Summary of Simon Elmer: The Politics of Environmental Fundamentalism | Tom Nelson Pod #116

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00:00:00 - 01:00:00

In this video, Simon Elmer discusses the rise of environmental fundamentalism, which he describes as a new strategy of Western imperialism that is being implemented through the global biosecurity state, a nexus of unelected technocracies, treaties, agendas, regulations, programs, technologies, and ideologies that justify responding to multiple manufactured crises, including the environmental crisis. Elmer argues that the economics of fear is driving the implementation of the global biosecurity state, and its replacement with equally fundamentalist environmental measures. He also explores the issues of renewable energy, sustainable development goals, and the carbon cost of buildings, and argues that the discourse of environmental fundamentalism is used to silence criticism and flatten any kind of nuanced scientific inquiry. Finally, Elmer warns against arguments that start with the terror of a crisis and use it to justify coercive action, claiming that they are meant to circumvent critical thinking.

00:00:00 In this section, Dr. Simon Elmer discusses how the term "environmental fundamentalism" describes a new strategy of Western imperialism, in which the mechanisms of fundamentalism are used to identify sacred texts and impose a single interpretation of those texts. He argues that this strategy is being implemented through the global biosecurity state, a nexus of unelected technocracies, treaties, agendas, regulations, programs, technologies, and ideologies that justify responding to multiple manufactured crises, including the environmental crisis. Elmer believes that the economics of fear is driving the implementation of the global biosecurity state and its replacement with equally fundamentalist environmental measures.
00:05:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses the politics of environmental fundamentalism and how it operates outside of any democratic representation or accountability. He talks about how the commitments made in the Paris agreement of 2015 have categorized anyone who presents evidence contrary to the scientific consensus as a climate change denier. Elmer also highlights how public funding for climate adaptation and clean energy technologies go to private companies that meet the environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria formulated and imposed by immensely wealthy international corporate asset managers like BlackRock, the Vanguard Group, and State Street Global Advisor.
00:10:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses how the sustainable development goals have led to the creation of a financial framework that favors wealthy Western economies and corporations over poorer ones, thereby perpetuating inequality. The carbon credit market, one of the market-based mechanisms built into the Kyoto Protocol, allows wealthier countries and companies to buy and sell carbon credits from poorer ones, increasing inequality. Sustainable development goals and environmental and social governance criteria are premised on monetizing nature, which has been estimated to be worth four quadrillion dollars. Monetizing nature has led to the rise of a new type of corporation called a natural asset company, which has legal rights and financial authority over the management of ecosystems. However, sustainable development goals, like those implemented to combat the coronavirus crisis, are instruments of stakeholder capitalism, empowering international companies at the expense of the populations they claim to serve.
00:15:00 In this section, the speaker discusses how the push for Net Zero and the transfer of billions of pounds to international corporations without oversight has been achieved through a vast international campaign of propaganda. Environmental fundamentalist groups like Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, and Just Stop Oil have received funding from the Climate Emergency Fund, established in 2019 and backed by billionaires including the Getty family, as well as Prince Charles. The speaker argues that the absolutist rhetoric of these groups, similar to that of religious fundamentalists, shows their willingness to impoverish the rest of the world to realize their beliefs. The speaker also draws a parallel between the fanciful solutions proposed to combat environmental disaster and those proposed for combating the pandemic.
00:20:00 In this section, the speaker addresses the issue of renewable energy and the challenges it poses on the global energy supply. Fossil fuels, such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal, still make up over 80% of the world's energy supply, while renewable sources, like wind and solar power, only provide less than 2%. Transforming the energy supply from hydrocarbon-based to renewables would require massive investments and construction programs, which may not be realistic due to the physical and economic realities of energy production and storage. Additionally, increasing energy efficiency does not decrease demand for energy but rather increases it, as demonstrated by the history of road building.
00:25:00 In this section, the speaker highlights that the promotion of sustainable energy sources as a commodity suppresses the fact that producing millions of electric vehicles, erecting thousands of wind turbines, or demolishing several social and public housing homes to make way for passive housing causes far more damage to the environment and the people around it and seems more lucrative to the companies and governments involved. The enforcement of these policies will raise questions about for what end these restrictions are being implemented and whose benefit they serve. The speaker points out the physical and economic restrictions related to renewable sources like batteries that require mining gigatons of precious metals and result in high economic costs when compared to traditional fuel sources.
