His latest talking points, an Earth Day Special!
Contrary to rhetoric that we’ve “destroyed the planet,” the world has never been a better place for human beings to live. Life expectancy and income have been skyrocketing, with extreme poverty (<$2/day) plummeting from 42% in 1980 to <10% today.
Philosopher and author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. A prolific contributor to the climate and energy debate.
Therein lies the problem.
The Left are trying to destroy all values derived from The Enlightenment and return us to more primitive feudal ways (except for the Elites).
Values of The Enlightenment such as:
-the pursuit of human happiness
-the pursuit of knowledge based on the scientific method, reason and evidence of one’s senses
-toleration of alternative ideas
-individual liberty
-freedom of speech
-ongoing progress
-social cohesion
-laws and constitutional based government
-religion protected (but not involved in government, the Left attack conventional religion and replace it with their own beliefs such as nature worship, worship of the self).
are clearly under attack.
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Example:
Australia: Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles meets with Guo Yezhou, deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department during “China Matters”-organised visit to Beijing in September (2019)
“Guo Yezhou said that the Chinese Communist Party values its links with the Australian Labor Party, and wishes to strengthen exchanges between the two parties.”
“Mr Marles..said that the Australian Labor Party wanted to strengthen interactions & cooperation between the two parties”
Destroy all values including sovereignty, to quote several concerned former and serving Federal Members of Parliament, examples Bronwyn Bishop and Peter Dutton: China would like to have Australia as a vassal state.
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I wonder if there’s a transcript of what was discussed, LOL, this goes back to Guff recognising the chicomms way back in ’72.
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The reaction can be explained using an extension of Le Chatelier’s Law in Thermodynamics to the global socio-economic system:
When a system is subjected to a forcing that disturbs its equilibrium, the system changes to a new equilibrium with the forcing partly counteracted by the applied change.
Slavery reasserting itself.
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David there is no Left. What we are fighting is a planned creation. We are on a path, so to speak. The Chinese got control of strategic metals and production for a reason. The Russians invade now for a reason. Covid was released now for reason.
The Left were gobbled up by corrupt thing in the US that the Chinese created by taking over the US universities and the Democratic party. There is no logical reason that the Democratic party would now while we are still getting over covid and facing out of control inflation… ….need to start racial wars, riots, and force weaponized gender education into kindergarten and primary education. What problem are the Dems trying to solve? Same question about fighting climate change.
The covid isolation and super spending was madness which the US/EU led and logically led to super inflation. That is predictable. Inflation makes the poorest, poorer instantly.
The thing the Chinese created (including the companies like Disney, Google, Facebook, CNN and so on which they now control) is trying to stop free speech and cheat in the US elections again, to hide what is going on.
Our governments have been sabotaged with weaponized ideology and have done stupid things for decades like borrow and create massive amounts of currency. Decades of madness, causes currency collapses when the interest rates suddenly rise and there is simultaneous energy shortages.
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William Astley — nothing to do with Russia or China — western problems go way back to enlightenment, Darwinism, universal suffrage, central banking and fiat money, all of that is at least 300 years old.
example of universal suffrage:
Karl Marx wrote that whenever capitalists accept the right of propertyless men to vote, private property is in theory abolished. 1843
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In a lot of ways the problem is, no problems.
Humans in general need a cause/problem, we’re problem solvers – it’s what we do.
Politics and politicians more than anyone, need problems to solve in order to justify their existence.
The very best political problems are one that don’t actually exist – because A they are endless and B no one can say it the have been solved or not.
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Some of us are problem solvers and some are just problem creators. The fact is that there are no politicians or public servants that are capable of solving a problem because they have no incentive to do so. All the problem solvers are in the private sector and all the problem makers are in the public sector. Just think; if the public sector and politicians did not exist or did not wield such power we would not be closing Liddell (unless it was to rebuild it) nor would we be building Snowy2 because we know it to be a dud. One way to solve our problems would be to sack most of the PS and tender the jobs they do to private companies.
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Too true, the only thing politicians and public servants can do about any problem is spend tax payers money on it.
Lets take the most basic thing like a bad section of road.
All any politician can do is allocate how much of the budget to spend on it.
It’s then over to the Public Servant – their job is to make sure the budget is spent on time (woe betide ant Public Servant who doesn’t spend all their budget) The incentive is to allocate the money and then see that it gets spent. It a section of road actually gets fixed, that’s just a happy byproduct of the main goal – allocating and spending tax payers money.
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Binny
“(woe betide ant Public Servant who doesn’t spend all their budget) ”
Doesn’t happen – if desperate order more ball point pens to add to the stock from last year
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Lawrie:
I refer you to the story of the R100 & R101.
The UK government decided to build 2 airships in the 1920’s.
The R100 was built by Vickers on a fixed price contract, was completed first and undertook trials for its Certificate of Airworthiness before flying to Canada and back.
