JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
I wonder if the AEMO looked at the UK load shedding, then looked at the high % wind in the grid over the recent days and thought : “There but for the grace of God go I”. Neg prices are not a good thing.
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National Grid in the UK copied the actions of the Victorian grid operators last summer to keep the portions of the grid with operating thermal generators intact, shedding pure demand grid segments to do so. This was the hard lesson from the 2017 South Australia blackout – protecting the RELIABLE generation assets is paramount for fastest recovery when a grid has been heavily compromised by large amounts of intermittent renewables.
So Australia is leading the world, both in heading into the abyss and dealing with the consequences.
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But power bills for
Ordinary folk without solar panels
Are still going up
like a hot air balloon
And where will the winds blow the ballon ?
That we know not !
But it almost certainly will be expensive
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Article in Quadrant Online, https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/08/climate-hysteria-follow-the-money/, is worth a read simply for its keeping tabs on The Beloved Windbag’s latest doings…
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Amazing. End of world with a girl, “Please help save the world”
The producers seem to have no problem with a ten year old running onto a roof with a video camera, a roof with no fences many stories above the ground.
That was scary. Whoever made that film had no concern at all for children.
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The Quadrant article describes climate change activism at the most relevant level: Banking.
Paradoxically the prominent son of a prominent actor was involved in a movie that exposed the Wall Street “BankIng” approach to the Stock Market.
Wouldn’t it be great to have Hollywood finally grasp the truth of this Climate Realism Alarmisms Purpose and make a new movie , a name for which might be; “Banking on Climate”.
There is only one problem and that’s competition from the new movie already under way.
I understand that they are having unusual difficulty in getting a lead male to play Epstein in
“Epstein: how I Serviced the world Elites”.
Let’s face it, We Must Begin Urgently to Confront Our Nominal Governments and Make Them Great Again.
And especially make them accountable, Very Accountable.
KK
41
North of England is now reported to be going for small-scale Nuclear Reactors – according to the Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mini-nuclear-reactors-to-power-the-north-m5qtbfvc7
Rolls Royce are in the frame for this as they absolutely should be – they have a small scale modular plant designed to be shipped and delivered on 40ft trucks to make the build simple and quick. They also make the reactors for the UK’s nuclear subs. I’ve had a number of discussions with them about these late last year for potential deployment in Africa as well as the UK and know they have been proposing this to the UK government for quite a while.
People don’t often think of small scale nuclear as it is rarely talked about. Years ago there was a small scale one for test purposes at Silwood Park outside Ascot in Berkshire UK. I visited it a few times in the early 90s when putting together an international program for the remote monitoring of Eastern European nuclear reactors coupled with training and safety via satellite post Chernobyl and post the breakup of the USSR.
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BTW some of the costings I was looking at based on RR ‘headline’ costs, before any negotiations on price etc, look competitive compared to the True Cost of Wind or Solar when you include everything, particularly the Grid upgrade costs – and if one factored in economies of scale by building multiple small-scale plants that should be possible to improve on. (Don’t have those to hand as they are in the office)
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Why would several of these “small” Nuclear plants, make any more sense than one “Large” one ?
Surely there is economies of scale to be found.
These are still the same PWR designs with all the issues associated .
Why not use one of the modular MSR designs with their fuel and passive safety features ?
00
Speed to market
00
If you want to make a quick quid on nuclear power, invest in concrete.
A few more bags of cement in a nuclear station compared with a coal station.
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CPAC – CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ALLIANCE CONFERENCE – Sydney Aug 9-11, 2019
I promised a summary of my attendance at this event, which has received quite a bit of press coverage. It may have been more important than I had thought at the time that I booked a few weeks ago.
Accidental Traveller
My plan was to attend the conference on Friday only. That involved an early start, driving to Melbourne Airport, flight to Sydney, spend the day and then fly home in the evening. The plan worked well until the flight home. I was informed at Sydney airport that the strong winds associated with the Antarctic Blast, which has brought much snow, had disrupted flights so much that the earliest flight that I could expect to catch was Sunday morning! Oh Hell. All the airlines had the same story.
I tried to hire a car, but the cheapest was $800, one way. The bus services had already left. What to do?
I don’t know much about using a mobile phone to access the internet, but I tried it. Somehow I found the booking site for the interstate train and booked a ticket online. I probably got the last available seat. Then I had to go back to central Sydney, find a hotel and wait until morning.
I have recounted the story of the train trip here. We saw SNOW from the train, quite a bit actually.
http://joannenova.com.au/2019/08/feast-your-eyes-on-streaky-bays-thermometer-over-bitumen-for-31-long-hot-years/#comment-2174678
The Conference
Excellent line up.
The day started off with a panel discussion of Rowan Dean, Mark Latham and Ross Cameron talking about current issues and Donald Trump. The line I liked best was from Ross Cameron; “the left take Trump Literally but not Seriously. Trump’s supporters take him Seriously but not Literally”.
Mark Latham (now lower house NSW) was asked what he wanted to do in the state parliament; he replied “observe Love of Country, decisions based on observable proof, resilience and the importance of Christian values.”
Amanda Stoker (Senator QLD) was next. She spoke about the moral and political imperative to improve productivity. The national wealth will determine our capacity to improve living standards. Excessive regulation and Union demands for unrealistic restrictions on working conditions are limiting worker choice, undermining employment and destroying productivity and consequently the national wealth.
