UCS, Environmentalists Only Want to Save Planet if Labor Unions Agree

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Q: When are environmentalists (such as those with the Union of Concerned Scientists) opposed to efforts to conserve water and energy? A: When hotel housekeeping unions get mad. As we've long said about them, when it comes to saving the planet, ideology trumps science and common sense.

This has to be one of the juiciest stories I've ever come across because it puts on stark display the hypocrisy, incompetence, and corruption at the heart of the modern environmental movement. Naturally, the turd polishers at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) are involved.

Todd Myers, environmental director at the free market think-tank the Washington Policy Center, has written an article describing how environmental groups are opposed to Marriott hotels' "Make A Green Choice" program. The program incentivizes guests to save water and energy by eschewing room service.

According to Mr. Myers, the program is a big success. He writes, "Marriott reports it has reduced energy use by 13.2 percent, water use by 8 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent." Both the hotel and guests save money while the planet reaps benefits. Everybody wins.

Well, not quite everybody. Environmentalists don't win, which is why activist groups like UCS, the Sierra Club, and 350.org are opposed to a program that objectively helps the planet. Why don't they win? Because environmentalists are politically allied with labor unions, and labor unions really don't like hotel conservation programs because they necessarily decrease demand for housekeeping labor.

Save the Planet! (But Only if Big Labor Agrees)

You see, environmentalists only want to save Earth if labor unions are on board. And, often times, labor unions aren't on board. According to the Los Angeles Times, "California unions, despite their vocal support for fighting climate change and their willingness to embrace green issues scorned by national labor groups, either bent or blocked environmental proposals" in the state legislature.

So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Sierra Club doesn't even pretend to be embarrassed by its hypocrisy; it openly embraces it. An article published on its website quotes a Sierra Club spokesman: "We want to save the planet, and we want to make it more sustainable, but we don’t want to do it on the backs of working families."

How sweet. What's Sierra Club's position on coal? There are a lot of working families in very poor parts of America that rely on coal. Well, Sierra Club believes those jobs should be destroyed, and it accepted $25 million from the natural gas industry to tell everybody that.

Environmentalists keep telling us that fixing climate change will require a major transformation in the way we work and live. Of course, that transformation will only be for other people, not for the Green Mafia or its allies.