GREENIE JEALOUSY DESTROYS GREEN HOUSING

Greenies have that typical Leftist hate of other people doing well

The Sea Ranch coastal development, some 100 miles north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, is probably the best-known attempt to address environmental issues with innovative architecture and private covenants. As the development's Chamber of Commerce puts it, the community has sought to "blend man-made structures with their natural setting, and to `live lightly on the land.'"

The architects who designed the early buildings at The Sea Ranch not only fomented what has become known as the "Sea Ranch Style" but drove the creation of the legal covenants that defined the landscape and created the community that exists today. They advocated "a close relationship to nature and the use of natural materials"; they believed that "buildings can and should become a part of the encompassing landscape."......

In the early 1970s, though, The Sea Ranch became a target for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, which didn't think people and nature should be mixed in this fashion and opposed any exclusive access to the shoreline, even by the "nature lovers" at The Sea Ranch. Their efforts led to the creation of the California Coastal Commission, a powerful new regulatory body set up to protect the state's coastline. The commission immediately imposed a building moratorium on The Sea Ranch, which lasted from 1973 to 1980.

To end the moratorium, The Sea Ranch had to agree to reduce the number of home sites from 5,200 to 2,300. At the start of the moratorium, there were 300 homes and 1,400 lots sold. The design and landscape restrictions, contrary to the fears of some real estate agents, were increasingly cited by buyers as a selling point. After eight years without building and a severe reduction in lots, however, The Sea Ranch was losing money hand over fist. When building finally did resume, the covenants were loosened considerably to generate a quick infusion of cash.

As a result, there are now effectively two Sea Ranches. As described by Lyndon, "The southern sectors, which were developed in the 1960s and 1970s, have an air of restraint and respect, their houses indeed in partnership with the land. In the northern meadows, houses put up after the early 1980s line up rigidly along the streets and form solid, view-blocking walls along the bluffs. Others protrude, exposed, from the forest above."

And that is how a state effort to protect coastlands derailed the most environmentally progressive development California had ever seen.

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IT'S A WAR

McCain, chief co-sponsor Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), and their advocacy group allies are on offense. They aggressively seek opportunities to publicize their message, expand their support base, and advance their agenda. The same aggressive approach characterizes the climate alarmist camp generally. At home and abroad, in courts and legislatures, in the media and regulatory bodies, alarmists are on the attack:

* Environmental activist groups endlessly lambaste President Bush for "withdrawing" the United States from the Kyoto global warming treaty.

* The British Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King, in an attempt to influence U.S. policy, called climate change "the most severe problem that we are facing today-more serious even than the threat of terrorism."

* European Union politicians relentlessly pressed Russian leaders to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

* Twelve state attorneys general (AGs), 14 advocacy groups, and three cities are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for rejecting a petition to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor vehicles.

* State legislators introduced at least 60 bills in 2004 proposing some form of CO2 regulation.

* New York Governor George Pataki and nine other Northeastern governors plan to cap CO2 emissions from their states' electric power sector.

* Six New England governors formed a compact with five Eastern Canadian Premiers to reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 and 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

* The California Air Resources Board approved its plan to implement AB 1493, a state law mandating "maximum feasible" reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles.

* The AGs of seven states plus the New York City corporation counsel are suing America's five largest electric power producers to require each company to cap its CO2 emissions and then reduce them by a specified percentage annually for at least a decade.

* The National Academy of Sciences published a study predicting apocalyptic climate impacts in California, such as an 8.3øC (14.1øF) increase in average summertime temperatures by 2100, unless urgent action is taken to reduce emissions. [[xi]] The NAS published the study even though its dire forecasts derive from discredited emissions scenarios [[xii]] and a climate model (the U.K. Met office Hadley Centre model) found to be incapable of replicating past U.S. temperature trends regardless of the averaging period used (five-year, 10-year, or 25-year).

* The Sydney Centre for International and Global Law published a report arguing that Australia has a legal obligation, under the 1972 World Heritage Convention, to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and, indeed, to cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 60 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Despite this surge of activism, alarmists have scored few if any victories at the national level:

* Senate leaders kept climate language out of the Senate energy bill.

* As already noted, the Senate rejected the McCain-Lieberman bill. Despite pro-Kyoto activists' high-profile efforts to depict President Bush as an environmental criminal, [[xvi]] the environment was not a key issue in the November 2004 elections, and the Senate lost four supporters of McCain-Lieberman-Tom Daschle (D-SD), John Edwards (D-NC), Bob Graham (D-Fla.), and Ernest Hollings (D-SC). In the House, legislation of the McCain-Lieberman variety has no chance of passing or even of coming to a vote.

* Kyoto remains in such disfavor with most Americans that the Democratic Party's 2004 platform-in sharp contrast to the party's 2000 platform-did not even mention the climate treaty negotiated by former standard-bearer Al Gore.

* The Bush Administration backed away from its proposal to award Kyoto-type emission credits to companies registering "voluntary" greenhouse gas emission reductions.

* When EPA rejected the petition to regulate CO2 emissions from motor vehicles, it also disavowed, as no longer representing the agency's views, statements by Clinton administration officials claiming authority under the Clean Air Act to adopt regulatory climate policies.

Supporters of pro-growth energy policy have, in short, done a reasonably good job of fending off several major thrusts by climate alarmists during the past 18 months. However, in politics, as in war, staying permanently on defense rarely leads to victory. A purely defensive posture cedes the initiative to one's opponents, allowing the other team to generate the headlines, capture the public imagination, and frame the terms of debate.

The battle over climate policy is a protracted struggle. To win it, the friends of economic liberty, scientific inquiry, and affordable energy must advance their own vision and compel alarmists to react to it. Taking a leaf out of McCain's playbook, they should introduce their own "Sense of Congress" resolution on climate change, recruit co-sponsors, and "force votes" on the bill, year after year, until it passes.

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

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