John Anderson (former National Party Leader) and Tony Abbott ( former PM and former MP) then talked about cultural values and civility in the national discussion. Tony Abbott was given a standing ovation as he came to the stage.
Janet Albrechtsen (Journalist and president of the IPA) talked about a “culture of contempt” in the debate between left and right. Albrechtsen accused Labor leader Kristina Keneally of showing contempt to us citizens. Janet Albrechtsen’s column in the weekend Australian was very close to her address.
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Thanks Peter.
140
John Anderson came back for an individual address. He talked about the importance of Culture and Trust. Trust has been eroded. Also the need for Respect and Civility in Political Debate. He referred to the National Debt, which he sees as a very real and present danger.
Dr Tanveer Ahmed (psychiatrist) Dr Tanveer is from Bangladesh. He has a practice which includes many Muslims. He talked about the clash between Islam and Secular Humanism. He thinks this clash produces anxiety in young Muslims which gets expressed as Identity Islam (an ideology in which young people create a sort of “pure islam”). Personal resentment is mixed with ideology, moral purity, exceptionalism, and a sense of urgency, resulting in the violent outrages which have happened here in Australia and overseas.
Warren Mundine (ex president of the Labor Party) There is no individualism on the left. Ayana Presley (of the US Democrat Squad) said the Blacks who don’t speak the black voice are not needed. That makes her the real racist . Welfare is destroying aborigines (and other minority communities) individually and culturally. Before 1970 most aborigines has jobs (eg stockmen), not great jobs, but jobs. They had a sense of worth. they built there own houses. The Whitlam government came up with “sit down money” (welfare). Aborigines have suffered greatly from the unintended consequences of what was supposed to be generosity.
Welfare was original supposed to help people get back on their feet. It does not do that. At it’s heart the Welfare State is Socialist. The only solution is the Free Market ie giving people the capacity to choose for them selves.
Raheem Kassam (ex editor of Breitbart London). Inspirational speaker. He gave Kristina Keneally (Chicken Woman) a big serve because she tried to have his entry visa revoked. Fortunately the immigration minister held firm. Kassam was quite funny but a bit tangential. Themes: Labor party in UK is anti-Semitic, We stopped Muslims radicalising. How crazy is the left now. We are winning.
Also forget CIVILTY, GIVE THEM HELL
Jacinta Price (Town Councillor Alice Springs). Her personal journey as an aboriginal (with some Irish heritage) and the contribution of her mother and family. Stories of white settler on black violence and black on black violence, from her family history.
Congressman Mark Meadows and CPAC (US) Matt Schlapp: Mark Meadows helped Trump get the Republican nomination ( something which is still a mystery to me – how did it happen?); Free markets lift everybody out of Poverty, Go back to the left with facts. Speak the Truth and don’t quit talking. Only in a Free Democracy can a Nobody become a Somebody ( ie other systems = serfdom).
Judge Jeannine Pirro (Talk show host on Fox, Former Prosecuter, DA and Judge in NY)
According to Fairfax Journo Nick O’Malley she was the Red Meat of the day. Wow.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/a-mix-of-political-civility-and-conservative-rhetoric-aired-at-sydney-conference-20190809-p52fpt.html
O’Malley tried to diminish her address, by saying, “her unscripted but clearly well-worn address,”. That was a bit nasty, but my interpretation was that she spoke without any notes!
Pirro says that Trump saved America and maybe the whole Western World from the progressive left, which had almost achieved Victory. She listed Trumps achievements and gave the whole plot of the “Washington Swamp” to unseat him.
She is a law L.A.W woman and she wants justice against the swamp. She has just published another book: “Radicals, Resistance and Revenge”. We got a free copy. She signed my book and we had a selfie photo!
People I met:
Revo, (a Jonova tragic) and his wife. Revo reads the blog, but does not comment much. Revo, I am looking for a response here for all my hard work as a reporter.
Senator Malcolm Roberts,
Alan Moran, author at the Environmental Policy Foundation,
Raheem Kassam,
Judge Pirro,
Sophie York (Senate Candidate for the Australian Conservative Party at the last Federal election)
Alister Cameron (Political strategist and web site facilitator).
Was it worth it? I would say yes. I did not get to Day two. On Day two Nigel Farage was keynote. That triggered the lefties and a protest was staged outside the hotel. Day three was some sort of planning/strategizing day. The theme was individual Liberty, Free Speech, Free markets, Rational thinking, Objective Truth (not Ideology). About 500 people registered. In the USA they get 10,000, but proportionally it was a good response.
I am not sure if the ABC covered the Conference but there was quite good coverage by the Australian, Fairfax and the Guardian.
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the second part is in moderation.
I hope it will be released. I have tried to report fairly but some parts will trigger moderation.
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Looking forward to reading it Peter C.
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And thanks again Peter, it’s good to read the summary of Warren Mundine’s talk because at the previous conference he was a bit disappointing. Jacinta Price was fantastic at that last conference.
All up the summaries give us a pathway that, when followed, will help us to MOGGA.
KK
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What was your impression of Malcolm Roberts – did he make any comment on what he hopes to achieve on climate change and his path forward?
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I only met Malcolm Roberts briefly. I said that I was very glad to see him back in the Federal Parliament and he have me his address card.
I did not get a chance to ask him about what his plans for the next parliamentary term might be.
He is listed as a speaker. He was probably on the Saturday.
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https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/09/michael-moore-backed-doc-planet-of-the-humans-tackles-false-promises-of-green-energy/
I thought this was a big deal, mainly due to the guys profile with the left. It will be interesting to see the reaction, or perhaps it will be quietly buried.