The R101 was built by the Air Ministry (and contractors). Went over budget mainly due to a lot of modifications. A major problem was the decision to use diesel fuel which meant ship type motors (heavy, and lighter German aeronautical ones weren’t considered. Then there was less lift than expected so the ship had to be extended and one engine was set to do reversing, meaning it was a dead weight most of the time. The air trials showed up problems but these were largely ignored as a deadline for a publicity trip to India had been set. The Certificate of Airworthiness was handed to one of the crew just before takeoff. It crashed in northern France with the loss of 48 of the 54 aboard.
The Court of Inquiry (headed by a politician) found that the R101 would not have started for India on the evening of October 4th if it had not been that matters of public policy were considered as making it highly desirable that she should do so”, but considered this to be the result of all concerned being eager to prove the worth of R101, rather than direct interference from above. No one was to blame.
The R100 proved her worth before flying the Atlantic and was subsequently scrapped.
It would seem the R101 proved unsatisfactory. Some of it was scrapped (and Zeppelin bought 5 tons of duralumin).
Some might see a difference between public and private enterprise (especially when only one had a fixed price).
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Lawrie
“The fact is that there are no politicians or public servants that are capable of solving a problem because they have no incentive to do so. All the problem solvers are in the private sector and all the problem makers are in the public sector. ”
In Queensland you can thank Goss and Rudd for putting a rocket under that transition
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The Chinese or Big Money? Are Bill Gates, George Soros, Klaus Schwab etc Chinese? We are suffering from corporate capture of the state. Robert Malone has a good essay here:
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/the-corruption-of-our-nation?s=r
Of course Big Money will collude with China, because it offers the possibility of higher profits.
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What explains Boris’s left-leaning direction towards the green industry? Bought off? Blackmail? He is definitely getting worse.
It is a warning to those who are already looking at Scott Morrison with great suspicion over his non-mandated-by-the-voters move to net zero.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/04/23/bojo-condemns-prejudice-against-green-agenda-wont-scrap-energy-taxes/
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The Cost of Enlightenment
https://mises.org/library/cost-enlightenment-0
Edmund Burke regarded the Enlightenment, as a “destructive movement of the human intellect…[an intellect] free from all social restraints,…[convinced it can] remodel society” in any image it chooses.
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R. J. Rushdoony
Not only is every church a religious institution, but every state or social order is a religious establishment. Every state is a law order, and every law order represents an enacted morality, with procedures for the enforcement of that morality. Every morality represents a form of theological order, i.e., is an aspect and expression of a religion. The church thus is not the only religious institution; the state also is a religious institution. More often than the church, the state has been the central religious institution of most civilizations through the centuries. The war between the Roman Empire and the early church was a religious warfare, a struggle between two claimants who represented rival religions and wanted to order society in terms of their faith. The claims of each faith were total claims, as all religious claims are.
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Amen.
Blessings continue.
John
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Amen.
Faithfully, John
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” . . . the world has never been a better place for human beings to live.”
Right there is the biggest obstacle to communism/socialism/progressivism yet. They all depend on the fable of the continuing fall to evil. But that “evil” is what feeds and comforts us.
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Heroes used to be mighty warriors who led the charge against their foes. Nowadays they are warriors who use words not swords and who are just as brave because the enemy is just as fierce and twice as dangerous. Full marks to Alex and thanks to Rafe for the introduction. The media is and always has been the problem but as Alex has shown it is incapable of sustaining an argument when faced with facts. I agree with the comments that if the Washington Post is so hell bent on destroying Alex they must be very afraid of what he is saying. Much like when the Flak is at its worst you must be over the target.
I note that even in the Australian if one mentions the truism that the media is the problem your comment will not be published.
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The majority of Australian media lean to the left of the political spectrum and know no shame, when challenged with facts that destroy what they have presented they adopt the age old tactic of denial and even attempt to refute the facts presented with words that are crafted to deceive and confuse, muddy the waters is one description.
As two senior and professional journalists in Australia (the late Larry Pickering and Piers Akerman) have commented in years past, schools of journalism are one problem, lack of advice from older professional journalists is another and many younger journalists do not follow the rule that a reporter reports and an editor editorialises. Maybe this is the result of the media management system Labor pioneered in Australia first in New South Wales State removing individual “Press Secretaries” from othe staff of Cabinet Ministers and Premier and with a large increase in staff numbers and professions were replaced with media management units. Journalists were handed media releases in a format they can hand in without needing to do any more work to satisfy their editor.
And as your comment indicated, many or most news outlets will not publish comments that are not in line with the political position adopted, ABC is a classic example.
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Journalism has been subverted by the placement of journalism into universities …… the lefts need for qualifications that leads to the establishment of the professional class that herds us into groups (the unit of currency of the left), the control of who owns the language of professionals so that minions can’t enter without being noticed leading to a professional elite…….the left is about in touch with average Australians as the average young person is with an iron.
