(Excerpts) Greta Thunberg’s Remarks at the Davos Economic Forum

One year ago I came to Davos and told you that our house is on fire. I said I wanted you to panic. I’ve been warned that telling people to panic about the climate crisis is a very dangerous thing to do. But don’t worry. It’s fine. Trust me, I’ve done this before and I can assure you it doesn’t lead to anything.

[OCS: Panic, the tool of the political manipulators, is meant to create an emotional response that allows you to suspend critical judgement of what you are being told. Panic can blind you to the facts. Instead you are offer pseudo-facts which may be little more than a hypothesis based on incomplete or faulty assumptions and which, when viewed in the light of day, cannot withstand scrutiny.]

And, for the record, when we children tell you to panic we’re not telling you to go on like before. We’re not telling you to rely on technologies that don’t even exist today at scale and that science says perhaps never will.

We are not telling you to keep talking about reaching “net zero emissions” or “carbon neutrality” by cheating and fiddling around with numbers. We are not telling you to “offset your emissions” by just paying someone else to plant trees in places like Africa while at the same time forests like the Amazon are being slaughtered at an infinitely higher rate.

Planting trees is good, of course, but it’s nowhere near enough of what is needed and it cannot replace real mitigation and rewilding nature.

Let’s be clear. We don’t need a “low carbon economy.” We don’t need to “lower emissions.” Our emissions have to stop if we are to have a chance to stay below the 1.5-degree target. And, until we have the technologies that at scale can put our emissions to minus, then we must forget about net zero. We need real zero.

[OCS: The truth is that there is not one scientist who can identify and measure man’s contribution to climate change amid the noise of natural climate variability. Especially in the short term. There is not one computation that can tell you the Earth’s optimum temperature. All of the numbers are based on assumptions and computations, which may not necessarily correlate with reality. Ask yourself why climate modelers continue to use deeply-flawed terrestrial datasets and ignore satellite data which covers the globe and has not been manipulated to produce man-made hockey sticks?]

In the days running up to the 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum, I joined a group of climate activists demanding that you, the world’s most powerful and influential business and political leaders, begin to take the action needed.

We demand at this year’s World Economic Forum, participants from all companies, banks, institutions and governments:

Immediately halt all investments in fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

Immediately end all fossil fuel subsidies.

And immediately and completely divest from fossil fuels.

We don’t want these things done by 2050, 2030 or even 2021. We want this done now.

[OCS: Yes, by all means, let's destroy the economy of the United States in favor of gross polluters like Russia, China, and India who will not adhere to any limits on their own economies. Yes, by all means, tell those emerging nations that they cannot exploit their natural assets to grow their economies while the rest of the developed nations benefits from their prior actions. Yes, by all means, stamp your feet and shout: fossil fuels: BAD; plastics: BAD; petrochemicals: BAD  – and one of the critical building blocks of life: BAD.  Forget that wind and solar are unreliable, unsustainable, and not cost effective. Don’t mention nuclear energy because that was made politically incorrect by the Soviet peaceniks of the 60s.]

Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if you loved your children above all else.   <Source>

(Excerpts) Remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum

It’s an honor to address the distinguished members of this organization for the second time as President.  When I spoke at this forum two years ago, I told you that we had launched the great American comeback.  Today, I’m proud to declare that the United States is in the midst of an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen before.

We’ve regained our stride, we discovered our spirit and reawakened the powerful machinery of American enterprise.  America is thriving, America is flourishing, and yes, America is winning again like never before.

The time for skepticism is over.  People are flowing back into our country.  Companies are coming back into our country.  Many of you, who I know, are coming back in with your plants and your factories.  Thank you very much.  America’s newfound prosperity is undeniable, unprecedented, and unmatched anywhere in the world.

America achieved this stunning turnaround not by making minor changes to a handful of policies, but by adopting a whole new approach centered entirely on the wellbeing of the American worker.

Every decision we make — on taxes, trade, regulation, energy, immigration, education, and more — is focused on improving the lives of everyday Americans.  We are determined to create the highest standard of living that anyone can imagine, and right now, that’s what we’re doing for our workers.  The highest in the world.  And we’re determined to ensure that the working and middle class reap the largest gains.

A nation’s highest duty is to its own citizens.  Honoring this truth is the only way to build faith and confidence in the market system.  Only when governments put their own citizens first will people be fully invested in their national futures. In the United States, we are building an economy that works for everyone, restoring the bonds of love and loyalty that unite citizens and powers nations.

Today, I hold up the American model as an example to the world of a working system of free enterprise that will produce the most benefits for the most people in the 21st century and beyond.

A pro-worker, pro-citizen, pro-family agenda demonstrates how a nation can thrive when its communities, its companies, its government, and its people work together for the good of the whole nation.

We’re removing roadblocks to success and rewarding businesses that invest in workers, families, and communities.

To protect our security and our economy, we are also boldly embracing American energy independence.  The United States is now, by far, the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, by far.  It’s not even close.

While many European countries struggle with crippling energy costs, the American energy revolution is saving American families $2,500 every year in lowering electric bills and numbers that people said couldn’t happen, and also, very importantly, prices at the pump.

We’ve been so successful that the United States no longer needs to import energy from hostile nations.  With an abundance of American natural gas now available, our European allies no longer have to be vulnerable to unfriendly energy suppliers either.  We urge our friends in Europe to use America’s vast supply and achieve true energy security.

With U.S. companies and researchers leading the way, we are on the threshold of virtually unlimited reserves of energy, including from traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, next-generation nuclear power, and gas hydrate technologies.

This is not a time for pessimism; this is a time for optimism.  Fear and doubt is not a good thought process because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action.

But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow, we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse.  They are the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune-tellers — and I have them and you have them, and we all have them, and they want to see us do badly, but we don’t let that happen.  They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s, mass starvation in the ’70s, and an end of oil in the 1990s.  These alarmists always demand the same thing: absolute power to dominate, transform, and control every aspect of our lives.

We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty.  America will always be the proud, strong, and unyielding bastion of freedom.

In America, we understand what the pessimists refuse to see: that a growing and vibrant market economy focused on the future lifts the human spirit and excites creativity strong enough to overcome any challenge — any challenge by far.

The great scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century — from penicillin, to high-yield wheat, to modern transportation, and breakthrough vaccines — have lifted living standards and saved billions of lives around the world.  And we’re continuing to work on things that you’ll be hearing about in the near future that, even today, sitting here right now, you wouldn’t believe it’s possible that we have found the answers.  You’ll be hearing about it.  But we have found answers to things that people said would not be possible — certainly not in a very short period of time.

But the wonders of the last century will pale in comparison to what today’s young innovators will achieve because they are doing things that nobody thought even feasible to begin.  We continue to embrace technology, not to shun it.  When people are free to innovate, millions will live longer, happier, healthier lives.

For three years now, America has shown the world that the path to a prosperous future begins with putting workers first, choosing growth, and freeing entrepreneurs to bring their dreams to life.

Thank you very much.  God bless you.  God bless your countries.  And God bless America.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  <Source>