You've heard of COVID lockdowns, but are you ready for “climate lockdowns”?
Conservative thinkers are raising the alarm about the possibility COVID lockdowns could morph into “climate lockdowns”. Some speculate the government, using the pandemic as a blueprint, could limit private-vehicle use, ban consumption of red meat, and impose extreme energy-saving measures.
“The concept of a climate lockdown doesn’t require legislation out of Congress. The idea is that this would all be done through the Environmental Protection Agency,” Chuck DeVore, with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said. “People have theorized [it] could be done through regulation, not legislation.”
DeVore says the Biden administration has one tool they're not afraid to use: taxation. He says the middle and working classes would get hit the hardest.
“Those who work in more traditional businesses, let’s say long haul truckers or people who work with their hands, they’re going to be seeing a lot of increased costs. The cost of transportation is going to go way up,” DeVore explained.
He says having an open, vibrant, and productive economy is the best solution to concerns environmental activists have about carbon emissions.