W.Why are politicians hyping up climate change when scientists have the solution? Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a major offender on this issue.

Sanders recently denounced fossil fuel companies in the Senate. At issue was a side deal negotiated by Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) to build a pipeline in his state in exchange for supporting the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. Sanders didn’t have it at all.

Sanders tweetedalong with a video of his floor speech, said, “I am again asking my colleagues in the Senate to look at what is happening around the world and find the courage to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.” is, in the view of Sanders and other Green New Dealers, the end of the fossil fuel industry.

But despite the progressive left’s condemnation of oil, gas, and coal, scientists are developing ways to recycle carbon dioxide emissions into useful products. A company called NET has developed a natural gas power plant that captures and stores carbon dioxide, but the private sector is working on ways to make everything from the captured gas to liquid fuels to food. Even Elon Musk wants to use carbon dioxide to make rocket fuel for his space program.

Now, according to Phys.org, a group of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago has developed a method to convert carbon dioxide into a substance called ethylene. By simply adding water and electricity, 6 tons of carbon dioxide are converted to 1 ton of ethylene. Manufacturers use ethylene to make a variety of plastic products, antifreeze, vinyl siding, and sterilants for medical devices.

Electricity can come from any source, including solar arrays. Power can also come from the same power plant that captures carbon dioxide if a conversion operation is next door.

Ethylene is now produced by a process called cracking. This process produces 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of ethylene produced. The University of Illinois at Chicago process is not only carbon neutral, but also carbon negative.

Why don’t scientists’ methods of converting carbon dioxide into useful products join the climate change debate? , calling for the end of the fossil fuel industry. But opponents, of course, point out that such efforts are likely to deprive people of the electricity they need to heat and cool their homes or run their businesses.

Science seems to offer a third way. We can provide the energy we need to sustain a highly technological society while addressing the issue of climate change. No obligation to buy electric cars, blackouts, or force people to keep their thermostats at uncomfortably high levels.

We can only suspect that Sanders and the rest of the Green New Dealers want to have it for fossil fuel companies and ignore anything that doesn’t fit their story. Sanders’ webpage on , calls solutions such as carbon capture and nuclear power “wrong solutions.” The senator did not explain why.

If we have to guess the real reason Sanders and the Green New Dealers are trying to target fossil fuel companies, it’s because they represent the ultimate example of successful capitalism. and in return provide much of the energy that keeps the world running. Sanders calls himself a “democratic socialist.” So, in his view, the oil diggers and miners must be overthrown for the socialist revolution. Climate change is just an excuse, the destruction of capitalism is the reason.

Mark Whittington, a frequent writer on space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration. Why is it difficult to return to the moon? Even if Moon, Mars and Beyondand more recently, Why is America returning to the moon? I blog at Curmudgeons Corner.