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And now for something completely different:
Irving Finkel: The Ark Before Noah: A Great Adventure
… a narrative with great good humour and absolutely no snow.
It could be subtitled: “How to build/create/make the world’s largest coracle.”
Enjoy.
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sophocles:
A classic. I am glad you listed the Oriental Institute version, which is probably the best.
The bit where George Smith loses it when confronted with irrefutable evidence that his previous belief was false has strong implications to the current situation where so many believe, on no actual evidence, that the World will end in a few months or years.
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“Climate Change – The Facts” is being broadcast tonight. I’m so excited I can hardly write anything! In another hour or so I’ll likely be cured of any desire to post links like this . . . . https://polarbearscience.com/2019/08/09/not-predicted-more-sea-ice-than-average-in-southern-most-arctic-first-week-of-august/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
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Yes I heard of that bit of climate propaganda….all I could think of was “wow they are desperate…”
Its really a last gasp to corral the impressonable sheeple and have them bleat in tune to the script…also sounds very authoritarian.
All i could do is shake my head…..how dumb do they think we are?
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I have annoyed a friend by declining to watch 90 minutes of stuff from Leonardo the GF** about the coming end of the World.
I have recorded Attenbollux and may watch it (but not while eating).
National Geographic has one from Leonardo di Caprio which I haven’t viewed past the first few minutes called After the Flood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxAgt9XXPU
It starts with a close up of one of hieronymus bosch’s paintings, badly done.
**Those who are familiar with the Italian joke about the Town benefactor not getting respect owing to a youthful indiscretion will know that that the Latin for Goat is Capra.
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🙂 🙂
30
One of my favourite jokes evah.
00
I had it on in the background, little more than alarmist propaganda, no science or facts presenting everyday weather in Australia like it is an unparalleled disaster, dragging out discredited pseudo-scientists like Michael Mann.
Basically alarmist propaganda intended to scare little children and stupid people
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Isn’t that the ABC’s target audience
100
I regrettably watched the show. So many ‘facts’ without any proof.
Like all the record breaking temps in the 2019 Jan heatwave.
How about Port Augusta with a 49.5C – just makes the top ten in 9th place.
In official recorded history, Aust has had three temps over 50C since 1910 – two in 1960 and one in 1998.
Of the top 15 max temps recorded since 1910, four were from 1960 and four in the 1970s.
And we can’t forget all the 50C days prior to 1910 which have been conveniently glossed over.
One minute they were saying there would be more extreme heat and droughts – then they were saying there would be more rain and floods i.e. which usually brings cooler weather.
Bats dying in Cairns heatwave this year – 42.6C – sign of extreme heat. However, it was hotter in Cairns in 1923 and 1924.
Talked about the ice melting. Greenland and Antarctic had the greatest amount of ice just a few years ago.
And Amundsen sailed through the NW Passage in 1906. Not much ice then.
Totally alarmist program with little regard to past history. Don’t waste your time like I did.
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He actually started in 1903 and made his way around hugging the coast in a small boat that could traverse shallow water and overwintering 3 times. He didn’t just sail through it
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Sorry -poor choice of words. Amundsen successfully navigated the NW Passage by boat.
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you are not the first to choose those words to make it seem like it is evidence that there was low sea ice levels earlier this century.
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Of course it was low in the early 1920s. Whether it was as low as 2007 is debatable.
During the MWP ice levels would have also been low. It’s cyclical.
Remember, it was predicted around 2007 there would be no sea ice by 2013. At the moment it is around six million km2.
USS Skate 1959 surfacing at the North Pole.
https://www.hippostcard.com/listing/submarine-uss-skate-ssn-578-at-north-pole-1959/22673095
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your misinformation is quite incredible. The skate traveled for thousands of kilometers under the ice and surfaced in a break during summer near the pole – not at the actual pole. And you link to a poster!
So to cap off… 1959 was not low on ice and nor was the 3.5 year period that Amundsen spent picking his way along the coast
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Gee aye
https://www.google.com/search?q=uss+skate+and+north+pole+image&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=or2Medociil_8M%253A%252C4LwmnnyRVGjv2M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTY1r2fzTUvzUEEjbGTJRz9q0dTJw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTjK6JwIHkAhVVVH0KHaarAawQ9QEwAnoECAgQDA#imgrc=tBmB_-RQSx2bqM:&vet=1
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Submarines have surfaced at the North Pole FFS. Its a dumb metric not indicative of anything much apart from climate variability.
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Have you seen this orca footage from NZ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIcQMwYC1o
This was a woman who was approached by the whales, got out of the water, then went back in with them to finish her swim.
Some notable comments:
A heart attack or a hard left for me, whichever happens first.
The beautiful music is just covering the blood curdling screams coming from the swimmer.
I would have left a giant trail of brown.
Very intelligent creatures. Most here won’t know of the pack of killer whales that used to assist whalers on the far south coast of NSW from the 1890s to the 1930s. At Twofold Bay near Eden the men would row out in whale boats to harpoon passing whales, but not before the obliging killer whales had driven the migrating whales close inshore.
Once a whale was harpooned the killers would take turns lying on it to tire and drown it, after which it would float to the surface and then be hauled ashore. In the whaling museum at Eden is the skeleton of Old Tom, the leader of the pod. In his teeth were grooves worn from years of sliding down the harpoon ropes onto the whales.