It’s happened to nursing too….now many nurses see themselves as technocrats not carers … the sick and frail get things done to them not with them…
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Nurses and doctors no longer treat people as individuals or look at their needs as a whole – just parts, disease, prescription-takers and income. The last two years have definitely NOT swamped the medical facilities as predicted, but the staff in them have been busy making new rules and obstacles for the people they should be caring for. They are still doing it. If it isn’t indoctrination that has done this to otherwise intelligent people, I don’t know what has.
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In Australia’s case, I am sick of hearing apologetics for SloMo (PM and pretend conservative).
Contrary to what some claim, he is absolutely a believer in anthropogenic global warming and the imminent supposed destruction of the planet. He’s just less outwardly committed than the opposition and overall he is just very slightly less bad.
And notwithstanding the fact that many energy issues are state matters, he shows an overwhelming lack of leadership on energy, as with all other matters.
For example, he should have withdrawn us from the highly destructive Paris Agreement, as President Trump did for his country, and removed all federal laws against fracking and oil and gas exploration (with possible exceptions of especially sensitive areas as long as there was a scientific case for doing so).
He should also have initiated an inquiry into possible data fraud at the Bureau of Meterology which my was previously initiated by PM Abbott but stopped by Klaus Schwab student, Greg Hunt.
He should have also had an inquiry which examined genuine, evidence-based real science into whether there was in fact anthropogenic global warming.
In addition, in regard to the billions of dollars thrown away under his watch on solar, wind, storage projects such as batteries and Snowy Hydro 2, and all other non-science-based “environmental” measures. He should have redirected the funds to something useful like major irrigation projects. Again, any of those things which were state matters, he could have at least shown some leadership.
Also, he should have removed bans and other impediments to nuclear power.
Australia’s commitments under the Paris Agreement are as follows:
https://www.industry.gov.au/policies-and-initiatives/international-climate-change-commitments
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Years ago when Turnbull MP was elected to represent the Electorate of Wentworth, Sydney Eastern Suburbs, and he delivered his “maiden speech” to Parliament in Canberra, Scott Morrison was there to support his friend and so were several others now in Government positions there. But they changed their views over time, maybe because of the branch stacking that took place in Wentworth to remove the sitting MP Peter King as candidate and as the years passed internal political undermining seeking power and influence. Examples: Dr Brendan Nelson MP after he was appointed Coalition Opposition Leader in 2007 after Rudd Labor defeated the Howard Coalition Government, and later Tony Abbott MP when he was Opposition Leader and then Prime Minister. Which leads to 2018 when Scott Morrison was elected by a Liberal MP majority to be the Prime Minister to replace Turnbull. Malcolm Turnbull was very unhappy and angry, he lashed out with harsh words directed at PM Morrison. And not long after that the PM appointed Turnbull to represent the Government at functions in Washington and Indonesia and on both occasions Turnbull used the opportunities to take swipes at the Government he was representing. PM Morrison responded saying Turnbull would not get another opportunity like that while he remained the PM.
PM Morrison overturned various “Turnbull Government” (as he renamed it at the time) iniatives and policies such as cancelling what PM Morrison called “green funds” donations of foreign aid monies to the UN and instead redirected the funding to near neighbouring nations, Pacific Islands in particular. Various changes were made to renewables from the Federal perspective (States are responsible for electricity supply and State assets were privatised when the Federal Labor RET and direct subsidies were created) including setting the end date for RET and subsidies at 2030. Pushing the States to approve at least four gas fired power stations and one coal fired power station (so far one gas for NSW Hunter Valley has been given State planning approval). Federal company laws were amended to force greater pricing competition between electricity supply companies. An investigation into modular nuclear generators was started and the most recent development is cooperation with the British Government and Rolls Royce following the British Government’s expression of interest and request for Rolls Royce to fast track development. However, Australia has legislation Federal and State banning nuclear and that must be repealed before anything nuclear can be considered. At COP26 Australia represented by PM Morrison refused to ban coal mining, refused to increase Paris Agreement target and completion date brought back from 2030 to 2025 and refused to commit to a formal agreement to net zero emissions by 2050, instead making that “an aspirational goal” based on development of new technology and without damaging the economy. And more.
PM Morrison addressed the WEF in January 2022 by video link and stated that Australia will not adopt the WEF economic model but will continue with free enterprise principles (capitalism for leftists) and increasing national economic prosperity in future years.
And he has with the Liberal Party National Executive recently moved to force changes at the NSW State Executive where the LINO left faction have made their headquarters and brought to a head by the pre-selection of candidates disagreements and delays in the lead up to the 2022 Federal Elections.
Snowy 02 was a Turnbull Government initiative involving the State Government shareholders in the Snowy Mountains Hydro governments owned business. All electricity supply including approval of wind, solar or power stations is State Government responsibility and powers. As for showing “some leadership” the Morrison Government has done that, but of course the left leaning media does not highlight things that give credit to Labor Green political opponents, the Abbott Government had similar communication problems.
