A Story That Isn't
If The Washington Post wants to have a dedicated reporter on the environmental policy beat perhaps they should get somebody who, unlike Maxine Joselow, is a reporter and not an activist….
The most pointless story I’ve read in the last week is this one:
When Fox News host Bret Baier listed his D.C. mansion for an eye-popping $31.9 million last week, some eagle-eyed observers noticed a surprising feature: Dozens of solar panels covered parts of the roof.
“A Fox News guy has solar panels? What does Murdoch think?!” wrote a commenter on an online forum for D.C. parents, referring to Rupert Murdoch, who launched the Fox media empire and has previously described himself as a “climate change skeptic.”
The listing agent, Daniel Heider of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, confirmed to The Washington Post that 86 solar panels were installed last year on a portion of the 16,250-square-foot French-chateau-style home. This comes as Baier — who hosts the highest rated cable news program in its time slot — has used his platform to amplify criticism of action on climate change, including the adoption of solar and other clean-energy sources.
Some prominent conservatives — including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine — have also embraced solar while pushing back against climate initiatives aimed at speeding the transition away from fossil fuels.
It’s the kind of bold reporting you would expect from the modern Washington Post’s “Climate 202” section.
Of course, if you’re you’re most people, you say…
There are many reasons why somebody might want to install solar panels. Perhaps it’s for backup power. Perhaps they want to live off the grid. Perhaps they just want to save money in their forever home.
But the idea that somebody might have solar panels “while pushing back against climate initiatives aimed at speeding the transition away from fossil fuels” would lead a reasonable person to ask: “What’s wrong with those initiatives that make it so these people won’t support them?”
That is the question that writer Maxine Joselow fails to answer. Or seemingly ask. So much for her vaunted Brown education……
The reason so many on the right are not supportive of the policies that Joselow and other climate radicals advocate for is because the policies they champion are ineffective at best, self-defeating at worst, and ruinous to the economy always. It isn’t a matter of “hating” the environment. It’s not a matter of “climate denial” (as if one could even deny there is a climate). It’s an issue of not supporting bad policy.
Conservatives love the environment. They love saving money. They love effective power generation. They do not, however, love blowing up the economy for a feel-good photo-op. And if the Washington Post wants to have a dedicated reporter on the environmental policy beat perhaps they should get somebody who, unlike Maxine Joselow, is a reporter and not an activist….