The tongue, lips and other tasty morsels were given to the killer whales as their reward. That symbiotic arrangement lasted for decades until Old Tom died whereupon the whalers went out of business. Old Tom’s body washed ashore in 1930 and his skeleton was recovered.
The Whaling Museum has been updated and rebuilt now. From memory the book about the killer whales is Killers of Eden.
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They are just big, piebald dolphins after all.
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Some of Chinese intelligentsia are more worried about global cooling.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3022136/china-scientists-warn-global-cooling-trick-natures-sleeve
JGRATMOS (2019) Shrinkage of East Asia Winter Monsoon Associated With Increased ENSO Events Since the Mid-Holocene
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018JD030148
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I think China just plays lipservice to the warming propaganda. They have their own interests, as most countries do. They realize the ‘game’. One of the smart nations.
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“Lead scientist Dr Wu Jing, from the Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the study had found no evidence of human influence on northern China’s warming winters.
“Driving forces include the sun, the atmosphere, and its interaction with the ocean,” Wu said. “We have detected no evidence of human influence. But that doesn’t mean we can just relax and do nothing.””
Of course. Its going to get COLDER!
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July 14, 2019: “Jyrki Kauppinen and Pekka Malmi, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, in their paper published on 29th June 2019 claim to prove that the “GCM-models used in IPCC report AR5 fail to calculate the influences of the low cloud cover changes on the global temperature.
In addition, Kauppinen and Malmi claim that their paper proves that “the changes in the low cloud cover fraction practically control the global temperature.”
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/16562-finnish-scientists-effect-of-human-activity-on-climate-change-insignificant.html
1981: 0.00: “Scientists now understand the complex relationships that determine climate..
Understand, for example, the importance of temperature differences, and carbon dioxide, and the world’s great circulation atmosphere.
1.54: “The computer is fed with equations which relate the behaviour of cloud, to that of sea, to the role of sunlight, and the effect of the poles.”
3.00, S Schnieder: “ Then, you literally pollute the model.
You of course just go to a type writer, you type in a couple of cards which end up saying, model, here is a different CO2 concentration.
Then, part of the model which computes the greenhouse effect computes a different kind of greenhouse effect.
You run the model so many years forward in simulated time, ‘computer, new climate, and that’s where these predictions of 2 to 3 degrees warming in 100 years come from.”
Climate Change – Warming Warning – 1981
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVQgyn-zP18
More …
Climate Change – Warming Warning – 1981
(1.39 long- excerpt below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWCNB8gNLB0
08 December, 1981: “It is now thought that by the first half of the next century, energy consumption will be up four-fold, and that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere could have doubled.
A slower release of CO2 into the atmosphere might not have mattered.
By no means all of the CO2 remains in the air, about half is absorbed by the oceans.
But this is a slow, and poorly understood process.
It was, in fact, the seas capacity to absorb CO2, that made scientists skeptical that it would ever present a serious problem.
. . .
Climate Change – Warming Warning – 1981
(7.23 long)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSW8UeMp2kU
. . .
2.13 long: features s schnieder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M3-aLAuhkI
. . .
6.35 long:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zHAbYOXjzk
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I believe Stephen Schneider was one of the leading alarmists for global cooling in the 1970s. He then abruptly switched to being a global warming alarmist.
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Simple explanation – the money trail changed direction.
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New York Times 1976/07/18 Archives: The chilling prospect of global cooling from Stephen Schneider, back then
…
“There is little food stored to cushion the shock of the kinds of weather problems that so suddenly and unexpectedly damaged crops in 1972, 1974 and 1975, and there is growing evidence that such damaging weather may occur more frequently in the next decade than in the last one. The most imminent and far reaching [danger] is the possibility of a food‐climate crisis that would burden the well to do countries with unprecedented hikes in food prices, but could mean famine and political instability for many parts of the nonindustrialized world.”
So writes Stephen Schneider, a young climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., reflecting the consensus of the climatological community in his new book, “The Genesis Strategy.” His warning, that present world food reserves are an insufficient hedge against future famines, has been heard among the scientific community for years—for example, it was a conclusion of a 1975 National Academy of Sciences report. But Schneider has decided to explain the entire problem, as responsibly and accurately as he can, to the general public, and thus has put together a useful and important book.”
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All here, Graeme.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/173/3992/138
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“By no means all of the CO2 remains in the air, about half is absorbed by the oceans.
But this is a slow, and poorly understood process.”
You do not need to understand something to measure it. As seen with C14 after the bomb blasts, the decay of (tagged) CO2 is a perfect e-kt response with a half life of 14 years. The idea that half remains in the air for some reason is absurd. Equilibrium sets CO2 levels in the air, nothing else. The idea that we humans can control or even influence CO2 levels on any scale is not science but against the rules of physical chemistry.
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If you have a little more time to waste …
Al Gore on NOVA in 1983
On the NOVA episode “Climate Crisis,” Al Gore lays out the case for human induced climate change in 1983, 36 long years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8JlBkOe6HU
~~~~~
1982: Early Warnings of Climate Change Catastrophe – 1982 – CBS Evening News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45rJrYm5saA
1.03: “Climate changes could produce wide spread disruption of agriculture.
The American farm belt might be too dry and the wheat and corn crops might have to move to Canada.
Scientists blame the odourless, colourless carbon dioxide gas for these potentially dangerous changes around the planet.
Al Gore @1.58.
