Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()
Subscribe: Android | RSS | More
Dozens of elitist snobs have descended upon a lavish Italian resort to talk about their favorite pseudo-scientific subject, climate change. The event, dubbed “Google Camp,” is being hosted by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and many of the world’s “finest” people have been invited.
Among the rumored guests are former president Barack Obama, Great Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Also expected to be on hand are such world-renowned climate experts as Bradley Cooper, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, Tom Cruise, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The seventh annual Google Camp is being held at the luxurious Verdura Resort in Sicily, where individual rooms start at over $900 per night. The resort features three golf courses (don’t they use up a lot of water, especially on a dry Mediterranean island?), a 60 meter infinity pool, four thalassotherapy pools, and multiple steam baths. Brin and Page are expected to shell out over $20 million for the three-day event.
The elites sure like their energy and water-wasting comforts, don’t they?
Billed as a “meeting of the minds” on many subjects, including online privacy, politics, and human rights, the main focus of the retreat is expected to be the so-called existential threat known as man-made climate change. A source for the New York Post claims, “Everything is about global warming. That is the major topic this year.”
And just so you don’t think that all those poor global elites did was fret about global warming the whole time, there were private shows featuring Elton John and Sting to help them relax in the evening. Coldplay’s Chris Martin also performed for the gathered, among the Sicilian ruins.
The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry) himself was reported to have given an impassioned speech, while barefoot, about the moral imperative of fighting climate change to the billionaires and opinion-shapers at the event. At least Prince Harry caught some flak about his climate hypocrisy when British television host Piers Morgan tweeted, “Is this the same Harry who uses helicopters to go from London to Birmingham and whose wife uses celebrity mates’ private jets to cross the Atlantic?”
Morgan brings up a good point. Just how do dozens of “concerned” celebrities, entrepreneurs, politicians, and royalty arrive at an event to discuss how to rid the world of fossil fuels? Do they employ a large fleet of six-masted schooners, using only wind power for propulsion?
No, most of these “concerned” celebrities came in on carbon-spewing private jets. At least 114 of those dastardly transportation devices were expected to fly to the airport at nearby Palermo. In addition to the planes, several mega-yachts belonging to people such as designer Dianne Von-Furstenburg, German pharmaceutical magnate Udo J. Vetter, New Zealand tycoon Graeme Hart, and American showbiz mogul David Geffen.
There are varying opinions on just how much carbon dioxide the average person produces per year, but a common middle-of-the-road number is approximately 15,000kg (33,000lbs) per year. The average round trip on most private jets produces over 4,000kg (8,800lbs) per trip — more than a quarter of what the average human produces in a year.
Yachts such as the ones owned by Von-Furstenburg, Vetter, Hart, and Geffen can use up to 530 gallons of fuel per hour when on the move. The average American auto uses approximately 500 gallons of gasoline per year.
So, the same people who want to take all of our fossil fuels away use those same fuels at rates unimaginable to most of us.
We can probably expect a major push of some kind regarding climate change in the next few months. Events such as these are often a precursor to wild propaganda storms.
Pointing out the hypocrisy of these so-called elites is like shooting fish in a barrel. But it has to be done. Like it or not, stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry are people of influence — especially to younger people. When youngsters come home, all charged up about how we have to save the planet because Katy Perry told them so, it must be quickly pointed out that these celebrities don’t actually care about the planet.
Their actions speak much louder than their words.
Photo: AP Images
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects with a primary focus on the ongoing climate change hoax and cultural issues. He can be reached at [email protected].
