Tadej Ian
Name: Tadej Ian
Country: Slovenia
What is your background?
When I was seven years old, I was already reading between 200 and 300 pages a day. I was reading the entire day, because I was incredibly curious. One day, when I was nine years old, I momentarily ran out of books from the library. I was bored and I started reading the leading daily newspaper in the country. Since then, I regularly read the foreign affairs section and I was always especially interested in the US presidential election. Years later I became a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs and a few years later I became a Master of Arts in American Studies. When I was a student, I started to work in the foreign affairs editorial office of exactly the same newspaper I started to read when I was nine. This was the elite editorial office of that newspaper at the time so I developed good journalistic skills. I only worked there for a few years. However, I continued working as a freelance journalist; it was sort of a paid hobby for me because I did not really want to become a career journalist. Whenever I encountered a topic worth writing about, I wrote an article and it was always accepted or published in the newspaper I selected previously. Much later I started writing as a columnist for a local newspaper and was doing this for a few years. Now, I have been writing for the most prominent national political non-mainstream weekly magazine in the country regularly for the last five years. It is right to right-centrist oriented. For me, it is very important that it is non-mainstream because I am always blunt and direct and there is absolutely no political correctness or self-censorship necessary for the authors of the magazine. I write regularly as an external associate of the magazine and write a two-page article every two weeks on average. These are not journalistic articles. I write as a political commentator. I freely choose my topics which are domestic and international. I write about the issues I find important. Of course, I write also on topics related to climate change. I am very critical of climate alarmism and bad environmental policies, such as the European Green Deal, i.e. the European green transition.
In my career, I have worked as a journalist, a coach, an English teacher, an editor, a translator, a proofreader, the head of the office, the head of the sales department, and the CEO of a construction company. At the moment, I own two small companies involved in two entirely different sectors. One company is involved in copywriting, translation, and proofreading. And the other one is involved in the production of green roofs.
Since when and why are you interested in climate change?
I have always been concerned about the environment. When I was 15 or 16 years old, I even joined the Slovenian Green Party of that time. It was a turbulent political time then because it was immediately after the collapse of communism in Slovenia and many political parties emerged and disappeared quickly. Including this green party, I joined. I always believed that people should do everything necessary to protect the environment which is why I joined the greens then.
I was one of the first people in my country to hear the term ‘sustainable development’ and I found it a superb thing, of course. My passion for preserving the environment and supporting sustainable development motivated me to own a company that produces green roofs. For me, it is a privilege to return the living nature. That is why I enjoy making green roofs so very much.
One of my obsessions since a young age was the weather. There were years when I did not miss even one daily forecast. Soon, I wanted to understand what influences the weather in my country. At the end of the 1980s, I noticed that the weather was becoming warmer and warmer. And I loved it because I knew that the cold climate causes high costs for people to stay warm during winter and that this damages the environment pretty badly. I also knew that in warm weather, it is easier to produce enough food. In the 1990s climate change appeared inevitable according to my opinion. I found it exciting that the climate was changing so rapidly during my life in comparison to previous decades or even centuries.
How did your views on climate change evolve?
In the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, I was a great fan of the European Union. Alas, I am not anymore. I still think the European integrations are a good idea but I think that the EU went in the wrong direction. The biggest failure of the EU is climate alarmism and the obsession with the European Green Deal. When I first encountered the European Union Emissions Trading System in 2004 or 2005, my first thought was that this was a brilliant idea because I thought that it had something to do with the prevention of pollution. A few minutes later, however, I became confused. I could not realize why someone would try to make the climate colder by limiting carbon dioxide. It made no sense to me. I knew that a warmer climate is better than a colder climate and I knew that carbon dioxide is food for plants. Even today I frequently ask myself: “What is wrong with these EU bureaucrats? Do they hate plants or what, because they try persistently to push this decarbonization agenda?”
Is climate change a big issue in your country and how do you notice this?