James Kane, Dept. of Energy, 2.07: “Even the pessimists, the ones that predict these terrible cases, aren’t really predicting large effects for 50 years or so, so I don’t think that we should pour money on this problem in the short run.”
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And Professor Paul Erhlich was saying in the 1960’s that the Earth couldn’t sustain 2½ billion people therefore societies would collapse (and the oil would run out) and there would be cannibals roaming the Mid West of the USA etc.
And 50 years later we have 7½ billion people better fed and mostly better off (and the oil hasn’t run out either).
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And thanks to more CO2, there is potentially potentially 50% more greenery. There are only three major components to plant life, sun, water and CO2. When we move or even think, that is a product of stored solar energy in carbon bonds, producing carbon dioxide. We breathe in CO2 at 0.04% and breathe out at 24% CO2. All biological reactions, organic chemistry, are about the story of Carbon. It has been amazing for any scientists to call CO2 pollution. You would have to rewrite the dictionary and class humans as pollution. Fundamentally Greens are anti life on earth. Even Green is a long chain hydrocarbon and the basis of all life.
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He is another of those teflon pundits who is continually wrong and continually trotted out as an expert.
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“The American farm belt might be too dry and the wheat and corn crops might have to move to Canada.”
Try telling the US farm belt that this year!
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The Latest “Climate Information” from Al Gore:
Al Gore claims his climate-change predictions about 2016 have now come true
https://www.foxnews.com/media/climate-change-environment-green-al-gore
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The Sunday Telegraph is lauding the building of the NSW desalination plant in line with Warragamba being 50% capacity.
Some thoughts.
Other options should be
1] build up the wall of Warragamba dam to mitigate downstream flooding impacting the residents of the Hawkesbury Valley.
2]The last time Warragamba flooded there were suspected cases of Leptospirosis in dogs in the extent of the floodwaters
to the edges of Schofields.
3]Leptospirosis is a rat and human spread disease that is showing up in inner city sites despite the drought.
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/sydney-six-leptospirosis-cases-in-dogs-city-doubling-rat-baits-22386/
Since no one, let alone the BOM ,has any technology to predict drought or its breaking, the Goverment needs to start planning for the next
flood.
The desalination plant has been a continuing disaster.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/535m-paid-to-keep-desalination-plant-in-state-of-hibernation-20150411-1miuw6.html
It was wiped out back in 2015 and only came back on line in 2018.
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/c0d6ae3c7663bac36550dc0ad3725aaa?width=650
The budgeted price was $1.896 billion way back in 2006 and it is powered by ‘green’ windpower from Bungendore at no doubt a
heavily subsidised price of electricity.
The politicians want to build a bigger desal plant.
That means that someone overseas will be getting a big contract and with the poor $Aussie so sick, we will pay too much yet again.
So, why not retrofit housing with rainwater tanks, especially in the coastal area that this plant supplies.
Its always got rain.
A cool $two billion would mean more work for tradies, plumbers, tank manufacturers and the money would stay here.
The government could borrow, as Percy Allan recently suggested, at say 1% and fund the whole thing.
There would not be much foreign exchange impact as China is madly devaluing.
Alternatively we should buy Australian.
So plan to build our own tank capacity, recycle more water, build up our dams, build Australians.
The alternative is to build fragile infrastructure, such as a desal plant, on a windy storm and hail prone sea shore, and
let a freak storm wipe it out for three years, and say that’s OK,we believe in Groundhog Day, we will build more in the same place.
Just as a side note.
The Federal Libs could have won Macquarie.
‘The division is located to the west of Sydney, and today it covers a large part of the Blue Mountains, as well as the Hawkesbury region on Sydney’s western fringe. The current Member for Macquarie, since the 2016 federal election, is Susan Templeman, a member of the Australian Labor Party.
The Windsor/Richmond people will not be very happy if the Libs refuse to make Warragamba safe and stop it flooding their electorate.
If Susan is smart, she will back the safety option, electors will agree.
I feel a Racing Greyhound moment coming on.
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Whilst raising the dam wall is admirable, you can’t really blame Lepto on Warragamba Dam height. Leptospira breed in stagnant water. Any puddle will do, which is why it is very common around the Top End in the wet season. Most mammal populations throughout Australia will carry the disease to some extent, including wild animals, farm animals and dogs. Cats are not as susceptible. It is a zoonotic disease (passed from animals to humans).
Controlling rats in urban areas would be a good start to controlling the disease, but dogs should be vaccinated for it in any case.
It used to be called the “dairy farmers’ disease” because it is so easily caught from cow urine (mainly from fine drifting particles of urine landing in the farmer’s eyes) and was one of the scourges of farmers, the others being Brucellosis and Q-Fever. All zoonotic diseases. Lepto is bacterial and easily controlled by vaccinating the animals.
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My point is that when the Hawkesbury flooded last time in the 80’s Lepto broke out in the stagnant flooded areas in the electorate of Macquarie.Raising the dam wall would mitigate this.
The serotype of the outbreak in the City is not securely known, with only one data point.
Until serotype is defined, mass vaccination of dogs is a waste of time in non endemic areas, such as most of the entire Sydney Basin.
Visiting one of the sites three weeks ago I found no rat runs to the bait boxes and open drains.
This implied a local lack of control and care, as rats can swim through p traps and dont’t visit empty bait boxes.
As you say, vermin control is a good start.
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Just a bit more, the serotype is unknown.The local authority has made a decision to increase baiting of rats.
http://outbreaknewstoday.com/sydney-six-leptospirosis-cases-in-dogs-city-doubling-rat-baits-22386/
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We are behind in building dams. Every suggested alternative is an expensive joke.
