It's Climate Change I tell'ya!! IT'S CLIMATE CHANGE!!

[spilledthebeer]

Motor Mouth: The hypocrisy of armchair environmentalism

“Believe the scientists” is probably the most common refrain uttered by the modern environmentalist. Frustrated by climate change denial, the reference points to the vast library of published documentation saying we humans are consuming too much and sequestering — the act of capturing and storing/using of carbon dioxide — too little. Whether you think climate change is a problem — just one of the many facing mankind — or a crisis — that we are all headed for certain doom as a result of global warming — the data is pretty damning. Earth’s current warming phase may be at least in part caused by normal cyclicality, but there can be little doubt that we humans are contributing to our own discomfit.

Where that faith in science seems to fall by the wayside, however, is in how to best address our failings, i.e. how to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses we generate. Indeed, after reading Drawdown, a compendium of leading scientists and authors’ advice on how to not just arrest, but reverse global warming, it would seem that the typical armchair environmentalist — certainly the ones that clog up the comment section of my columns here — are just as hypocritical as the deniers they so denigrate.

Drawdown bills itself as “the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.” That might seem a trifle ambitious, but the book does detail, cost, and engineer a series of 100 action plans that don’t just slow down the earth’s warming, but draws down — “the point in time at which greenhouse gases peak and begin to decline on a year-to-year basis” — emissions within the next three decades. And while I don’t agree with all its conclusions — someone should tell editor Paul Hawken that all the Chinese “enthusiasts” he credits with jump-starting an EV revolution are actually being coerced into buying an electric vehicle — Project Drawdown’s calculation of the amount of carbon dioxide each alternative can mitigate and how much said reduction/sequestering will cost is as comprehensive a plan as I have seen.

Two conclusions stand out after wading through Drawdown’s compendium of charts, calculations and conclusions. The first — no surprise — is that achieving carbon neutrality will require a commitment so complete, both in action and participation, that one really has to wonder whether we have it in us. The second, and by far the more troubling, is that populism — setting public policy according to their popularity amongst the constituency, i.e. climate change activists — is actually the biggest roadblock to reducing/reversing global warming.

For instance, with the incredible amount of attention paid to such high-profile emitters like cars and cow farts, I was absolutely gobsmacked to discover that more effective disposal of the chemicals used in air conditioning and refrigeration — supposedly 1,000 to 9,000 more deleterious to global warming than carbon dioxide — would represent the greatest boon to greenhouse gas reduction, the reduction of 89.74 gigatons of CO2 (equivalents) projected almost nine times what the authors predict electric vehicles will save.

Want more hard, scientific proof that we’re not barking up the right tree? Well, picture this: All of the carbon dioxide reductions that Drawdown is projecting for the entire global transportation industry — cars, trucks, mass transit, electric bicycles, and yes, Greta, the airplanes you so assiduously denigrate — is barely more than half the amount (45.68 gigatons) we’d save if we just built more windmills (84.60 gigatons). The same is true of simply reducing the amount of food we waste — and, no, I am not talking about eliminating animal protein from our diets — which would see 70.53 gigatons of carbon dioxide disappear.

Perhaps the most telling example of skewed priorities, however, is Drawdown’s 24th ranked recommendation — improved rice cultivation. It would seem that by planting seeds earlier, watering more efficiently and a better tending of crop, we could eliminate 11.34 gigatons of CO2 from rice production. For a little reference here, the authors’ somewhat ambitious projections for electric vehicles is just 10.80 gigatons. Yes, just farming rice more efficiently — and, to be completely clear, I am talking about just one crop, not all agricultural production — is a more effective policy than everything we plan for the electrification of the automobile. Oh, and by the way, superior rice farming won’t cost a penny, not a blessed cent. Drawdown’s projected cost for automotive electrification, meanwhile, is US$14.15 trillion. Funny how one doesn’t seem to see many 500,000-person marches proclaiming the need for a new System of Rice Intensification.

Now, no one is proposing that the automotive industry discontinue its march to an emissions-reduced future. But how is it that the top three reduction mechanisms identified by Project Drawdown — refrigeration, wind turbines and reducing food waste, which together represent fully 23 per cent of the 1,052.06 gigatons that the authors claim is pragmatically and practically reduceable — generate so little public awareness? Are we really so shallow that the desire to be seen driving the latest ‘green’ status symbol is headline news while we completely ignore the more effective — but far less status-elevating — recycling of our refrigerators? Are we, in fact, so glutinous that reducing food waste is more palatable than Ms. Thunberg’s contention that we forgo all airline travel? And generating the electricity that will propel our electric cars by windmill would seem a complete no-brainer, except that the same voice that loudly calls for a complete elimination of internal combustions is probably equally NIMBYish — not in my back yard — should anything blight the view off their back porch.

