Self-identified ‘conservatives’ at a rally in Miami last Saturday attempted to drum up support for ‘conservative’ climate activism. Despite fawning coverage from the liberal mainstream media, barely anybody other than the speakers and the media cared enough to show up.
Typical of the media’s coverage was a story on NBC Miami’s “Impact” program the day after the rally. It was a one-on-one interview of Benji Backer, who organized the rally for the deceptively named American Conservation Coalition (ACC). The story included no footage of the rally, but instead showed plenty of ‘B’ footage of ‘climate disasters’ (wildfires, hurricanes, and dry, cracked soil).
The rally was held at an outdoor amphitheater in Biscayne Park in downtown Miami. The area was fenced off and you had to have registered ahead of time to get in. There was police security as well as private security who were quick to intercede if anyone started shouting at the speakers.
Soon after I arrived, a security officer saw a person holding “There is NO Climate Crisis!” signs and tried to take them away. The sign-holder assured him that he was not going to disrupt the rally and a blogger began filming the exchange. The blogger began demanding that the security officer respect the sign-holder’s First Amendment Rights, so the security officer backed down. By contrast, the rally supplied their own rather lame signs for people to wave (see below).
Attendees and the media were confined to one area, with barriers between them and the stage/VIP area some 50 feet away. The rally audience consisted of only about 50-to-60 attendees, who appeared to be outnumbered by the rally organizers, their guests, and the liberal media.
Only about a third of the audience was under 35 years old. This is in contrast with the organizing ACC group, who are mostly in their 20s.
The rally consisted of a series of local politicians giving speeches to the distant crowd trying to reassure them of their environmental bona fides. A lot of the talks centered around environmental issues such as Everglades restoration, agricultural run off, water quality, and wildlife. Climate change was mentioned only sporadically during the various talks. The assumptions were that climate change posed some threat and that carbon dioxide was the culprit, but the speakers assured the attendees that market solutions were better than government regulation – i.e., the threat could be handled without destroying the economy. The only applause lines that stirred the crowd were those that mentioned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The overall feel of the event was that it was staged for the cameras and news media, not for the attendees, who were expected to sit passively and be lectured at. It was not meant to spur up grassroots support for action. And it was not about science nor debate. They are planning to have another so-called ‘conservative’ climate conference in Miami next year. Again, count on it being a political effort aimed at pushing Republicans to embrace climate alarmism.
In other news, the Conservative rally to prevent an immanent attack of Leprechauns was also sparsely attended.