00:30:00 In this section, Simon Elmer argues that the carbon cost of the entire life cycle of a building, from extraction to demolition and disposal, must be considered instead of just looking at the operational carbon performance of new buildings as it's impossible for new developments to recoup the total carbon cost of demolition, disposal, and redevelopment of the old buildings within their predicted lifespan. Elmer explains that sustainable energy and its resources constitute a newly emergent market requiring new relations of production, ownership, distribution, and consumption, enforced by an authoritarian reduction in standards of living, rights, and freedoms. Furthermore, Elmer illustrates that the environmental fundamentalists' naivety about the material consequences of their beliefs can lead to Net Zero policies that condemn millions in the global South to starvation and billions to increased poverty and hunger.
00:35:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the rise of environmental fundamentalism and its effect on critical thinking and civil liberties. The House of Lords environment and climate change committee's report called "In Our Hands", which promotes agenda 2030, aims to change the behavior of the British public, including their consumption of food, heating of homes, use of transport, and leisure activities. The speaker asserts that this fundamentalist ideology seeks to dismantle democracy and human rights, leaving people defenseless against the authority of the state and unelected transnational technologies. Furthermore, the speaker highlights a report commissioned by the UK government called "Absolute Zero," which outlines the economic wreckage, ruined businesses, and destroyed lives that will result from the environmental fundamentalist agenda. The report proposes banning flying, shipping, and reducing manufacturing and road use while eliminating fossil fuels by 2050.
00:40:00 In this section, Simon Elmer argues that the discourse of environmental fundamentalism is sometimes used to silence criticism of net zero plans, such as in the case of a sudden downpour in southeastern England being cited as proof of environmental catastrophe. Elmer posits that flooding is caused by various factors relating to land use, such as building on floodplains containing rivers and canals, overdeveloping land, laying tarmac and concrete over soil that prevents drainage, and industrial monoculture farming practices, among others. He urges that what needs changing is how planning authorities financed by developers and investors use land. While Elmer acknowledges the need for practical measures for beneficial change that do not disenfranchise the population or benefit corporate forms of government, he believes that this change is not achieved by lying in the road, but through hard and unrewarded work with local communities.
00:45:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses the issue of environmental fundamentalism and how it is critical to maintain a scientific inquiry, not just blindly accept statements from authority figures. He notes that people wearing white coats like doctors and scientists claiming to be arbiters of truth does not mean they do not make mistakes or are not susceptible to political agendas. Elmer uses the example of doctors for extinction rebellion who broke into the office of JP Morgan Chase to showcase their commitment to preventing climate change, even as they have ignored their duty to first do no harm by imposing lockdown restrictions that have killed many in the UK. Elmer highlights that Extinction Rebellion's partners are part of the world economic forum overseeing stakeholder capitalism, which demonstrates the political economy of the New World Order, indicating that we are moving into a society controlled by isolated individuals who willingly participate in political spectacle.
00:50:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses the chain of deductions created by environmental fundamentalism and how it parallels that of the global biosecurity state. He argues that the first premise of global warming is being used to form a chain of deductions leading to totalitarian domination. Examples of this can be seen in the Netherlands, where farmers are being forced to kill livestock to meet government emissions targets, and in Ireland where the government plans to kill thousands of cows. Elmer also notes that the ideologues and architects of the global biosecurity state were present at this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
00:55:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses how the response to manufactured environmental crises can lead to the formation of a technocratic authoritarian world government. He argues that such a government is a form of corporatism, which is a rebranded fascism for the 21st century. He cites examples of corporate leaders, government officials, and environmental activists who have proposed various solutions, including turning off supply to smart devices, transitioning to a sustainable electric grid, and convincing people to stop eating meat. Elmer believes that all of these solutions are part of a totalitarian domination that aims to monetize and convert the natural world into financial capital bonds. He warns against arguments that start with the terror of a crisis and use it to justify coercive action, claiming that they are meant to circumvent critical thinking.