So, with wind-powered electricity in mind, I will leave you with one final set of numbers — a calculation by Yours Truly, but one based on the data in Drawdown. Tesla fans are fond of claiming that their miracle cars are the automotive industry’s only salvation, that anything less than pure battery-power — hybrids, plug-in hybrids, etc. — will simply not reduce tailpipe emissions sufficiently to save the planet. Using the information in Drawdown — and some quick estimations based on the performance of the long-range plug-in Polestar 1 I drove earlier this week — it turns out that converting wholesale to PHEVs, rather than pure battery-powered electrics, would increase CO2 emissions by less than 0.1 per cent of those 1,052.06 gigatons that the authors claim could be reduced by 2050. No trillions of dollars wasted on a complete overhaul of our refueling/recharging infrastructure, no interminable waits on the side of the highway for recharging and yet the difference in emissions production would be about one one-hundredth of a cost-effective conversion to windmills.

Such, my friends, is the hypocrisy of armchair environmentalism.

driving.ca/features/feature-story/motor-mouth-the-hypocrisy-of-armchair-environmentalism

That is a pretty good article Mowich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But I take issue with two things- firstly building more windmills IS NOT A SOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Windmills are ACTUALLY A PROBLEM since they produce power SO ERRATICALLY.......................


that here in Ontari-owe ALL our wind and solar power MUST BE BACKED UP............................


by natural gas fueled generators that must be kept fully manned and fully powered up 24/7.............................


and PRODUCING NOTHING while they WAIT for the wind to fail or the sun to be hidden behind a cloud.....................


ready to take over whenever the Green power fades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It WOULD NOT BE ACCEPTABLE to follow the Pakistan model - in which the semi desert country has HUGE NUMBERS................


of solar generators that OBVIOUSLY SHUT DOWN with the sunset!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And of course when the sun sets - HUGE SWATHS OF THE COUNTRY GO DARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Meaning NO security lighting and NO street lights and NO traffic signals either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My other issue is with Food waste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE for the amount of SPOILED FOOD that supermarkets throw away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yet LIE-berals insist WE CONSUMERS are to blame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


NOBODY IN MY EXTENDED FAMILY throws away a thousand dollars or more of food per year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I suggest the food waste numbers have been "processed" by LIE-berals looking for ways to guilt trip people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And that LIE-berals have ULTERIOR MOTIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1



Consider that every now and then - OVER THE PAST TWENTY FIVE YEARS ...................................


our local supermarket has offered bacon and milk that has been IRRADIATED...........................


using Strontium 90 to kill ALL bacteria on the food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


JUST THINK- slabs of bacon or milk in plastic bags that can be left UN-REFRIGERATED on a counter in MID SUMMER........


with NO FEAR of food poisoning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It is a DUAL MARKETING Campaign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


First it is MAKE WORK for govt NUCLEAR HOGS who have been thrown out of the local nuclear generating station for their greed



and HUGE COST OVER RUNS ON PROJECTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And second - it would be a GREAT ENERGY SAVER if our need for refrigeration and electricity were drastically curtailed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



BUT WHO WANTS A BELLY FULL of Strontium 90????????????????????????????


But supermarket chiefs -and maybe LIE-berals as well - WANT US to eat this irradiated crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


They are trying to turn us all into LAB RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


FOR THE SAKE OF THE "ENVIRONMENT" - SO THEY CLAIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Think of the savings on electricity and refrigeration costs if all our food was irradiated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Think of the environmental savings coming from say a 25 percent reduction in the number of electricity generators???????????????


And yes -that would mean LESS JOBS for HOGS down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But LIE-berals have been here before and KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


HOGS have jobs for life - WHETHER THEY ADMIT IT OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And when our drinking water plants were automated in the 1980`s.............................


the HOGS WERE KEPT ON - monitoring the AUTOMATIC equipment until they had accumulated enough pension money...................


that they could afford to retire in COMFORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Or we could discuss how LIE-beral Jean Chretien allegedly "LAID OFF" federal civil service union HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The "LAID OFF HOGS" - with no more work to do nor workplace to go to - simply assembled at empty govt warehouses..............


offered by LIE-berals for the purpose....................


and played cards or read books etc - FOR THE DAY on full pay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Being laid off WAS NO PROBLEM for them because THEIR PAY CONTINUED..................................


under union contract - until such time as they could find a "suitable" replacement job"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And since there is NO JOB as good as a HOG JOB- they had NO INCENTIVE to look for work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ontari-owe newspapers ran a few photos of the HOGS loitering at our expense.............................


and then stopped commenting - apparently for fear of provoking the HOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So if its LIE-beral its probably a LIE......................................


WITH A HUGE PRICE TAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DaSleeper]

(shrug) Like I said, not interested in your opinions.

