Those opposed to green schemes that line some pockets and pick other pockets are called “climate deniers” by those who deny reality.

Only reality deniers will see in the Washington Department of Ecology’s latest greenhouse gas inventory any sign the state is moving toward complying with its own carbon-reduction law.

By “latest,” we mean Ecology last week reported carbon emissions for 2020 and 2021. Ecology’s biennial reports are outdated the day they come out. This allows Ecology to maintain climate laws had yet to work their magic.

Looking back at 2020, Washington’s carbon emissions dropped below the internationally anointed 1990 baseline. Thank you, COVID and all those who sheltered in place. Emissions rose above the 1990 baseline in 2021 as economic activity resumed.

If Washington could keep its carbon output around 1990’s level that would be a good accomplishment, considering the state has added three million people since then. It would be a target worth aiming at.

The problem is Washington has outlandish carbon-reduction targets (as do Oregon and California.) By law, Washington carbon output must be almost halved by 2030. This is not realistic.

You can sideline every car, truck, train, airplane and ship powered by a fossil fuel and still not meet the 2030 target. If you also eliminate agriculture, you’re close, but not quite there.

The law becomes more unrealistic as time goes on. The 2050 target is 4.6 million tons of greenhouse gases. In 2021, Ecology attributed 3 million tons to enteric fermentation and 1.6 million tons to manure management.

It’s unrealistic to think Washington’s carbon output in a quarter-century will be limited to cow burps and cow s—.

So what’s the harm in passing an unrealistic law if it gets the state moving in the right direction? Plenty.

The outlandish targets encourage politicians to preen and claim false victories. Jay Inslee at United Nations climate conferences comes to mind, but he’s not the only one.

The conferences are monuments to a lack of self-awareness. Global carbon emissions have soared since 1990. No one really concerned about climate change should fly to conferences to congratulate themselves.

Outlandish targets justify laws that stealthily pump billions of dollars from the private sector to government.

We can’t expect billionaire cap-and-trade supporters Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to care if a farmworker making $32,000 a year has to pay 50 cents a gallon more for gas, but it would be nice if more legislators did.

In the alternative, it would be nice if they at least acknowledged the costs of cap-and-trade.

A third problem is that outlandish targets breed cynicism — on naked display here. A cynic believes human behavior is motivated wholly by self-interest. Being a cynic is bad. Things that breed cynicism are bad.

Things that discourage rational responses to global warming are also bad.

In 1992, the U.S. and other countries agreed to try to hold greenhouse gases to 1990 levels. Carbon emissions rose anyway, but the demand to cut greenhouse gases far below 1990 levels also rose.

As a result, the targets moved further and further from reality.