“Remove bans and other impediments to nuclear power”? Easy to say David, but maybe you do not understand the need for both Legislative Assembly and Senate majority numbers to pass legislation or repeal bills etc? And therefore in Canberra Labor, Greens and other opposition effectively control the Senate numbers. People used to comment about the Abbott Government not proceeding with repeal of Anti-Discrimination Act Section 18C and could not understand that it was withdrawn when it became clear that the Senate was opposed to repealing S18C. The Abbott Government moved on with more urgent anti-terrorism legislation that did get passed after much debate. Nuclear also needs State support for any change to the bans in place, and States are not supporting Uranium mining most of the time.
Right now Labor is in government in WA, SA, VIC, QLD, ACT & NT and are hoping to secure NSW within a year to so time. Imagine if they gain control of the Federal Parliament as well. You must realise that Labor-Greens plans for everything you oppose are all systems go?
Lastly, but there is much more, please consider the political realities, UN treaties and agreements that have been in place for years and decades, UN IPCC demands that Australia do more ignoring what Australia has done and continues to do, the added pressure and influence of the present major allies UK and US leadership, the importance of export trade for our economy and economic prosperity, defence and security considerations and relationship to cooperating with our allies and other friendly nations. And more. Consider the diplomatic approach taken to COP26 demands, WEF influence, etc., Australia could not ignore these political pressure points and for example turn back to power station electricity supply, even if the State Governments agreed the International outrage would be huge. The UN is already threatening the GBR reputation again since COP26 or what I call a blackmail attempt: cooperate or suffer a decline in tourism and related revenue if the GBR is given bad publicity. Christopher Monckton once warned Australians to watch the back of PM Abbott (and the same to Canadians and New Zealanders for their PMs) because PM Abbott and the Coalition Government he led were not cooperating, Abbott even referred to IPCC climate modelling as “cr*p”, and the left leaning media misquoted him alleging he said climate change is cr*p. The political realities of what our conservative leaders are subjected to, and mostly not made public for diplomatic reasons and purposes by all sides involved.
I am frustrated by the complexity of Federal-State relations in Australia, Commonwealth Constitution and State Constitutions, areas of responsibility and powers conflicting, etc.
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if you are not his family or a friend than you do not know that for sure.
But it is certain that he think that to keep his job, he need to go with the “intellectual” crowd.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” ― Upton Sinclair,
if you chose your leaders by faith — you will have less problems.
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“Australia is party to the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement came into force in 2016. It was a major step forward in international efforts to address climate change. Other international treaties are the” …. and, the “Turnbull Government” as the then PM called it returned to the UN in New York USA during November 2016 to ratify the Paris Agreement under no obligation to do that. The reason was based on the Trump decision that the US not sign a Paris Agreement and that the UN should stop interfering in the sovereign affairs of member nations.
The Paris Conference was held end of November into December 2015, Australia signed a Paris Agreement in April 2016.
Earlier before PM Turnbull replaced him PM Abbott and Cabinet of Ministers debated and voted in the majority for the lower than was being demanded emissions reduction target to be taken to the Paris Conference. Around that time PM Abbott was criticised, as PM Turnbull is being criticised today for not accepting the UN COP26 Conference demands, for not taking IPCC Climate Change (hoax) seriously, one comment held against him and misquoted was that Climate Change is “cr*p”. Not true, that was his description of IPCC modelling.
PM Morrison is centre right like Abbott and all the other Liberal MPs who are not members of the LINO left faction, centre left faction. As compared to Union Labor ranging from centre left to far left like Greens.
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Joe Biden on Earth Day: ‘Windmills Are Pretty’
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Joe Biden on Earth Day: ‘Windmills Are Pretty Ugly’.
There, fixed it for you.
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Well done!
Continuing the spirit of the Mad Magazine “complete the ad”
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“Let’s Go Brandon!” Trump Supporters Troll Biden as He Arrives at Seattle College (VIDEO)
Joe Biden traveled more than 3,000 miles to the Pacific Northwest to lecture Americans on climate change.
Trump supporters lined the streets to troll Joe Biden as his presidential motorcade drove to Green River College near Seattle.
The Trump supporters chanted, “Let’s go Brandon!” and gave Biden the middle finger as his motorcade drove by.
Joe Biden doesn’t even have supporters in deep blue Seattle. Let that sink in.
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Earth Day Poll: ‘Climate Change’ Last Priority for Americans
“Climate change” is the last priority for Americans and has dropped as an issue that must be dealt with immediately, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll on Friday.
The poll found that “climate change” was last on the list of most important priorities for Americans. Respondents ranked the economy (76 percent), inflation (73 percent), crime (59 percent), Ukraine (58 percent), immigration (48 percent), and then “climate change” (39 percent) in respective order of importance.
Fewer Americans also see “climate change” as a pressing issue last year. Today, only 49 percent of respondents said “climate change” is a pressing issue and should be solved “right now.” In April 2021, that number was 54 percent, a downward shift of six percent under President Biden.
