३० ऑक्टोबर, २०२१

"Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it, but I don’t want to be flight-shamed out of my travels..."

"... because I think travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet. So my company has a self-imposed carbon tax of $30 per person we take to Europe. In 2019, we gave $1 million to a portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change. We gave half that amount in 2020, even though we stopped bringing people to Europe after the pandemic hit. It’s nothing heroic. It’s just the ethical thing to do."

I say: What bullshit! He's got to know it's bullshit. It's not just nothing heroic, it's virtually nothing. He's got a business he wants to keep going, and he doesn't want to be "flight-shamed." Well, too bad. No one wants to give anything up. If you actually believe "Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it" and you continue to do it and to actively facilitate others doing it, you should be ashamed! The NYT has this huge article about Steves, and the NYT profits from travel industry ads. It's absolutely ludicrous to purport to be taking climate change seriously.

And "travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet" — is he a beauty pageant contestant? He should be shamed not only for his travel but also for his disgustingly lame self-justification. I've seen tourists roaming the globe. They are not stabilizing it. It would be easier to argue that they are destabilizing it. Do you have tourists who come to your town? If so, are they bringing peace and stability? If you like what they are doing, is it for any reason other than that they are dropping money before they get the hell out?

९१ टिप्पण्या:

Achilles म्हणाले...

Global warming is about control.

There are always rubes at the bottom who act like cult followers.

But Climate Change is and always has been an attempt by the intellectual class to assume control of everything.

It is what they do.

They had to kill the Scientific Method to keep their cult going this long.

Anyone who ever says the "Science is settled" is just not a scientist.

Achilles म्हणाले...

Right now the rest of the world is laughing their asses off at the demented idiot illegitimately occupying the white house.

If the average democrat watched Sky News their head would explode.

Everyone in the world is laughing at democrats right now.

You wont be able to "mail in" enough "ballots" this time. That's why so many democrats are "retiring."

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Just a friendly reminder to MadisonMan, my offer to have a skeptical mathematician examine your data and methods for your next paper still stands.

gilbar म्हणाले...

i am officially, following his Lead!
as of Today,
i will place a self-imposed carbon tax of $30 every time i take an airplane...
This money will go to a portfolio of organizations* that are fighting climate change.


portfolio of organizations*
gilbar's heating bills, electric bills, drinking bills ('cause Baby, It's Cold Outside)

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Now do Joe's 85-car motorcade at the Rome Climate Summit.

It's a scam.

Hey Skipper म्हणाले...

And "travel is a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet" — is he a beauty pageant contestant? He should be shamed not only for his travel but also for his disgustingly lame self-justification. I've seen tourists roaming the globe. They are not stabilizing it.

You haven't been to the Balkans, have you?

I have. Tourists, and the money they bring with them, are keeping the region from grinding poverty. And the residents of the region get to come into direct contact with people who have enough money to travel to places like the Balkans because they would rather construct civil societies than slaughter each other.

Michael म्हणाले...

By the way, it is no longer called climate change. It is now Climate Crisis.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe म्हणाले...

Nice, Althouse. To which I might add:

"[A] portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change." WTF does that mean? With a firehose or flamethrower? How is that quantified - cm of precipitation or degrees C. over a 25 year running average? Or do they just issue press releases and jet around the world to exotic locations for conferences?

Patrick म्हणाले...

It's not only his own flights, but all of the flights he encourages through his books and his show. Total BS.

Michael म्हणाले...

Oh, don't be so grouchy. Steves has a giant, well-run, and generally honorable business. He is saying what he has to say to let Progressive ninnies use his services and still feel good about themselves, which as we all know is now the chief end of (wo)man. When we once more have a serious culture, we can expect people to say serious things.

DanTheMan म्हणाले...

>>Do you have tourists who come to your town? If so, are they bringing peace and stability?

Yes, here in Florida we have plenty of tourists. Mostly, they bring terrible driving skills, which result in the opposite of peace and stability.