Yes, unfortunately, it is a big issue. I would say that the topic of climate change in Slovenia is in a state of frenzy. Alas, the transition from communist totalitarianism to the free market and democracy in Slovenia has gone badly and we have leftist to radical leftist governments in Slovenia most of the time. Their modus operandi in foreign affairs is quite simple: “Do whatever Brussels tells you to do.” Of course, the result is that the climate change issue under Slovenian leftist governments is basically worshipping the European Green Deal at all costs. Fortunately, Slovenian leftist governments have been poorly operational in recent mandates – therefore, not a lot of damage has yet been done to Slovenia because of this climate alarmist madness in Slovenia. However, I fear for the future. The exaggeration with solar power and wind power plants will soon destabilize the Slovenian power grid, especially because nuclear power is not popular in Slovenia and our only nuclear power plant is becoming obsolete. Therefore, I am afraid of the possibility of electricity blackouts in Slovenia which may become quite frequent in the future.
What would climate policy ideally look like in your view?
I think that warm weather is a good thing. I think a lot of funds and creative energy is lost in decarbonization in vain. Carbon dioxide is a gas of life. Without it, life will become extinct on this planet. The amount of carbon dioxide ppm is rising but it is still very low historically. I think it should even be encouraged. Since 2000, an area equal to the United States of America has been invaded by plants in arid and semi-arid areas. I love all life forms and I find this very good. For all those who are worried about the amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, I would recommend doing positive measures instead of negative measures, such as the European Green Deal. The positive measures are afforestation for example. The entire European continent was filled with forests once. If only a part of all the money the European Union spent on its futile Green Deal was invested in reforestation of Europe, life would be much more pleasant here in Europe. There would be less summer storms in Europe as well. Additionally, the technology of desalination has become simple and cheap. If European bureaucrats are so concerned with the planet and its wellbeing, the EU could start greening the Saharan Desert in Africa. Pipelines from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean could be built and the desalinated water could be used for irrigation of the Saharan Desert which could become green. This would benefit Europe and the Arab African countries. This is how the money could be spent wisely and usefully and the additional emissions of carbon dioxide would be welcome as food for the greening desert.
On the other hand, the resources could be spent on more pressing environmental issues if there was no European Green Deal. Microplastics are the biggest threat to the survival of humans and animals in the long term. Right now nothing is really done to address this issue because all the creativity and resources are spent on the insatiable European Green Deal which, eventually, will have zero effect on the well-being of the life of the planet Earth. Of course, there are other pollution problems in this world besides microplastics that need to be addressed but they are not. And this really worries me.
What is your motivation to sign the CLINTEL World Climate Declaration?
To be on the right side of the history. This is the most one man can do in his life. It is priceless for an individual to understand what is the right cause and then take a stand for it. When I was the CEO of a construction company, I once had difficult negotiations to secure a deal for our company. We were the producers of green roofs. Our company could live off this deal for almost a year. We were four owners equal in share and I was the CEO at that time. The man I negotiated with was the CEO of the company we were trying to make a deal with. He had several companies and he was approximately 150 times ‘bigger’ than our company. He tried to negotiate a bad deal for us but I was negotiating hard with him. He was visibly surprised because I was determined to secure us a deal even though we could lose it in any second of the negotiations. In the end, when I secured a good deal for us I felt respect from him. One of my business partners was present at the negotiations. When we got out, he told me that he was amazed that I was so unyielding to that man and he told me: “Tadej, if there were the presidents of the United States and Russia and you sitting behind one table, I have the feeling that you would speak to them as equals.” I responded: “Yes, I guess you’re right. This would be so because I never accept the argument of authority. I only accept the authority of an argument.”
There is a phalanx of climate alarmists in the world right now. They have humbled the politicians. They have gained the upper hand over the remaining free-thinking scientists by bullying them. And they have been forcing the media into submission. They are many and we are few. But no matter how many they are and no matter how few we are, they are mistaken. They are on the wrong side of history and history will judge them because of that. Therefore, we must never yield. We must take a stand and prevail. That is why I am delighted and honored that I could be among the signatories of the CLINTEL World Climate Declaration.