What is war in the face of the dying planet. How ecology becomes “religion”

The great hunt for environmental deniers and heretics continues. Even the real war in Ukraine cannot stop it.

Paweł Lisicki

How does political correctness look like in practice? What is allowed to be talked about and what constitutes truth that is beyond questioning? This is not completely clear here, of course, because as time passes, the criteria of what is allowed and what is forbidden change, but for several years, one of such inviolable dogmas in the West has been the issue of allegedly man-caused climate warming. Today, it is even more forbidden, so to speak, to challenge that opinion than ever before. Recently, the director of one of the world’s largest banks faced the consequences.

The matter has gone so far that in 2019, Pope Francis announced that a new concept of “ecological sin” would appear in the Catechism of the Church. The new sinners would be those who pollute the environment (alone or collectively) and sever the solidarity between creatures. This monster has not yet appeared in the text of the catechism, but the works are reportedly advanced. The Pope is also a supporter of changes in international criminal law, something which perhaps few in Poland know about, so that it will be possible to prosecute “ecocide”, that is, activities unfavorable to nature. These peculiar ideas, perfectly suited to the mentality of radical ecologists, were accompanied by a no less insane, ominous prophecy: “If we do not come to our senses, we will prepare ourselves a hell on Earth”.

This was still the case in 2019. And, as strange as it may sound, even the war in Ukraine did not change anything in this respect. Green madness bloomed, and it continues to bloom today. Just recently, just a dozen or so days ago, one of the heads of HSBC experienced this on his own skin, daring to proclaim green heresies in public. As Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, which is invaluable in their input and always faithful to progress, wrote: “The director of HSBC bank was suspended because he depreciated the impact of climate change”. It’s just beautiful, isn’t it?

The thought crime took place during a conference organized by the Financial Times. There, the director delivered a speech on “Why investors don’t have to worry about climate risk”. For his words at this presentation, Stuart Kirk, head of HSBC’s investment department, was immediately suspended. “Gazeta Wyborcza” and the “Financial Times”, which first described the incident seem to approve of the punishment!

Here’s the thought crime in detail: The director accused central bankers of overestimating the financial risks of climate change. And he added, “Unreasonable, bitter, biased, calculated, apocalyptic warnings are ALWAYS wrong”. Well, Kirk wrote these words on the slide accompanying his presentation. In this way, he criticized the comments of the UN and Bank of England officials who regularly and more hysterically alarm that the Earth is dying in connection with global warming – the journalists reported in outrage.

The suspension of the director was not the end. As in a typical inquisitory trial, it was necessary to identify the accomplices of the thought crime. This was done by the world’s financiers’ journal, FT, obediently reporting that, “the subject and contents of the speech were to be agreed in the team. The material was allegedly agreed two months in advance and published on the website on the eve of the event”. Well, it’s just incomprehensible. How many climatic heretics had to mess with their dirty and carbon dioxide-contaminated hands in this vile operation? More heads will be cut off. But it doesn’t stop there. As it turns out, the brave “FT” also found out that: “HSBC misled customers in two commercials by selectively promoting its green initiatives, omitting information about financing companies with significant greenhouse gas emissions”. Ouch, I wonder what else this journalistic investigation will discover. How many more ecological bodies will they find in the closets of various corporations?

I do not intend to dwell on the matter any longer. What I wrote is enough to show the picture. First, a group of madmen, with the support of the media, announce that the world is on the brink of catastrophe. If we do nothing, they say, the Earth will cease to exist in 20 years. All hope is in the young who will save us. Everyone together for the green order! – the slogan resonates. At any moment, due to man-made climate change – a key point of the dogma – hell will sweep the Earth. Satan is now descending as CO₂, and his name is coal. Whoever questions this becomes a heretic, an instrument and servant of evil powers. Anyone who does not see the connection between human activity and the upcoming historical apocalypse is a suspect and is placed on the list of enemies of humanity. Fortunately, the young generation sees this, and good journalists help identify the black sheep.

The great hunt for environmental deniers and heretics continues. Even the real war in Ukraine cannot stop it. What is some war in the face of the threat of the end of the cosmos?

This article was published in June 2022 in “Do Rzeczy” magazine.