But, in fairness, I must point out that I was in Colorado this summer, and when we pulled off the road to admire a beautiful mountain stream, I was accidently blocking a commercial parking lot. These lots are reserved for white water rafting companies. A bus pulled up and the driver politely explained what I had done wrong.
I replied "I'm from Florida. For 50 years, I've had to put up with idiot tourists driving like damn fools and parking wherever they please. Well, it's finally MY turn!"

exhelodrvr1 म्हणाले...

I wonder if he has an F-150?

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“ Now do Joe's 85-car motorcade at the Rome Climate Summit.”

No doubt, his entourage acquired carbon indulgences from politically connected Democrats, at taxpayer expense. Or just asked the Pope for an indulgence. That is part of how they funded the Vatican, before the Reformation. Never did understand the theology there, but as far as I know the RC Church never disavowed the power to divinely reward it’s most generous supporters.

DanTheMan म्हणाले...

>>I say: What bullshit! He's got to know it's bullshit. It's not just nothing heroic, it's virtually nothing.

This sounds like a parallel to your "Civility Bullshit"... a preening, insincere call for "civility" really being used as a weapon to silence the other side.

I'd suggest Rick is practicing "Climate Change Action Bullshit", a preening, insincere call for "action" to fight climate change ('action' which involves doing nothing at all) and just being used to justify what you were going to do anyway.

See the annual private jet pilgrimage to Davos for the best example...

Owen म्हणाले...

“Flight-shamed”? What BS. But actually inspired: it echoes “slut-shamed,” and not just in its sound; because this guy is an intellectual whore of sorts, selling his words to the highest bidder.

Additionally the formulation “X-shamed” frames the issue as one of powerful observers imposing penal judgment on a weak or helpless victim. You see, he can’t help burning all that fossil fuel to take his big trip that Zoom cannot possibly replace, so just stop casting shade!

William म्हणाले...

Travel has definitely added to the peace and prosperity of the Steves family and that of many foreign hotel workers. It's a big inndustry and not everyone can learn coding and solar panel installation....Besides a carbon tax on airline travel, I would also like to see a habitation tax on all those who live in domiciles of more that 750 sq ft. An extra premium should also be charged to those whose dwellings require more heating and air conditioning such as stand alone housees. Also a flatulence tax on those people who insist on eating a vegan diet and whose methane emissions add to the burden of this planet. Biden should empanel a task force to think of imaginative new ways to tax the carbon improvident and thereby ensure the endurance of our planet. Those who object to these useful suggestions should be labelled domestic terrorists, and domestic terrorists should not be allowed to count their children as deductions.

Paul Zrimsek म्हणाले...

If the Confederacy had had the foresight to clear their consciences by buying slavery offsets, all those statues would still be standing.

gspencer म्हणाले...

Rick Steves - he's my favorite girlie man.

When you have to move a limp noodle RIck'll be there, willing to move it with you. But will fail.

Whiskeybum म्हणाले...

I can't agree with Ann's comments more. It's a simple combination of Steves' self delusion that $30/person is significant absolution for what he views as a sin, and hypocrisy. I travel by plane, but based on my personal understanding of climate change claims, I have no beliefs that 1) (anthropogenic) climate change is a serious problem, or b) that (air) tourism contributes a lot to it. I do believe that for certain small eco-systems and populated areas, that an over-abundance of tourists can cause harm to those areas, and that the locals should have some level of 'say' in keeping a balance between tourist $ flowing into the region and irreparable damage to those areas.

doctrev म्हणाले...

Yes, yes, very smart. Even he knows that, Professor, but he also knows that modern America is steeped in victimology and culture war. A libertarian philosophy like "I don't NEED the barely functional retards of the Biden Administration to permit anything for me" won't hunt anymore.