Not many people are......in that FOOL's opinions

 

[VIBC]

Mowich:

I think 'hypocrite' is much too ugly a word to apply to people who advocate for combating climate change but find they themselves are unable to do very much about it. I believe there are many millions of such folks; and aren't you one yourself? On how many of the emission-reduction strategies you list - and apparently advocate - are you or any of us individually, able & wiling to take direct action?

Relative impotence is not hypocrisy.

 

[AnnaEmber]

Scientists and other researchers are still learning what all is involved with climates, so I suggest just relaxing and give them a break. It's the deniers, dogooders, and politicians that eff up the issue

 

[Twin_Moose]

Policies are introduced with hyperbole in mind and it effects the construction field hard, it has caused thousands of job losses in the last couple of years.

 

[Mowich]

Mowich:

I think 'hypocrite' is much too ugly a word to apply to people who advocate for combating climate change but find they themselves are unable to do very much about it. I believe there are many millions of such folks; and aren't you one yourself? On how many of the emission-reduction strategies you list - and apparently advocate - are you or any of us individually, able & wiling to take direct action?

Relative impotence is not hypocrisy.

Is it not hypocritical to champion some green policies while completely ignoring others that would cost less and do more for the environment? I believe it is and the word applies to all those who are silly enough to think that taxing people into bankruptcy will magically alter our climate.

 

[captain morgan]

Mowich:

I think 'hypocrite' is much too ugly a word to apply to people who advocate for combating climate change but find they themselves are unable to do very much about it. I believe there are many millions of such folks; and aren't you one yourself? On how many of the emission-reduction strategies you list - and apparently advocate - are you or any of us individually, able & wiling to take direct action?

Relative impotence is not hypocrisy.

The word hypocrite does have a place in this conversation as it relates to those that demand domestic policy in a nation be altered to accommodate a theory that is at this point unproven.


With this in mind, those that makes these demands based on some apocalyptic prediction really should be taking the initiative to install solar/wind and get off of the hydrocarbon system.


If these folks don't believe enough in their own words, why on Earth would I?

Scientists and other researchers are still learning what all is involved with climates, so I suggest just relaxing and give them a break. It's the deniers, dogooders, and politicians that eff up the issue

The damage gets done by those groups that forward inaccurate information (in some cases - entirely manipulated and fraudulent) that confuses the issue as well as the totally irresponsible actions of people like Thunberg that are successfully terrorizing a large group of young people.


Pretty frightening that her actions have caused such desperation and angst among her peer demographic and entirely based on her own (unproven) subjective opinion(s)

 

[VIBC]

Mowich;2788808]Is it not hypocritical to champion some green policies while completely ignoring others that would cost less and do more for the environment? I believe it is and the word applies to all those who are silly enough to think that taxing people into bankruptcy will magically alter our climate.

Ah, sorry Mowich. My mistake.

 

[VIBC]

Holding a belief other than someone else's does not constitute hypocrisy.

 

[AnnaEmber]

Nuts. Sure there have been job losses, but there have also been jobs created like most other tech advances. We are a learning species attempting to advance. Don't like it, then couch your arse and stagnate.

 

[Twin_Moose]

Nuts. Sure there have been job losses, but there have also been jobs created like most other tech advances. We are a learning species attempting to advance. Don't like it, then couch your arse and stagnate.

Not at the rate promised to displace the Oilfield, 10's of thousands displaced to date and only a couple thousand added. So addition by subtraction is the Green New Way?

 

[AnnaEmber]

Has anyone died from losing their job? I bet if anyone has, they just gave up and refused to move on.
What's your rush? Jobs will catch up. Life still goes on.
What you going to do when Earth runs dry of resources? Sit and snivel about people going off-planet?

 

[pgs]

Has anyone died from losing their job? I bet if anyone has, they just gave up and refused to move on.
What's your rush? Jobs will catch up. Life still goes on.
What you going to do when Earth runs dry of resources? Sit and snivel about people going off-planet?

Give your head a shake . What are we doing that is depleting the earths resources ? Your farm used to be forest . Did you not deplete resources . Maybe you should let it lie fallow and revert back to its natural state after all you don’t need the income it provides you , get another job .

 

[Mowich]

Has anyone died from losing their job? I bet if anyone has, they just gave up and refused to move on.
What's your rush? Jobs will catch up. Life still goes on.
What you going to do when Earth runs dry of resources? Sit and snivel about people going off-planet?

Ah, Anna - you and I seem to generally agree on most things but I do have to take issue with your comments here. When people can't pay their mortgages, put decent food on the table for their families and are dealing with depression all due to job loss, statements like 'jobs will catch up' are of no comfort when those jobs are not on the near horizon let alone the far one. Just where are those thousands of people to move too, pray tell? It isn't only the oil patch shedding jobs, here in BC thousands have lost their jobs due mill closures. Add those to the thousands in AB and just where do you think they will all go for work? Any magical solutions?