In addition, Democrats do not believe that “climate change” is the most important issue. Blue Dog Democrats say the economy (74 percent), Ukraine (71 percent), and inflation (67 percent) have greater priorities than “climate change” (56 percent).
When radical Democrats were asked, “climate change” was still not the greatest priority. The top spot was held by Ukraine (74 percent), while “climate change” came in second (72 percent) ahead of inflation (68 percent) and the economy (67 percent).
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Energy Crisis: Italy to Ration Use of Air Conditioning, Heat, to Wean Country Off Russian Power
Two weeks after Italians were told they’d have a choice between “air conditioning or peace”, the government appears to have made the choice for them, introducing rationing of AC and heat in a bid to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported Russian energy.
From May 21st, public buildings such as government offices and schools in Italy will be limited on the degree to which they can use heating and cooling to regulate the temperature in a bid to reduce energy use. In the summer, air conditioning units will not be set to cooler than 25 degrees centigrade (77°F) and in the winter heating will not be set to warmer than 19°C (66°F), Il Giornale reports.
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Don’t let anyone claim that President Trump didn’t warn Europe about the over-dependence on Russian energy. This was entirely predictable.
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Australia already has the infrastructure to do this.
Most new a/c units have a feature called DRED, demand response enable device.
It allows the power company/Big Brother to remotely alter the temperature of your heating or cooling or disable it altogether in order to ration power.
I wrote an article about this in Silicon Chip magazine in 2017.
https://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2017/April/DRED%3A+they+can+turn+your+aircon+off%21
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Clarification: I believe the device is not compulsorily activated at the moment, that is presently up to the individual. If you activate it you can get a discount on your power bill with certain providers.
But there are forces within government that do wish to make the implementation of DRED compulsory.
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Also I’m not sure that all home solar inverters have to currently provide a facility for remote shutoff, but I believe this may be the case of new inverters.
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Yes. The following DRMs or demand response modes are under AS/NZS 4777.2: 2015.
Mode Requirement
DRM 0 Operate the disconnection device
DRM 1 Do not consume power
DRM 2 Do not consume at more than 50% of rated power
DRM 3 Do not consume at more than 75% of rated power and source reactive power if capable
DRM 4 Increase power consumption (subject to constraints from other active DRMs)
DRM 5 Do not generate power
DRM 6 Do not generate at more than 50% of rated power
DRM 7 Do not generate at more than 75% of rated power and sink reactive power if capable.
DRM 8 Increase power generation (subject to constraints from other active DRMs)
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Let’s go GREEN, unleash the bulldozers. I’ve heard that under Kakadu, Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria, there’s a massive amount of rare earth minerals. Let the mining begin, cause all those solar panels, wind turbines, lithium batteries and EVs won’t dig themselves out of the ground. Or will the ALPBC/GREENS do a Bob Brown wind turbines ” Not in my backyard ”
I don’t think the dumdarse ALPBC/GREENS realise how much mining and rare minerals are needed to go renewables everything.
1000s of new mines, processing plants, smelters, manufacturing.
Do they seriously think that digging up everything for their renewables energy revolution is going to save the planet?
Being an exsteelworker, I’ve worked from the mining all the way to the finished product, and its the most toxic, polluted environment you can get, and that’s only steel, lol. I’ve worked in a copper smelter to 100× worse. The ALPBC/GREENS have no idea.
Welcome to your dystopian future kids, the clean up bill will be a doozy…Bwahaha.
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Please be truthful.
My colleagues and I did most of the mineral exploration around Kakadu, even before it was named that. No rare earths were found, to my knowledge.
If you have conflicting info, please reference it.
We did look for rare earths in Cape York and we found small quantities, not economic at the time.
We did not search undersea Gulf of Carpentaria. Can you list some references? Geoff S
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Lots of uranium under Kakadu however, if we are ever sensible enough to use it……
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Agree. But uranium exploration is still taking place in Arnhem Land. In Kakadu however uranium deposits such as Jabiluka and Ranger Deeps are at present not going ahead, despite a rapid and continuing rise in uranium prices. The main reason is, I believe, the wokeness of Rio Tinto.
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You don’t get it. The renewables energy revolution will need a 8000% increase in mining, so the environmentalists will have to agree to mine areas that they would never have allowed if it was coal. To replace 15 million petrol cars with EVs will need 1000000 tons of copper alone, that’s a hell of alot of mining.
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IT’S EARTH DAY. AGAIN. CONTAIN YOUR EXCITEMENT
Yup, it’s Earth Day today. (Also Lenin’s birthday, but I am sure it is just a coincidence.) I know you can’t contain your excitement. But try.
As always, today is a good day to check in with Mark Perry’s list of 18 predictions made on the first Earth Day in 1970 that have all proven spectacularly wrong. My favorite:
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Earth Day and Lenin’s birthday. is that a coincidence According to Marxist doctrine, Capitalism is based on class war, there’s a hierarchy of monarchy, clergy, military and privileged bourgeoisie, and below them, producing all the wealth, an exploited proletariat. However, this explanation of the West’s political system hasn’t been wearing too well considering the benefits the system has been delivering to said proletariat in comparison to pre-industrial and early industrial societies (and to more authoritarian countries.) Because capitalism has a history of increasing wealth and working conditions for workers, universal suffrage, and upward mobility, the traditional discourse of Marxism, centred on class struggle, needed to be modified.