Besides the fact that governments are frantically trying to conceal the rebirth of nationalism and the impending collapse of the entire globalist movement, they're trying to justify left-wing fear. The problem is that two years into the pandemic, the results are massive dissatisfaction throughout American society. The voting machines aren't hooked up to anything important, of course, but the broad-based ridicule of the entire Covid machine is reaching critical mass. I guess the Biden Administration skimmed the interesting parts of 1984? It almost doesn't matter: the entire world is laughing at Biden and not even control of all the major Internet platforms can conceal that anymore.

David Begley म्हणाले...

CAGW is the biggest scam in the history of the world. It was started by Marxists and anti-capitalists. It has made Elon Musk and Al Gore rich. There is an entire industry that profits from it.

Frankly, people who believe this load of shit are fucking morons.

The Left has been predicting doom for over 30 years and have been wrong for 30 years. Why are they right now?

These Green nuts need to shut the fuck up and leave us alone.

heyboom म्हणाले...

The earth has survived for trillions of years in far, far harsher conditions than man's puny contributions. It will survive long after we're no longer around.

Jersey Fled म्हणाले...

"What bullshit"

To that I say-

Amen

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Climate science is like astrologers peer reviewing astrologers. Conventional mistakes are blessed.

They're not peer reviewed by experts in the tools they're using.

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

There is no climate crisis except in the head of all the politicians who want more power. It was warmer 9,000 years ago than it is today, but the CO2 levels were actually lower back then. The so-called climate scientists have created an ideal scam for themselves: The sky is falling the sky is falling, give us money and we'll protect you!

More CO2 means more vegetation. CO2 concentration is a lagging indicator of temperature changes. The Sun has more influence than CO2, in fact all the climate models ignore changes in the Sun's radiation and magnetic fields. It's like they never heard of the Maunder and Dalton minimums and the corresponding cold climates. We're heading towards another low-sunspot period and cold climate. But no, a temperature increase of 2-deg C will kill us all!

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Fen's Law strikes again.

Assistant Village Idiot म्हणाले...

The beauty-pageant contestant comparison was apt. Is it original? Either way, I'm keeping it. Althouse guests who also come to my site should expect to see it in the next month.

Jeff म्हणाले...

"I say: What bullshit! He's got to know it's bullshit."

That's because climate change itself is bullshit.

Susan in Seattle म्हणाले...

Thanks for pegging it perfectly.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

"Climate change is a serious problem"
No, it's not. Prove me wrong with facts, not religion.

"Tourism contributes to it"
No, it doesn't. It contributes to other problems, real ones. But go ahead and prove me wrong, with facts, not religion.

"organizations that are fighting climate change" = Grifters. Hah! Please try to prove me wrong on that one!

rcocean म्हणाले...

Hello? Who's paying the $30? I'd bet its the people who Stevens is taking to Europe. "A self imposed tax". Kay. just raise the price. Tell 'em they're "fighting climate change". So, his 'sacrifice' is no sacrifice at all.

Plus, he gets in good with his PBS audience, who are types he takes to Europe. Yeah, some 'sacrifice'.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

In 2019, we gave $1 million to a portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change
If wonder if fighting includes donating to left-wing politicians.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"No one wants to give anything up."

Especially not Joe and rich Dems.

"If you actually believe "Climate change is a serious problem"

Nobody believes that, especially not Barry in his beach house and other rich Dems.

"you continue to do it and to actively facilitate others doing it, you should be ashamed!"

By the standards of nice liberal women, maybe. In the real world of rank lefty hypocrisy, nah. They are beyond shame.

Wilbur म्हणाले...

AA, this is another item where I'd love to know the highest-rated comment.

Ambrose म्हणाले...

He's just saying stuff so people will leave him alone. Not courageous but not irrational.

retail lawyer म्हणाले...

Rick Steves has a nice job and wants to keep it and feel good about it, but he's full of shit. I did meet two nice sweet old lady tourists in San Francisco yesterday. Likely better citizens than the natives, but peace and stability - that's a stretch.
PBS!

KellyM म्हणाले...