You might not give a hoot about them, but I do and your comments are uncaring and thoughtless and I did think better of you than this.

 

[Mowich]

Holding a belief other than someone else's does not constitute hypocrisy.

What the heck does belief have to do with lefties jumping on the latest green tech while ignoring others?????

 

[NZDoug]

The Tide of Death.
Its a changing climate for the Gulf of Mexico.
"In a place that bills itself as an idyllic getaway, the foul state of the water is threatening to spoil the natural beauty that makes Florida's southwest coast a vacation destination to begin with, Thompson worries.
It's the length of these red tides and their close succession that is so troubling, said the 32-year Naples resident.
"If you've been here 20 or 30 years, red tide was an event that was around for a weekend or a week," he said. "Now, we're looking at months."
Florida's red tide is caused by a species of algae called Karenia brevis, which release neurotoxins that can be deadly to wildlife and can even cause breathing problems in humans on land.
While red tide has occurred for centuries, the 2017-2018 event was the fifth-longest on record, and only the second since 2007 to hit Florida's east, southwest and northwest coasts at the same time.
In response to last year's historically bad tide, Florida's new Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis created a Red Tide Task Force that is studying the causes of these blooms.
Though not nearly as widespread as the last one, this latest outbreak is showing fairly high algae concentrations, according to Dr. Robert Weisberg, a professor of physical oceanography at the University of South Florida, who has studied these events for more than two decades."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/12/us/red-tide-southwest-florida-returns-2019/index.html
What could cause this?

 

[AnnaEmber]

Give your head a shake . What are we doing that is depleting the earths resources ? Your farm used to be forest . Did you not deplete resources . Maybe you should let it lie fallow and revert back to its natural state after all you don’t need the income it provides you , get another job .

lol I am shaking my head .... at you.
https://www.dw.com/en/the-earth-is-...sources-faster-than-it-can-provide/a-39924823 Not only that, but Earth is losing hydrogen (at a rate of about 95,000 tonnes per year) and helium into space.
I know you think everything is limitless, but you really should go back to school.

 

[AnnaEmber]

Ah, Anna - you and I seem to generally agree on most things but I do have to take issue with your comments here. When people can't pay their mortgages, put decent food on the table for their families and are dealing with depression all due to job loss, statements like 'jobs will catch up' are of no comfort when those jobs are not on the near horizon let alone the far one. Just where are those thousands of people to move too, pray tell? It isn't only the oil patch shedding jobs, here in BC thousands have lost their jobs due mill closures. Add those to the thousands in AB and just where do you think they will all go for work? Any magical solutions?

You might not give a hoot about them, but I do and your comments are uncaring and thoughtless and I did think better of you than this.

It isn't all due to job loss. (And job loss is only temporary anyway. Last I read, the average person changes careers at least 5 times in their life. You lose your job, you move on and get or make another one).
Buying power of average people has pretty much stagnated since the late 1970s. Yet the wealthiest people have gotten wealthier by some 2000%.
I sold my shop and we bought a piece of land with an orchard and I raised enough from the orchard in the first year to buy a herd of chickens. Hubby retired from firefighting and is now repairing all sizes of machinery from skidders and cats to lawnmowers.
However one can, they should save for that "rainy day". Very little in life is permanent.
Uncaring and thoughtless? uhuh Try again.

 

[Twin_Moose]

Has anyone died from losing their job? I bet if anyone has, they just gave up and refused to move on.
What's your rush? Jobs will catch up. Life still goes on.
What you going to do when Earth runs dry of resources? Sit and snivel about people going off-planet?

Many suicides over the last 4 years, so yes, What's our rush? feeding the family off the top of my head is the number 1 rush. What jobs? Green industries are scaling down due to lack of Gov. grants, without the grants the industry is dead because it cannot stand on it's own. When do you estimate that Canada will run out of these resources you are referring too? We have enough Oil reserves not being tapped into to support the world for generations, I'm sure by then there will be a suitable energy replacement to displace Oil.

So like you said "what's your rush" roll with resources enjoy everything that it pays for, suitable alternative energy will catch up someday and give you something new to worry about.

 

[pgs]

lol I am shaking my head .... at you.
https://www.dw.com/en/the-earth-is-...sources-faster-than-it-can-provide/a-39924823 Not only that, but Earth is losing hydrogen (at a rate of about 95,000 tonnes per year) and helium into space.
I know you think everything is limitless, but you really should go back to school.

We are all going to die , the end is near . . So why do we need to reduce our carbon footprint if the problems are with hydrogen and helium ?