Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper provide the latest look at a sociopolitical dilemma that has their party on a collision course. An attempt to stop climate change with a “green” revolution works directly against the movement’s self-aggrandizing concern for human rights.

All three of these highest-ranking Colorado Democrats want our state to achieve “net-zero emissions” by no later than 2040 — which is not in the realm of possibility. To achieve this in the next 18 years, they tell us, Colorado must transition to mostly electric transportation. Of course, batteries produce no energy. They merely store it, most of which comes from fossil fuels burned at power plants. Today, and well beyond the life of the world’s youngest person, we will likely have no such thing as a “zero-emission” vehicle, home or office building.

Wind, solar, and battery advancements deserve investment and other forms of support. It’s hard to oppose harnessing wind and the Sun’s nuclear energy, especially if we can do so without the enormous support these processes need from fossil fuels. That day may well be on the horizon, but not by 2040 or the year 3000.

Worse than a litany of engineering obstacles, today’s “clean” energies require human rights atrocities including chattel slavery most American think disappeared in 1863. Few realize or care that our country increasingly depends heavily on foreign slaves.

Amnesty International has documented for years the child slaves in underdeveloped countries – children as young as seven — exploited to mine the metals for the batteries that store energy for electric cars. The mythical belief these battery cars are kind to humanity and the planet collapses under engineering and scientific scrutiny, but few want to hear or believe it.

The answer to reducing the emissions caused by electric cars involves generating more electrons with the Sun’s nuclear heat and the wind it generates. Sadly, as we increase the demand for sun-powered energy we increase the demand for people enslaved because of their ethnicities, cultural identities, religious affiliations or skin tones.

A 2021 New York Times article titled “Chinese Solar Companies Tied to Use of Forced Labor” explains the Chinese Communist Party uses minorities, most notably Muslim Uyghurs, for forced labor in the production of solar panels. The Times quoted then-National Security Spokesman John Ullyot saying the United States “should not be complicit in modern-day slavery.”

The Times report also explained the “low safety and environmental standards” of China’s slave-reliant manufacturing.

As costs of all energy have soared for consumers recently, United States residents have become increasingly wary of dependence on foreign energy. Among them is the Auxin Solar Founder and CEO Mamun Rashid, a former Intel chip engineer, who spoke recently with Gazette energy reporter Scott Weiser about foreign products built by slaves.

Rashid filed an unfair trade practices complaint with the U.S. Department of Commerce, demanding an investigation of solar panels made by slaves. He makes the nearly unassailable argument that U.S. manufacturers cannot produce the panels we need for energy independence if foreign competitors undercut them with similar products built by slaves.

Much to his credit, then-President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2015 demanding the prohibition of imports made by children or slaves.

Never mind any of that. Polis, Bennet and Hickenlooper care more about their unattainable “net zero-emissions” dream than the disgrace of achieving it with slavery. Polis complained in writing to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo demanding an end her agency’s investigation of solar panel slavery. If slaves mean more solar panels for Colorado, apparently he’s fine with it.

“This investigation jeopardizes our shared interest in providing financial relief to residents in the transition to affordable clean energy,” Polis said in a statement shortly after the investigation opened on April 1.

President Joe Biden issued an energy emergency proclamation that allows him to stop for two years any potential tariffs imposed to offset the advantage China gains from slave labor, effectively negating Obama’s order. Bennet and Hickenlooper supported Biden’s proclamation.

“This is the moment when we should be doing everything we can to… accelerate deployment of clean energy,” Bennet said. “I’m pleased that President Biden has listened to our calls.”

“Doing everything” obviously includes accepting products made with slaves and almost no American-style safety and environmental protections.

“It’s critical to reaching net-zero emissions,” Hickenlooper said of Biden’s order.

More than 620,000 Americans died in a civil war won mostly to end slavery. That was 2% of the U.S. population, which amounts to 6 million souls today.

Our country abhors slavery. Yet, a left-wing movement adores “green energy” and battery cars. These goals are so important — so essential to the far left’s agenda — politicians look the other if it takes slaves to achieve them.

Denver Gazette editorial board