What a load. Whenever I hear someone bleating on about climate change being a serious problem, I wonder to myself: is it any more serious than the previous claims of a new ice age? What about acid rain? The depletion of the ozone layer? In what order would all these horrific things happen?? I'm still waiting. Sheesh.

Penguins loose म्हणाले...

All worshipers at the altar of Anthropogenic Catastrophic Global Warming will be forced to pay indulgences, at least until a modern day Martin Luther posts his theses on a proper internet forum, Tik Tok for example, and relieves them of their pitiful, self-inflicted obligation to make restitution for their imagined sins against Gaia. I care not for them and hold them no pity as long as they fail to force indulgence obligations on me.

Their virtue signaling falls flat at my feet, I can’t even see it.

Paul

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Ann is on fire. You go girl!

MadTownGuy म्हणाले...

Rick Steves lost me with his puff piece on touring Iran. If Europe weren't his thing, I could see him doing the same sort of travelogue on the joys of Cuba.

Patrick Henry was right! म्हणाले...

Climate change is the Big Lie by Big Brother. Period.

Paul म्हणाले...

I am sure such people as Lurch, I mean John Kerry, who travel and travel and leave carbon footprints bigger than whole nations think they are 'a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet.'

I am sure Matt Damon, who goes to all kinds of climate change conferences, via private jet, also thinks he is 'a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet.'

I am sure Sean Penn and Robert Redford who also jet around feels they are 'a powerful force for peace and stability on this planet.'

But it is all bull stuffings. They talk and talk but do not do any kind of walk!!

As Glenn Reynolds said, "I'll believe that it's a crisis when the people who claim it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis."

Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene म्हणाले...

Do you have tourists who come to your town?

Yes. Of course, the torrent has slowed somewhat due to the troglodytic governor and his anti-science policies.

If so, are they bringing peace and stability?

They bring prosperity, which brings peace and stability. Do they occasionally get rowdy and do dumb shit? Of course, but that happens from NYC to LAC, from Paris to Paraquay. Honestly, I've lived here for ten years and I'd say the tourists who come here are pretty well-behaved, considering the smorgasbord of debauchery that's available.

If you like what they are doing, is it for any reason other than that they are dropping money before they get the hell out?

I don't know if I like what they're doing or if I don't. They're adults, as are the owners of the casinos and restaurants and hotels. "Dropping money," as I pointed out above leads to a host of positive repurcussions. It's a good enough reason on its own when those other results are factored in.

42 million of 'em a year, God bless 'em. And a relatively small sliver of them, while they're here, pack the comedy clubs where I earn a good portion of my living. They are mostly agreeable and having a good time.

I recall that one of the casino companies, MGM, left Nevada Energy in "one of the largest defections from an American utility by a commercial customer."

They took their 171-megawatt energy appetite and went rogue to achieve, "energy independence" and to use more renewable energy. IIRC, Nevada Energy sued them! (And complained that, without one of their biggest customers, they were going to be forced to raise rates on all of us!

Uncle Pavian म्हणाले...

It's not exactly pledge week on our local PBS affiliate, but their annual auction is coming up next month.

gpm म्हणाले...

I mostly enjoy Steves' shows. His schtick is that you shouldn't just herd to the usual tourist stuff but should try to engage with the local culture, which is not a bad idea in and of itself if you're going to travel and is the basis for the "peace and stability" BS (but just try to watch, e.g., his Iran stuff without gagging). But Althouse is right that the climate-change stuff is self-serving nonsense.

We get tons of tourists and out-of-town Red Sox fans in Boston that I am grateful for for the reason Althouse identifies, although I don't have much occasion/opportunity(?) to deal with them these days, particularly since our late, lamented Irish pub/neighborhood bar a couple of blocks from Fenway Park closed down last year. I'm maybe not quite as cynical as Althouse, but not seriously disagreeing with her take.

--gpm

Scott Gustafson म्हणाले...

Virtue Signaling is valuable, so it will continue.

Rt41Rebel म्हणाले...

Do you have tourists who come to your town?