01:00:00 - 01:20:00

Simon Elmer discusses the politics of environmental fundamentalism, arguing that these groups not only silence critical questions but serve as a corporate-funded advertisement for Agenda 2030 and the international technocracies composing the new world government. He emphasizes the importance of upholding the public's rights and the legality of protesting in the UK, arguing that the police are not upholding UK law and are instead enforcing the dictates of unelected globalists who want to take away the Constitutional freedoms of the UK public. Additionally, Elmer discusses the tactics of environmental fundamentalism and how they use emotional responses to promote their message and accuses US global oligarchs of wanting to financialize the natural world for their own benefit, while impoverishing the populations of the West and dismantling what's left of our democracies. He concludes by emphasizing that the politics of environmental fundamentalism are here to stay.

01:00:00 In this section, Simon Elmer discusses how protest groups promoting environmental fundamentalism not only silence critical questions but also serve as a corporate-funded advertisement for Agenda 2030 and the international technocracies composing this new world government. Elmer argues that these activists have unimpeded access to highly secure areas in the UK and can shut down major roads with impunity, under the invitation of the London mayor and with the protection of the Metropolitan Police Service. This is in contrast to the treatment of UK citizens who protested against illegal lockdowns, mandates, and passports, who were violently assaulted and censored by the media and government. Elmer argues that the police should uphold the public's rights instead of interfering with them, and that citizens have just as much right as the police to see the law observed.
01:05:00 n this section, Simon Elmer discusses the legality of protesting in the UK and how it has been affected by new laws and regulations. Elmer argues that the right to protest is under threat by new acts that have been passed, but that there are still grounds for a UK citizen to carry out an arrest if they have reasonable grounds for believing it is necessary to prevent a person from causing physical injury to themselves or others. He goes on to state that real protest is when a substantial body of people assert their right to occupy a public space and bring attention to their cause, but that tiny groups of people repeatedly blocking roads impinges on the rights of the greater number of road users to move about the city freely. Elmer also argues that the police are not upholding UK law and are instead enforcing the dictates of unelected globalists who want to take away the Constitutional freedoms of the UK public.
01:10:00 In this section, the speaker discusses how the politicized police force and the media coverage of their actions have left the public feeling powerless and disenfranchised. This has resulted in confusion over the motivations behind the lawlessness and growing anger towards the establishment. The speaker also touches upon the class war being waged between the corporate elite and the working-class households and communities at whom regulations and programs are targeted. Additionally, the presentation highlights the divide between the middle class and environmental activists who derive their political, economic, and legal power from the international elite and whose class allegiance and financial support come from the same place. Furthermore, the presentation examines how the fine-based restrictions of the London mayor's ultra-low emission zone disproportionately restrict the working class's freedoms over those who can afford it. Finally, the speaker suggests that the activists interfering with our constitutional rights are being protected by both the police and the government and that they are promoting the interests of corporate power.
01:15:00 In this section, the speaker discusses the tactics of environmental fundamentalism and how they use emotional responses rather than critical thinking to promote their message. The speaker argues that many of these movements, including Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, are actually backed by globalist corporate interests and are not grassroots movements as they claim to be. The speaker also discusses the religious-like fervor with which these movements approach their cause and reject any disagreements or criticisms as denial. Furthermore, the speaker argues that these movements are not actually a threat to Western governments or their hegemony, but are in fact a part of it.
01:20:00 In this section, Simon Elmer accuses US global oligarchs of wanting to financialize the natural world for their own benefit, while impoverishing the populations of the West and dismantling what's left of our democracies. He argues that environmental fundamentalists are willing to go to genocidal lengths to inflict the consequences of their religious dogma on the rest of the world. Elmer critiques the ridiculous and pathetic protests which have been offered to us in return for losing our human rights, civil liberties and political agency. He concludes by emphasizing that the politics of environmental fundamentalism are here to stay.