Build dams.
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We should have built that other Dungog dam Keith. They’ve sold all that land off again. With the Hunter’s population bursting like it is and a quarter of the Tomago Sandbeds now off-limits with PFAS contamination, we will be scratching for water soon. Just up my way there are 3 large new subdivisions and a whole new town either just built or under construction, even a new Greenhills/Charlestown Square shopping centre clone planned at Lochinvar.
Chichester has been plagued with blue-green algae too. That demonstrates that the algae’s presence is not necessarily promoted by man’s activities. An outbreak in cold water in winter is uncommon and the dam is in absolute virgin wilderness. Barrington Tops is however capped with basalt, and elsewhere basalt has been shown to leach enough phosphorus to promote the growth of B-G algae. Suck on that greenies.
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The non dam.
Hunter water users saved and paid for the land for the dam, local money.
A state government said we didn’t need no stinking non green damned dam and sold the land.
And Took The Money To Sydney.
The Lootocracy at work.
KK
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Politics = Grape and Pillage.
20
reminds me of the Ag ball at Melbourne Uni in the 80’s called “Rape and Tillage”
41
🙂
20
Negative 0.5% interest rate mortgages available in Denmark, now. Yep, the recovery is in full swing!
https://www.jyskebank.dk/bolig/nyheder/realkredit-med-negativ-rente
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Brian – comment #9 – posted a link to the following article in SCMP, but I couldn’t get the text at his link, only the headline, so am posting the following link in case the same thing happens to anyone else:
11 Aug: Today: South China Morning Post: China scientists warn of global cooling trick up nature’s sleeve
A new study has found winters in northern China have been warming since 4,000BC – regardless of human activity – but the mainland scientists behind the research warn there is no room for complacency or inaction on climate change, with the prospect of a sudden global cooling also posing a danger…
Lead scientist Dr Wu Jing, from the Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the study had found no evidence of human influence on northern China’s warming winters.
“Driving forces include the sun, the atmosphere, and its interaction with the ocean,” Wu said. “We have detected no evidence of human influence. But that doesn’t mean we can just relax and do nothing.”…
Nature, they warned, may trick us and might catch us totally unprepared – causing chaos, panic, famine and even wars as the global climate system is disrupted.
There are already alarming signs, according to their paper, which has been accepted for publication by the online Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres…
Their findings confirmed an earlier study by a separate team of Chinese scientists, published by online journal Scientific Reports in 2014, which first detected the 500-year cyclical pattern of China’s summer monsoons and linked it to solar activity…READ ON
https://today.line.me/id/pc/article/China+scientists+warn+of+global+cooling+trick+up+nature+s+sleeve-xMz9Zw
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8 Aug: HoustonChronicle: A ‘climate corps’ is core to many 2020 Democrats’ environmental plans
by Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post
Democrats running for president on promises to slow climate change are asking young people to do more than just vote for them. Many White House hopefuls are laying out plans to put teenagers and 20-somethings to work guarding the country against the worst effects of global warming.
Core to a number of Democrats’ climate plans is the creation of a “climate corps.” Akin to the Peace Corps launched in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy as a soft-power check against Russia, a climate-focused national service program would tackle what many presidential candidates see as this generation’s greatest challenge by putting young Americans to work planting trees, restoring wetlands and aiding victims of natural disasters.
Such a program attempts to channel the popular calls for national service from both Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression and Kennedy during the Cold War into action this century – an updated version of the latter’s call to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
The latest Democrat to propose such a program is Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who with Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., on Thursday will unveil a bill that would establish a new civilian corps focused on environmental stewardship…
Former Maryland congressman John Delaney is pitching a climate corps that would deploy young volunteers to ***install rooftop solar panels and retrofit buildings to conserve energy…READ ON
https://m.chron.com/news/article/A-climate-corps-is-core-to-many-2020-Democrats-14289726.php
VIDEO: 1min25sec: 11 Aug: Reuters: Greta Thunberg, on German coal mine visit, questions 2038 fuel exit date
by Petra Wischgoll, writing by Vera Eckert
FRANKFURT: Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, on a visit to a German anti-coal protest camp, questioned whether the country should continue to use the fuel to generate power for another 20 years as the government plans.
Thunberg, the most visible spokeswoman of the Fridays for Future movement of students striking to demand climate action, was talking to reporters at the western German Hambach forest near Cologne.
The area has become a symbol of protest against the coal industry, prompting utility RWE to give assurances it would not touch the forest until late 2020, although it had hoped to clear it for brown coal mining and burning activities…
“If we are to stay below 1.5 degrees of temperature rise, then science says that Germany can probably not continue to burn coal. I mean, another 20 years,” Thunberg said.
“That is not my opinion or what I think, that’s what science says,” she added.
Plans to stop using coal by 2038, recommended by a government-appointed commission in January, and to abandon nuclear by 2022 are part of Germany’s costly transition to renewables, known as the Energiewende…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-youthactivist/greta-thunberg-on-german-coal-mine-visit-questions-2038-fuel-exit-date-idUSKCN1V00LN
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I suggest that these climate corps people be given brown, or black shirts, it’s only fitting.
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9 Aug: GWPF: Greta Throws Journalists Out Of Climate Summit
BLICK – Swiss News
On the last day of the “Smile for Future” climate summit at the University of Lausanne, the mood among the teenagers remains tense. Since Wednesday, when there had been crying fits and violent quarrels at times at the meeting, the activists are under particular observation.