I recently retired to Naples FL, and yes, the entire town's economy is based on wealthy retirees/tourists/snowbirds.

If so, are they bringing peace and stability?

No, they are bringing lots and lots of $$$. And as DanTheMan points out, terrible driving skills and traffic. But I knew what I was signing up for and couldn't be happier about my decision.

ndspinelli म्हणाले...

Nothing agitates Althouse more than people who leave their cocoon and see the world.

320Busdriver म्हणाले...

It should be a requirement for anyone who wishes to say anything about climate change to first read “Unsettled- what climate science tells us, what it doesn’t, and why it matters” by Steven Koonin. Then you will see how dishonest the climate fascists are.

Skipper म्हणाले...

Whatever he wants to do is justified. For me, not so much. Standard lefty hypocrisy.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

Professora : let us try this whole thing again : change travel to migration

effinayright म्हणाले...

Here's a quick way of establishing how clueless Green Weenies are:

Challenge them to name the top five components of the Earth's atmosphere , in order.

99% in my experience can't answer. Most think Oxygen is at the top. It isn't.

Next, ask what percentage of the atmosphere they think is comprised of CO2. They will most like be "off" by a thousand.

Next, ask which of the top five exists in the Earth's atmosphere as a solid, liquid and gas.

Then ask: of all your answers, which represents the largest component of IR-trapping "greenhouse" gases.

Hummina hummina hummina....

effinayright म्हणाले...

Uncle Pavian said...
It's not exactly pledge week on our local PBS affiliate, but their annual auction is coming up next month.

**************

Pledge Week? I'll be happy to go to my kitchen pantry bottom to find old cans and bottles of Pledge polish.

Not sure how useful it will be to burnish PBS's inexorably declining ratings, but...

What's emanating from your penumbra म्हणाले...

Well, why didn't you say it's only $30 per person. I think probably we can all get on board with that. Now, I haven't flown to Europe in years, so I'll cut my donation down to $15. But not to the government. I get to choose the groups that get it. Now GTFO with hectoring me about climate change. I've done my part.

Justoneguy म्हणाले...

This would be like a slave holder two hundred years ago agreeing that slavery is a bad thing, but my plantation supports the lives of a lot of people, and oh by the way, I've bought the freedom of one-hundred slaves in Haiti to offset the fact that I own one hundred.

glacial erratic म्हणाले...

If they actually believed "climate change" is an existential crisis, they would be promoting nuclear power. Oh, and planting about a trillion trees to sequester carbon. But they don't and it isn't.
So we get meaningless virtue signaling such as this.

cfkane1701 म्हणाले...

Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.

TheDopeFromHope म्हणाले...

I wish I had gotten into this "offset" business 20 years ago. An opportunity for graft this great doesn't come along often.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

People who live in cities that attract a lot of tourists stay away from the parts of town where tourists congregate. It’s Potemkin Villages all the way down.

Carbon credits are the modern equivalent of indulgences—money the wealthy pay so they can feel virtuous while continuing to do whatever they want. It works because deep in their hearts, nobody actually believes climate change is a problem. “Deniers” are just more honest.

typingtalker म्हणाले...

" ... but even parents who got the shot are worried about how it might affect their kids"

That's a pretty weak-beer expression of concern. Most parents who went to kindergarten were worried the first day their kids walked off to kindergarten. A possibly more apples-to-apples comparison would be to ask how many parents home-school their kids.

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

Actually, I live in Chicago. The tourists do bring peace and stability. They crowd out the gangbangers and thugs with their sheer numbers.

More tourists, please.

stlcdr म्हणाले...

This sums up every proponent of the climate change agenda.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"I mostly enjoy Steves' shows. His schtick is that you shouldn't just herd to the usual tourist stuff but should try to engage with the local culture, which is not a bad idea in and of itself if you're going to travel and is the basis for the "peace and stability" BS (but just try to watch, e.g., his Iran stuff without gagging). But Althouse is right that the climate-change stuff is self-serving nonsense."

