We Won't Pay the Earth

Here's something you probably won't see reported on their ABC, or in the Guardian or SMH.

A climate change referendum in Switzerland failed to gain majority support, and the resistance was led by the generation of Millennials and Generation Z.

That's the 18-34 age group for those who aren't part of it.

The Swiss proposed enacting a car fuel levy and an airline ticket tax to help meet their emission reduction targets under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The referendum failed 52-48, with an estimated 70 per cent of the generations mentioned above voting a resounding no.

This is a sharp rebuke to the catastrophists who have been brainwashing children into palpable fear of a naturally changing climate.

It seems the young Swiss want the same things as the rest of us - cheap and abundant power, jobs, comfortable living and less tax.

The last point is such a critical one.

Almost every climate survey allows all respondents to feel like a good little Green, but when asked to actually pay for the fantasy, they aren't quite so keen.

Young people know that the Green Job vision is a mirage. They know renewables are only competitive because they are subsidised by taxpayers. Many of them also know that they have been spun a pile of bull dust by the Marxist environmental class for decades now.

As Swiss Journalist Mathieu von Rohr wrote:

It is one thing for people to pretend they support the Green Party, especially when it is cool to do so. It is quite another to make actual sacrifices as the Swiss were asked to do.

This is an entirely understandable human condition.

Whenever I am confronted by someone demanding the government do something, I ask them if they are willing to pay more taxes for it. The answer is often 'no, I already pay enough tax'.

Occasionally, someone says yes, they will pay more tax. I then suggest they send some additional money to the tax office with a request.

While there is nothing to prevent people from volunteering to pay more tax than necessary, I have never met anyone who does. These people may exist or be as mythical as the non-subsidised wind farm.

We've had the same message in Australia through repeated elections. Every time our media pundits and green activists warn us that this is a vote on climate change and a sure Labor victory, the Coalition seems to win.

It's a sure sign that people want good stewardship of our natural resources and environmental bounty but don't want to pay the earth for it.