The idol of the movement, Greta Thunberg, knows that too. The friction among the youngsters does not leave the 16-year-old Swede indifferent. On the contrary: On Friday morning her patience snapped. She personally had the journalists present thrown out of the hall…
The fifth and last day of the conference started with a reassessment. Micael, one of the participants, standing on the stage put his finger in the weak spot of the activists: “There was little structure and it was difficult to agree on anything.”…
Only on Wednesday BLICK had reported on the giant spat among the Greta disciples (LINK). The headline caused a stir and was also picked up by newspapers abroad. Thunberg was not pleased that the images of exasperated and crying teenagers attracted so much attention. She also rejected the claim in an article by “Buzzfeed” (LINK) that she had participated in a summit strike…
The majority of the 450 participants in the room wave their hands as a sign of approval for Thunberg. All news media have to leave the hall while the journalists are stunned…
Yet media boycott by the climate teens doesn’t last for long. After a few minutes the journalists are allowed back…
https://www.thegwpf.com/green-mini-dictator-greta-throws-news-journalists-out-of-climate-summit/
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Teenagers being just ‘kids’ Pat ?
T’was ever thus !
Even Blessed Greta.
30
never interrupt the enemy when they are making mistakes…
I wonder if the hand-waving was not actually “jazz-hands”, the replacement for clapping, as the noise is too disturbing for some mentally ill narcissists to cope with.
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11 Aug: UK Sun: NATIONAL DISGRACE National Grid top boss back at work to sort outage misery after foreign trip
by Ryan Sabey, Isaac Cowson
NATIONAL Grid boss John Pettigrew was back at his desk today after an overseas trip – after a million people faced power cut misery.
Chief exec John Pettigrew’s pay, perks and pension package was branded a “national disgrace” after outage failings caused disruption across the country…
He is on £944,000 a year topped up with performance targets. It dwarfs PM Boris Johnson’s £150,000 and the £230,000 paid to Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick…
Phil Hewitt of EnAppSys, which provides energy systems to power providers, said the chaos was easily avoidable.
He said: “They could have had more battery storage. It could have reacted instantly to the frequency dropping…
“But that means more money being spent — and customers’ prices increasing.”…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9698104/national-grid-boss-holiday-power-cut/
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Isn’t it funny that the solution to problems caused by “renewables” is always to spend more of someone else’s money?
40
I wonder what the average UK customer pays per kWh these days?
20
Batteries? More of them!
There’s wise after the event and there’s also even more stupid after the event; there’s no way back from the deep ignorance espoused by Phil Hewitt –his gang goes straight to the re-education camp when reason finally prevails.
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IL&FS Seeks NCLT’s Final Approval To Sell Wind Power Plants To Japan’s Orix
BloombergQuint – 37 minutes ago
Orix Corporation already owns 49 percent stake in each of seven operational wind power plants of the IL&FS Group…
11 Aug: NDTV India: IL&FS Seeks Tribunal Approval For Sale Of Wind Energy Arm
IL&FS had already received approval earlier last month for the sale of its wind energy business from Justice (Retired) DK Jain, appointed by NCLAT.
New Delhi: Crisis-ridden IL&FS has filed a proposal to the National Company law Tribunal (NCLT) to complete the sale of its arm IL&FS Wind Energy Ltd (IWEL) to ORIX Corporation of Japan…
According to the debt-ridden lending firm, the sale to ORIX will lead to the debt resolution of the following seven companies of the IL&FS Group — Lalpur Wind Energy Private Ltd, Etesian Urja, Khandke Wind Energy, Retadi Wind Power, Wind Urja India, Tadas Wind Energy and Kaze Energy…
https://www.ndtv.com/business/il-fs-seeks-tribunal-approval-for-sale-of-wind-energy-arm-2083612
Wikipedia: IL&FS: On 02 April 2019, former vice chairman of IL&FS, Hari Sankaran, was arrested by SFIO in Mumbai for fraud and causing wrongful loss to the troubled infrastructure lender. He is accused of granting loans to entities that were not credit-worthy or declared as non-performing accounts causing loss to the company and its creditors…
The initial SFIO probe revealed that there were major lapses in Deloitte’s audit of the IL&FS…
9 Aug: Livemint: IL&FS scam: NCLT allows government to ban Deloitte, BSR for five years
The ministry move to ban them came in after the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in its investigation found them guilty of painting a rosy picture of IFIN (IL&FS Financial Services) despite being aware of the poor financial health of the company…
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/il-fs-scam-nlct-allows-government-to-ban-deloitte-bsr-1565354458309.html
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A few days old, but I don’t remember seeing this article posted here:
Australia looks to access US fuel reserves to shore up supplies amid Persian Gulf tensions
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/05/climate-champion-australia-begs-usa-for-fuel/
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They should have thought about that before destroying Australian refinery capability, and severely crippling onshore exploration for unconventional oil/gas resources. Idiots…
90
We don’t produce enough oil to make it worth while to refine it here. It makes more sense to buy refined heavy/sweet crude from OS and rather than send all the tankers back empty fill some of them with our light crude for OS refinement
30
What is this based on…? How much would we need to produce in order to make even 1 refinery viable?
Australia currently produces about 300000 bbls per day of oil and condensate, which is not enormous, but it is hardly a tiny amount.
“small” refineries handle about 30000-40000 barrels per day, but I guess they may be limited in terms of source material variability.