I don't watch his show, but I'm skeptical about the idea that American tourists are genuinely "engaging with the local culture." I believe they may expend effort deluding themselves into believing they do. Obviously "herding to the usual tourist stuff" is an inadequate motive for traveling (if you care about climate change), but the fantasy that you're above those deplorable tourists is something Steves caters to and makes money off of.

Who, exactly, are you meeting overseas? Are you any good at engaging with your fellow citizens in America? I bet you're not! So go overseas and engage with someone who looks at you, sees dollar signs, and smiles.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"They bring prosperity, which brings peace and stability."

Is that peace and stability, having your culture reworked by outsiders, who come, spend money, and leave? Where is your country? Would you want your economy all about the tourist industry?

jj121957 म्हणाले...

As Glenn Reynolds said, "I'll believe that it's a crisis when the people who claim it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis."

10/30/21, 9:00 PM

My feelings exactly.

Achilles म्हणाले...

I think it is time to start an "offset" business.

All I have to do is have some carbon credits right? So if I excrete a normal amount of CO2 can I subtract my output from say John Kerry's output?

Bamn! I have carbon credits to sell!

Step right up corporations come get these red hot carbon offsets!

JPS म्हणाले...

"we gave $1 million to a portfolio of organizations that are fighting climate change."

I'm curious on what metrics their success in fighting is measured. Going to guess political, not physical.

"We gave half that amount in 2020, even though we stopped bringing people to Europe after the pandemic hit."

They cut their donation in half, I guess because they figured their contribution to the problem was cut in half. But according to the alarmists the crisis continued right on building. I read many analysis pieces that the temporary decrease in all CO2 emissions had not led, and would not lead, to significantly lower CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

It's almost as if drastically cutting back on air travel didn't make any difference anyone could detect. Which, since air travel is about 3% of US CO2 emissions, kind of makes sense.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

So go overseas and engage with someone who looks at you, sees dollar signs, and smiles.
----------
these Americans are p[l]aying with their own $$ at least while touring instead of voting to spend other people $$ - simultaneously condescending and virtue signalling

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

”Right now the rest of the world is laughing their asses off at the demented idiot illegitimately occupying the white house. “

Are you not aware the rest of the world were also laughing their asses off at the demented idiot who occupied the White House prior to the current one?

Leland म्हणाले...

He doesn’t want to be flight shamed, so he pays off the mob to have them harass others.

Left Bank of the Charles म्हणाले...

“ I wonder if he has an F-150?”

Ford F-150 shaming is a trap, I would wager Althouse and Meade are preordering the electric Ford F-150 Lightning.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

In my corner of Arizona, which is pretty prosperous, the result of mass tourism is a lot of resorts, hotels and high-end restaurants which I don't frequent. The traffic certainly gets worse in winter - but that is also due to what we euphemistically call "winter visitors" or Snowbirds. It's all manageable, but we are peaceful and prosperous without them. The biggest downside is the difficulty in getting a golf tee-time, so many of which are slurped up by out-of-towners who play from the wrong tee boxes and get their money's worth by making the rest of us spend 5 hours for a game. Hacking around and chasing your golf ball in the desert may lower your cost per stroke but it's not polite.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

I guess catering to the tourist trade is better for the locals than killing each other, but it does lead to a more homogenized world. Tourism is self-defeating in that way, though of course, even without tourism modern media are producing that effect. Seeing how people in the rich countries live, either directly through interactions with tourists or indirectly through the media also encourages the flow of migrants to the developed countries.

The distinction between "travel" and "tourism" always struck me as a little phony. Maybe there was a difference a century ago, when some people traveled on package tours, if at all, and a few could spend months or years abroad, but a two week vacation isn't going to steep you in a foreign culture or give you much opportunity to interact with the locals.

I think of Rick as a dinner party guest. "Oh, and we found the most wonderful little shop off the main way." "And this bed and breakfast was to die for; tourists never go there." Consumption snobbery isn't the worst thing in the world, but it does seem superficial, and something you could do without if you really think air travel will really bring about the end of the world in our lifetimes.

