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Just the Idea of “Climate Rationing” Sparks Manufactured Outrage [1]

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Date: 2023-02-24  

A paper published on February 19 by researchers at the University of Leeds is gaining the attention of conservative commentators and media outlets across the Anglosphere.

The paper argues “that rationing could plausibly play an important role in an effective and fair means of reducing emissions and is therefore worthy of serious consideration,” despite the fact that the practice “is considered by many to be an unpalatable option.”

The authors consider multiple forms of rationing. One option is a version of wartime rationing, which would use taxation to limit specific goods like petrol, meat, clothing, and even household energy and aviation, since “many of the things that were rationed in wartime are – coincidentally – things that one might want to ration in response to climate change.” A second option is personal carbon trading (PCT) schemes, which would allow the wealthy to consume more by buying additional allowances.

Ultimately, the authors defend an “egalitarian conception of rationing (ECR),” which would reject the prioritization of some groups over others. Instead, an ECR seeks to establish a basic minimum amount of resources for everybody, provide equal resources for equal needs, and allow for different rations for different needs. For example, people who engage in heavy labor would need more calories than those who engage in lighter work, the paper explains.

The authors conclude by writing that they “hope this paper will stimulate further debate about the role that rationing could play in climate change mitigation,” and it certainly did just that.

On February 20, British newspaper The Times covered the paper in an article entitled, “How to fix global warming? Bring back rationing, say scientists,” and TalkTV aired a segment on the same topic. Unsurprisingly, this burst open the floodgates of conservative outrage on Twitter . UK climate policy opposition group Net Zero Watch shared The Times piece and accused the authors of the original paper of being “woke.” while with Brexit Party co-founder Nigel Farage warned his audience of 1.7 million people that “these crackpot ideas will soon be mainstream,” despite no evidence suggesting that rationing will be implemented as a climate change mitigation policy any time soon.

By February 21, the panic about rationing had reached climate disinformation spheres in the US and Canada. American climate denier and tobacco and fossil fuel industry crony Steve Milloy shared The Times story and commented , “Climate is tyranny disguised as necessity.” Matthew Wielicki, a former professor at the University of Alabama who recently gained Twitter popularity for his prolific climate misinformation , declared , “Get ready folks. Climate rationing is coming. The Brits have absolutely lost their minds.” Even Canadian misogynist and major climate disinformation amplifier Jordan Peterson weighed in on the issue of rationing.

In addition to the immediate Twitter fracas, mainstream conservative news sources, including GBNews , Breitbart , and Fox News , also stoked fears this week about rationing as a potential climate change solution in response to the University of Leeds paper.

By February 23, the climate rationing disinformation had also reached fringe sites like The National Pulse , which tied in existing conspiracy theories about 15-minute cities , proclaimed that “it seems choice won’t be a factor in whether we change our lifestyles to suit the climate-change narrative,” and encouraged readers to consider how they can “fight back.”

This ongoing (and exhausting) climate rationing saga clearly demonstrates how even a single paper weighing different climate solutions can rapidly mushroom into widespread international climate disinformation.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/24/2154745/-Just-the-Idea-of-Climate-Rationing-Sparks-Manufactured-Outrage

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