But not abandoned. Seems for a certain kind of person, intent on finding all – encompassing blame in the world for every ill, the Foucault philosophy, a convenient, post modernist power philosophy, fits the bill. Post modernism to replace classical communism. A new hierarchy of politics was required – and here it is – viewing the world solely through the prism of power, no mutual interrelationships, always viewed through the lens of power relationships.
Marxists are adept at commandeering causes. Cited in Douglas Murray’s ‘The Madness of Crowds,’ (P55) is a popular book, ‘Hegemony and Socialist Strategy,’ (2001) written by two post-Marxists, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who recognise that Marxism has been challenged by ‘new kinds of contradictions’ and that the notion of class struggle needs to be modified and set aside to find ‘a new kind of exploited person.’
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It’s St George’s Day; wishing a happy day to the English!
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Earth Day.. Isn’t that the day every right minded person turn of all appliances, all light etc
Consume as much as possible.. release as much CO2 as you can manage, all for the good of the world’s plant life, hence for the whole of planet Earth.
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Only when they remember it
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Thanks to Alex and thanks to Rafe for reminding us of the Earth Day idiocy again.
Anthony Watts has a good review of Earth day and of the Soylent Green B grade movie from 1973.
The 18 points from the first Earth day prove what a load of stupid nonsense a lot of very prominent but stupid people tend to believe.
Actual factual data and evidence are the last thing that very stupid Malthusian loonies care about and their delusional nonsense still has a very strong following around the world in 2022.
My best proof of optimism is that Human global population has more than doubled and life expectancy increased from 56.5 years in 1970 to 73 years in 2022.
And our poorest continent African population has increased from 363 million in 1970 to 1400 million today and life expectancy from 46 yrs to 63+ years in 2022.
BTW that African population increase is about 3.9 times in just 50 years. Unbelievable but true.
So tell us why we’re continuing to WASTE trillions $ for decades into the future? And for a guaranteed ZERO return.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/22/soylent-greens-failed-1973-global-warming-prediction/
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BTW we should highlight that long list of doomsday predictions from 50 years ago.
And we shouldn’t forget that the left wing eco-loon and murderer Ira Einhorn was also a speaker at the first Earth day in 1970.
Here are 18 examples of the spectacularly wrong predictions made around 1970 when Earth Day started:
1. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that “civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”
2. “We are in an environmental crisis that threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation,” wrote Washington University biologist Barry Commoner in the Earth Day issue of the scholarly journal Environment.
3. The day after the first Earth Day, the New York Times editorial page warned, “Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.”
4. “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” Paul Ehrlich confidently declared in the April 1970 issue of Mademoiselle. “The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”
5. “Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born,” wrote Paul Ehrlich in a 1969 essay titled “Eco-Catastrophe! “By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.”
6. Ehrlich sketched out his most alarmist scenario for the 1970 Earth Day issue of The Progressive, assuring readers that between 1980 and 1989, some 4 billion people, including 65 million Americans, would perish in the “Great Die-Off.”
7. “It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” declared Denis Hayes, the chief organizer for Earth Day, in the Spring 1970 issue of The Living Wilderness.
8. Peter Gunter, a North Texas State University professor, wrote in 1970, “Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China, and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.”
9. In January 1970, Life reported, “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”
10. Ecologist Kenneth Watt told Time that, “At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.”
11. Barry Commoner predicted that decaying organic pollutants would use up all of the oxygen in America’s rivers, causing freshwater fish to suffocate.
12. Paul Ehrlich chimed in, predicting in 1970 that “air pollution…is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.” Ehrlich sketched a scenario in which 200,000 Americans would die in 1973 during “smog disasters” in New York and Los Angeles.
13. Paul Ehrlich warned in the May 1970 issue of Audubon that DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons “may have substantially reduced the life expectancy of people born since 1945.” Ehrlich warned that Americans born since 1946…now had a life expectancy of only 49 years, and he predicted that if current patterns continued this expectancy would reach 42 years by 1980 when it might level out. (Note: According to the most recent CDC report, life expectancy in the US is 78.6 years).
14. Ecologist Kenneth Watt declared, “By the year 2000 if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’” (Note: Global production of crude oil last year at 82.275M barrels per day (bpd) was just slightly below the record output in 2018 of 82.9M bpd, and about 50% higher than the global output of 55.7M bpd around the time of the first Earth Day).
15. Harrison Brown, a scientist at the National Academy of Sciences, published a chart in Scientific American that looked at metal reserves and estimated the humanity would totally run out of copper shortly after 2000. Lead, zinc, tin, gold, and silver would be gone before 1990.