Achilles म्हणाले...

Robert Cook said...

”Right now the rest of the world is laughing their asses off at the demented idiot illegitimately occupying the white house. “

Are you not aware the rest of the world were also laughing their asses off at the demented idiot who occupied the White House prior to the current one?

I know I watch more foreign media than you do.

I know who the globalist tools are and who is actually trying to serve an audience.

I can also guess which foreign media you watch.

People like you are predictable because you really don't think very much.

FleetUSA म्हणाले...

I saw that Xiden brought about 800 to Europe for the vacation and his motorcade in Rome was 85 vehicles. I guess he brought cleaners too as he had a Nadler event. But but but Italians have some of the nicest bathrooms in the world.

Critter म्हणाले...

We all need to do our part on the climate crisis. I have refused to vote for anyone who refuses to address the drivers of carbon which are China and India. Those who are serious about climate issues should take my pledge to never vote for a Democrat again.

Whiskeybum म्हणाले...

"Yes, here in Florida we have plenty of tourists. Mostly, they bring terrible driving skills, which result in the opposite of peace and stability."

...says the guy driving 50 mph in the passing lane with his left turn signal on! ;)

Amexpat म्हणाले...

Steves has a giant, well-run, and generally honorable business.

I did some work for him about 20 years ago, leading his Scandinavia tours for 3 years and I can vouch for the honorable business part. The pay I got was top of the trade at the time and all tips were included for the guests. They also had good relations with all the vendors they used.

The $30 donation is of course window dressing, albeit very market savvy window dressing (on par with what Ben and Jerry did with their donations). I think he could survive quite well if he dropped doing tours tomorrow, but he has a large organization made up of many people who have been working for him for decades. It's a fairly tight knit group and I think it would be painful to let them all go.

I guess you could claim that tourism promotes peace and understanding. But not so much for people to people cultural encounters. More so for commerce. War is bad for tourism which in turn hurts the economy.

h म्हणाले...

30,000 official attendees at the Glasgow Conference to discuss the best ways to fight climate change. 30,000.

Bilwick म्हणाले...

I laugh my ass off at demented idiots like Robert Cook who still think the State is their best buddy.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

'People who live in cities that attract a lot of tourists stay away from the parts of town where tourists congregate.'

We stayed at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan when visiting our son (points). He told us to never stay in Midtown. He was right, but the bagels nearby were amazing...

'His schtick is that you shouldn't just herd to the usual tourist stuff but should try to engage with the local culture...'

I've mentioned this before. If everyone has Steves' book (they do), then everyone is going to the same 'hidden gems' and 'out of the way' places. He's turned those places into 'the usual tourist stuff.'

ndspinelli म्हणाले...

Travelling abroad and throughout the US are not mutually exclusive, Althouse.

ALP म्हणाले...

Late to the Rick Steves' bashing....

He's been doing this travel thing for decades. According to Wikipedia, he started doing 'travel classes' in the 1980's! I'm curious to know if this was mentioned or what he's doing to atone for decades of past damage to the environment. Wonder what $30 a flight for the PAST flights would add up to?

Jaq म्हणाले...

"I believe that women have a right not to be raped, but I support Bill Clinton... because reasons."

"I think that Trump was in the pay of the Russians, and that was awful, but it's perfectly OK that Biden does huge favor after favor for Putin, on a vast scale, just like Hillary did... because reasons."

"I think it's crazy to believe that, even with trillions of dollars at stake, anybody would even think of cheating on an election, and so it was not only ridiculous to imagine that there needed to be the poll watchers there that Facebook and Twitter assured us were going to be there, or signatures verified, like Facebook and Twitter assured us, when they banned any content that questioned the fairness of the election, but so any audit of an election is sure to show nothing, and therefore should not be done... because reasons."

