The ineffectual blundering of intellectual posers is center stage for all to see since Obamania swept the country. I speak mostly about agriculture and environmentalism but it's just as obvious in economics and climate politics. Some may argue that it is also clear in diplomacy, foreign relations etc. etc., but that's not my beat.

I think that this sums it up well: All That Matters are Targets

I doubt that Yvo de Boer, head of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, read my essay on magical solutions. But if so, he was kind enough to provide a great example of the dynamics that I describe in the piece when last week he discussed the details of Australian climate policies. Mr.de Boer explained that the details of Australian climate policies do not really matter, it is the commitment to a target that matters . . .

An Australian academic explained that the Australian policies being debated domestically won't succeed without, you guessed it, magic.

The government has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 25 per cent from 2000 levels by the year 2020, while also committing to a global deal to hold atmospheric warming to within two degrees Celsius by 2050.

However, Australian National University scientist Andrew Macintosh, who spent months modelling 45 different climate change scenarios, said the two targets were not compatible.

Even if a 20 per cent cut was achieved by 2020, emissions would have to fall by an additional five per cent per year in order to reach the next target, he said.

"That's just extremely unrealistic (unless) we find some magic technology," he said.

It is a good thing that the only thing that matters is the setting of targets, because if meeting them actually mattered, then people might realize that climate policy is a complete mess.

It is the same in economics - call it a stimulus even if all it does is reward cronies rather than actually stimulate the economy. And in agriculture just call it sustainable even if the net effect is envrionmental degradation as well as increased food insecurity.

This is an old theme here and is neatly encapsulated in this old Dan Daggett quote.

"The Leave-It-Alone assumption has brought us to the absurdity that the actual condition of a piece of land is irrelevant to determining if it is healthy or not."

That old post examined the absurdity of environmentalism, which utterly ignores the environment and its health in favor of a set of dogmas which claim to be pro-environment, though in practice they are anti-environment. All That Matters are Targets.

I may be mistaken but it is my understanding that there are a good number of people who have sincere concern for these issues and who would be appalled to realize that they have been supporting opportunists and zealots who neither understand the issues or have honorable intentions. The problem is that the gatekeepers of information in government, media, and education are dark siders. They are the opportunists and zealots who exploit the sincere concerns of society. I've long hoped that improvements in ICT would break their strangle hold on information, but it has been a long time coming and has not obviously done any good yet. By some measures we have regressed even further. I'll make no predictions.