16. Sen. Gaylord Nelson wrote in Look that, “Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.”
17. In 1975, Paul Ehrlich predicted that “since more than nine-tenths of the original tropical rainforests will be removed in most areas within the next 30 years or so, it is expected that half of the organisms in these areas will vanish with it.”
18. Kenneth Watt warned about a pending Ice Age in a speech. “The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” he declared. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/18-spectacularly-wrong-predictions-made-around-the-time-of-the-first-earth-day-in-1970-expect-more-this-year/
And finally, here is a big one:
Source: https://arkivet.dn.se/sok/?searchTerm=maurice&fromPublicationDate=1972-01-25&toPublicationDate=1972-01-25&fbclid=IwAR3FS5BjgqmlLkra74qbfIWurTUEBLbjmxKk0xgWaCoM3Si0UF_hK1ScAmA
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Yes I like to listen to Nature Bats Last on youtube, Guy McPherson may be his name. He is massively black pilled, a doomsayer who predicted mass ecological collapse in 2026, loss of species, the 6th mass extinction, which means the end apparently. He’s self analyzed to be beyond depression now, in a calm before death state. I saw a kitten once go into this mode thinking it was going to die, it went really calm, some chemicals kicked in. That is where Guy dwells.
20026! That’s not far away now so let us see. He made the prediction I guess it was 2017 maybe, cant recall when I saw it on youtube but it was a while ago. I’ll write that one down I said and Im getting the feeling Guy is going to be dead wrong. I just hope he doesn’t go all Jones Town on us before then.
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The “Unicorn Killer” is the story of Holly Maddux and her killer Ira Einhorn. This Eco-loon scumbag was caught at last after 20 years of hiding overseas.
This is a long movie but looks back to 1977 when Holly Maddux disappeared and from then until Einhorn was arrested in 1997.
Good acting as always from Naomi Watts as Holly Maddux.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJOdCAb–lI
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Biden Flew Across the Country to Talk About Climate Change
President Joe Biden made a special trip from Washington D.C. to Seattle on Friday to mark Earth Day and to tout his climate change agenda.
Air Force One emits 8.75 pounds of carbon per mile. The distance between D.C. and Seattle is approximately 2700 miles, clocking in a round trip at 23,625 pounds of carbon emissions.
During his remarks, Biden said his administration plans to transform the military and turn U.S. forces away from fossil fuels.
“We’re gonna start the process for every vehicle in the United States military, Every vehicle is going to be climate friendly,” Biden said.
Earlier this week Climate Czar John Kerry expressed the importance of not allowing fossil fuel use to grow. He did not mention his regular use of a private jet or dozens of trips across the ocean to discuss climate change with foreign leaders.
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A 747 uses about 4 litres of fuel per second in cruise but consumes about 19,000 litres to take off and reach cruise, or about ten percent of its total fuel supply.
Fuel supply in a 747 (100 to 400 series) is 183,214 to 216,847 litres.
Biden should have taken a train or bus as all non-Elites are expected to do under Green policies.
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He would require his nappy to be changed too often on train or bus.
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Earth day – that day when I walk around my property and turn on every light I can find. To me a symbol to the billion or so people still on this rock, that don’t have electricity. May they be blessed with this human nurturing force very soon!!
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Of numerous anti-Earth features of the current anti-energy madness how about:
-Massive visual and infrasound pollution and destruction of wildlife by windmills.
-Environmental destruction due to the Snowy Hydro 2 battery.
-Keeping Africa in poverty and due to lack of cheap energy causing deforestation for wood fires for cooking.
-Deforestation in the US to ship trees across the Atlantic to burn in Once Great Britain.
Etc.
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Snowy 02 is an extension of the existing Snowy Mountains Hydro and was not built at the time, as I understand it based on cost-benefit analysis that was not favourable.
By the way, before the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme commenced ten (10) years of discussions and negotiations between the Federal Government and States that were public land owners and needed for development approval processing.
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The concept of Snowy Hydro 2 was always known but real engineering and economic analysis of the past showed it wasn’t economically viable. And it still isn’t. It’s a waste of money. Morrison should have paid out the contracts and cancelled it.
Even Their ABC is prepared to run a story saying it is a multi billion dollar White Elephant. Why does Morrison continue to persist with this madness? Where is the leadership to admit yet another huge Turnbull mistake that’s going to cost massively more than claimed?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-14/snowy-hydro-2.0-expensive-and-wont-deliver-energy-expert/11594768
Snowy Hydro 2.0 a costly white elephant that won’t deliver, says energy expert
By Carrington Clarke
Posted Mon 14 Oct 2019
The promised Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will be an expensive white elephant according to a leading energy expert.
SEE LINK FOR REST
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re ABC
Snowy 2.0 used to be a wonderful green project of Darling Malcolm, now it is only the Hated Liberals.
It will be financially viable because it’s tarriff will be designed to be so. Probably regarded as a network stabilising device like a big battery. It will be a huge load on the system, time shifting and returning around 60% of it’s input. Averaged it will use as much power as a small city.