We could go on like this all day about stuff the Democrats pretend to care about in order to make themselves feel good for a minute.

Jaq म्हणाले...

"Are you not aware the rest of the world were also laughing their asses off at the demented idiot who occupied the White House prior to the current one?"

At least he didn't shit himself in front of the Pope. Imagine had Trump done that. Books would have bee written about it. The feed live feed would not have been instantly cut off, like they did for Biden. It wouldn't just be the Europeans talking about it, but it would be on every cable news show non stop.

Jaq म्हणाले...

If you really believed that CO2 was causing a catastrophe, would you bring millions of third world climate saints, living low carbon lives, to the United States to live our high carbon lifestyle?

Of course not, "climate change" is way down the list of things that the Democrats take seriously. It's just a great excuse for graft, which is why Nancy Pelosi's son is a 'green energy executive' in Ukraine, whose main qualification is that he is the son of a woman with tremendous power as to where green energy money is shoveled to in vast quantities.

Same as the company that gave Hillary Clinton's campaign manager 75K shares, that subsidiary of Gazprom that became worthless within days of Hillary losing the election, since the whole value proposition was having an in in the prospective Clinton Administration.

It's all bullshit.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

Whiskeybum said...
"...driving 50 mph in the passing lane with his left turn signal on..."

That's the official state car of Arizona. White Cadillacs and Buicks are the allowed makes.

Mikey NTH म्हणाले...

People want to travel.

Okay.

That's their choice.

End of discussion, because why should you get to tell them what they msy or may not do?

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

I say: What bullshit! He's got to know it's bullshit. It's not just nothing heroic, it's virtually nothing. He's got a business he wants to keep going, and he doesn't want to be "flight-shamed." Well, too bad. No one wants to give anything up. If you actually believe "Climate change is a serious problem and tourism contributes a lot to it" and you continue to do it and to actively facilitate others doing it, you should be ashamed! The NYT has this huge article about Steves, and the NYT profits from travel industry ads. It's absolutely ludicrous to purport to be taking climate change seriously.

Correct.

What "Climate change" is about is that there's too many of us proles cluttering up the places teh rich wish to go too. So they want a forced jackign up of the prices, so "their sort" can continue doing it, but the rest of us can't.

Fuck them.

It's an actual crises when all the rich and / or politically connected feel personally bound not to do the thing.

It will be an actual "climate crisis" when politicians stop flying to meetings, and no celebrities own / fly in private planes.

Maks mandates will be for the public good when no Democrat politician is ever caught violating them, and if one is caught, he / she / they is immediately run out of office, even if they means the person is replaced by a Republican.

Until the people saying it's a crisis are personally losing things significant to them in order to fight the crisis, it's not a crisis.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

Robert Cook said...
”Right now the rest of the world is laughing their asses off at the demented idiot illegitimately occupying the white house. “

Are you not aware the rest of the world were also laughing their asses off at the demented idiot who occupied the White House prior to the current one?


No, Cookie, we're not "aware" of that, because it didn't happen.

The rest of the world feared Trump. Much of the rest of teh world hated Trump.

Because he was a threat to their cosy bullshit.

Biden? no one fears Biden, unless they're allied to America and need help, in which case the rightly fear Biden will fuck them over and leave them hanging out to dry.

See, Afghanistan.

But no one opposed to the best interests of American citizens fears Biden. Whereas a lot of them feared Trump.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

Ambrose said...
He's just saying stuff so people will leave him alone. Not courageous but not irrational.

Letting him get away with it would be both irrational and "not courageous".

Fuck him. Fuck every single "progressive" who wants to travel, but also wants to pretend "Climate crisis" is real.

It's a real "climate crisis"? Then stay the fuck at home. Treat it like a real crisis.

You're not willing to do that? You're not willing to significantly negatively harm your life to protect from this "crisis"? Then it's not actually a crisis, and you need to STFU, and stop pushing policies that significantly negatively harm other people's lives (see: frackers. People who worked on the Keystone II pipeline. etc.)