direction of travel for much of Europe.
What is surprising, however, is that this EU event in Brussels expressed so little concern about the impact on its citizens, let alone for the economic prospects of the Union. Bizarrely, the event even appeared to be celebrating the decline of European economies which had previously brought growth and prosperity to their citizens. It was as if the European Parliament has been captured by eco-terrorists who regard industrialisation as a cancer which requires removal. They seem to have all fallen under the spell of a doom cult which repeats the mantra that we live on a planet of finite resources, and so economic growth based on consumption is not only unethical but ultimately doomed.
The EU president and High Priestess of this cult, Ursula von der Leyen, reminded the EU conference of an earlier iteration of this mantra when in 1972 the Club of Rome published its ‘Limits to Growth’ report. https://www.clubofrome.org/blog-post/von-der-leyen-beyond-growth/ What she failed to mention is that this belief in limited resources, which has been drip-fed into the minds of the masses for more than 50 years, is based on the erroneous assumptions of the Rev Malthus in the 18th century that population growth would inevitably outstrip food supply. But both the Club of Rome and Malthus have been proved wrong: the planet has shown that it is more than capable of feeding its current population of eight billion.
Yet the belief in overpopulation runs deep, with tragic consequences as a ghostly infanticide now infects the planet. A new documentary, Birthgap, reveals that because so many women have denied themselves children, at some point global population levels will collapse dramatically. Which means that those who have consciously chosen not to have children to ‘save the planet’ have made a pointless gesture. This is a message that eco-terrorists do not want to hear. Indeed, students in Cambridge recently tried to prevent the Birthgap documentary from being screened.
Whatever eco-terrorists might claim, the Earth has plenty of resources. Even oil isn’t running out any time soon. https://www.thoughtco.com/we-will-never-run-out-of-oil-1146242 A problem for the West is that much of the raw materials on the planet (the oil, the rare earths etc etc) happens to be in the ‘wrong’ hands. It is not without irony that those countries which the West has shunned, banned and sanctioned are the ones with the raw materials.
There was another but much less reported European economic conference last week. It was held in Moscow and brought together the Eurasian economies. By contrast with the earlier Brussels event, this gathering will have taken growth as an a given, and therefore looked at ways to boost the prosperity of their populations. Amongst the topics considered were ensuring energy and food security, technological and financial independence, speeding up digital transformation, eliminating trade barriers, and transport infrastructure development. Furthermore, there will be a meeting of 81 nations in St Petersburg this month to discuss a gold-backed alternative to the dollar. All these countries can look forward to rising living standards, while we in the virtue-signalling West have a bleak future. Trapped in our 15-minute cities, if Just Stop Oil and the other eco-fascists have their way, we won’t even be allowed out to collect wood while it is more than probable that wood burners will be banned in urban areas – to save the planet, of course. ‘Beyond growth’ is not a welcome prospect if you want to stay alive on planet Earth.
There are signs, nevertheless, that a backlash in the West is beginning. In the last few weeks a group of state attorneys from 23 states in the US have threatened members of the UN’s Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) with legal action because they risk violating US anti-trust laws. As a consequence many high-profile members, including Lloyd’s of London, have pulled out of the alliance. Is common sense is beginning to return? We have to pray it is.