40
neil:
by heavy and light do you mean aromatic, naphthenic or paraffinic? Our oil is the last and very good for diesels. Oil from the USA is mostly naphthenic. Aromatic oils can be classified as Heavy such as that from Venezuela, but are not always so.
30
“Some Chiefio realism on Oz tapping the US strategic oil reserve”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/08/06/incremental-green-new-deal-a-modest-suggestion/#comment-115495
Seems like we need a better idea.
10
while you were out–https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-number-of-layers-onion-has-depends.html
https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/08/ai-death-dance.html
https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-little-visit-to-xinjiang.html
https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/08/videos-moscowst-petersburg-aug-9-2019.html
etc.
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ok https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/08/timeplace-to-turn-it-around.html
10
There may be some truth to the notion that folks who don’t have any real hardship in their lives have to invent some.
My grandparents, lived through the great depression.
My dad fought in world war two.
In the middle of my senior year I got a letter that began “Your Friends and Neighbors send you greetings….” and reported five days after graduation. (And never saw anything remotely approaching hostilities, but didn’t indulge my own wishes for a period of time there).
Life is serious and real. Even comedy is serious and real…argument is real questions, and attempts at real answers. This is hard to enunciate. It’s more than just the shallowness we sometimes attribute to youth, I think.
And I listen to the tone of conversation, both of young people, and of older people and of older people who think they are talking to younger people in the political world out there.
And I try to parse the semantics in various places to help get a sense of what is going on….and a thought struck me.
If there anybody who reads Jo Nova who is under 30?
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No flurry of responses yet from the youngsters. So maybe not.
On the other hand, there was a sudden spike in readership a few days back, with reader numbers of about 200 at a time. Everyone seemed to taking a look at the “Diesel Generator Behind the Electric Car Charging Point” story.http://joannenova.com.au/2019/08/the-diesel-generator-behind-the-electric-car-charging-point/
I took that as a sign that the story went viral on Twitter. If so there were likely a few youngsters reading it.
60
Two years ago I went to the Marc Morano Climate Hustle screening at Melbourne’s State Library and observed that there were only two school age young people present, presumably accompanying their parents, and that the mean age of attendees was somewhere in the sixties.
I came away with the impression that the brainwashing in schools and the MSM has infected the entire below fifty year old age cohort.
Supposing the solar minimum does not eventuate give it another two decades and nobody will be left to post on blogs such as this one.
20
http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/4day_col.shtml
Why is it that these blocking highs seem to need Australia to anchor on?
30
Re “the new IPCC Report on Climate Change and Land.”
Some comments on same
“Climate Change and Land: discussion thread”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/11/climate-change-and-land-discussion-thread/
And
“Farm unions accuses media of “inflating” IPCC report”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/11/farm-unions-accuses-media-of-inflating-ipcc-report/
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“FINALLY! Cracks in the façade of the mighty environmental industry machine, originating from a critical place – the inside”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/08/10/finally-cracks-in-the-facade-of-the-mighty-environmental-industry-machine-originating-from-a-critical-place-the-inside/
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This link has much more detail on the film Planet of the Humans:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/09/consuming-the-planet-of-the-humans-the-most-important-documentary-of-the-century/
This is an extract from the film:
I wonder if eCon Musk will still?
Also this is another of many extracts:
I will be looking out for the film release in Australia. It is great when an engineering illiterate like Moore gets a little education.
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“This link has much more detail on the film Planet of the Humans”
Based on information contained in this link, I have two Comments:
1) Planet of the Humans assumes that CAGW is an existential threat:
“Like “Bowling Columbine,” “Planet of the Humans” asks the pertinent questions on a serious, existential issue”
2) Planet of the Humans assumes that the only way to solve the problem is A) The Ebenezer Scrooge solution: “decrease the surplus population” and/or B) reduce the living standards of the population (I am pretty confident he doesn’t expect to apply these solutions to himself or his cohorts as they belong to the group of more equal pigs).
“The bottom line is that there are: Too many Clever Apes; consuming too much; too rapidly.”
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Rick,
I dont know where some folk get their information,..but Germany having only 3.5% RE is so far off base i doubt the sanity of the film authors.
If they intend to argue a case , they need to get their facts straight.
Germany has “capacity” for 100% RE power supply, but due to the usual limiting factors that usually work out at around 40% – 50% of actual supply.
They (Germany) also have fossil generation capacity for 100% supply if required !
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Germany
01
Just read an article that the socialist government in Spain is aiming for 100% renewables in 2050, with a 90% reduction in greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels. Petrol and diesel vehicles to be banned, no fracking, and fossil fuels to be phased out.
Phew!
20
The socialist government does not have the numbers in the Cortes
To pass this type of law.
It is holding office with help from Catalan seperatists.
And since taking power last year
The number of boar people from Africa showing up
On Spanish shores has exploded.
I expect this mob to get the royal steel capped boot from the Spanish people very shortly.
30
Socialists’ famous last words: we’ll be back! {sound of evil laughter}
20
‘The second Bathurst Bullet daily return train service to Sydney will be up and running in just over a month.’
Western Advocate
30
“The Bathurst Bullet”
Is that named with similar wry humour s “The Newfie Bullet”?
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/newfie-bullet
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More likely the Spanish Rapido train; stops at every station.
30
They are manifesting the real thing, Premier Gladys has a five year plan to reduce a three hour trip to 30 minutes.
Of course it might just be a cargo cult.
00