Just another Turnbull Parasite Project, like the Murray Darling water allocation scheme. Market solutions, beloved by bankers.
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Snowy 2 will be a boon for coal and gas, because it will mean that can operate without so much variability of output.
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Just to cheer you up in Soggy Sydney
Weather expert predicts rare combination of events not experienced for 50 years could see Australia DRENCHED for the rest of 2022
– Flood and heavy rain could batter most of Australia for remainder of the year
– La Niña could combine with negative Indian Ocean Dipole to bring more rainfall
– It would mark the first time in 50 years the two weather systems were combined
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Simultaneous weather events from the Indian and Pacific Oceans could bring extensive flooding throughout 2022
A rare combination of weather drivers not seen for nearly 50 years could bring extensive rainfall and widespread flooding to Australia throughout 2022.
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Great, there’s already moss growing in my lawn !
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Odd that we haven’t heard much about bushfires this summer 😉
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They’re waiting for Scomo to go on holidays…,,
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lets hope so North Queensland is very dry after a total failure of the wet season.
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May be the case for the eastern part of Australia, but I believe that the western part will again see a prolonged period of drought.
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Wet as Ive ever seen it on the east coast. The floodplains are just sodden. And the length of the wet period.
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In Earth Day Speech, AOC Says US Should Be More ‘Climate Defense Based’
Welp, now that the left’s “Defund the Police” movement has turned into a raging dumpster fire, the left’s loony hood ornament, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who appears to know pretty much nothing about pretty much everything, has a new boogeyman this Earth Day: “militarily and defense based” U.S. foreign policy.
We need to really look at our foreign policy, and approach and change and shift our foreign policy to not just be militarily and defense based, but to also be climate defense based, and diplomatically based, and… uh… that right there I think is really where we’re going to have to push — and we need to push internally because … we have to do it domestically and we have to do it abroad, as well.
How do I put this tactfully? What an ignorantly uninformed, complete crock of cr@p. Ocasio-Cortez knows zero about U.S. foreign policy, let alone diplomatic foreign policy.
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‘ Ah came into this world with zero knowledge, and ah still have most of it left’
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Owner of multiple beachfront mansions sounds the alarm on climate change
Former President Barack Obama used Earth Day today to remind everyone of the dangers of climate change:
“When it comes to climate change, time really is running out. Earth Day is a reminder that if we pledge to do our part and then follow through on those commitments, we can help preserve and protect our planet for future generations.”
Obama, of course, is the owner of *two* beachfront mansions:
One on the island of Martha’s Vineyard:
And the other in Hawaii where he was under fire for building a seawall that led to beach erosion:
Never forget: *They* get to live in beachfront mansions while *you* get lectured on everything else:
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“we pledge to do our part and then follow through on those commitments”
I hereby pledge to use as mcuh carbon based fuel as I want to.
Thereby doing my bit for the plant-life of Mother Earth.
I’m sure people like Obama will far exceed anything in the way of CO2 release than I can manage, though. !
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Biden made a 5,000-mile Earth Day round trip in AF1 to announce ‘climate friendly’ US military (and more WTF moments)
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How many gallons to the mile does airforce one get.
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Biden announces every US military vehicle will be ‘climate friendly’ – “we’re spending billions to do it”
and
UPDATE – Johannes is onto him!
30
China and Russia will be laughing their arses off and cracking the sparkling wine. Not long to go now.
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‘Fossil fuels’ CO2 emissions have contributed to the warming of the last 170 years …’
Strongly disagree, there is no conclusive proof that CO2 makes the world warmer.
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Similarly, there is no conclusive proof that the level of atmospheric CO2 is under the control of humanity.
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True, there is a debate still continuing on that subject.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/22/why-is-the-co₂-concentration-rising/
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I’ve been listening to Alex for a few years now. I must say despite looking very promising and a good thinker, he has been a total failure in his objectives of convincing oil companies of their case to use fossil fuels. Most of them now are in line with the climate change narrative. Reality of course is a different matter, kind of akin to the watermelon politician, green on the outside red on the in, oil companies are tainted green on the outside and brown on the inside ? Perhaps an unripened banana ?
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It is no coincidence that poverty has dropped while CO2 has increased from 1980.
40
?
00
“It is no coincidence . . .”.
I’m looking forward eagerly to the proof of that statement.
Alternatively , I’ll settle for a falsification of the statement that “It is a coincidence that poverty has dropped while CO2 has increased from 1980 “.
Claims that humanity controls the level of CO2 require some evidence.
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Seems things grow better with higher CO2 levels?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/23/increased-plant-productivity-the-first-key-benefit-of-atmospheric-co2-enrichment
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I think I’ve figured out a way to debunk all this CO2 causes warming nonsense. It is claimed that CO2 increasing from 270 ppm to 410 ppm has caused warming of almost 1 degree C OF THE VAST OCEANS. The chart shows warming of over 1 degree C between 1910 and 2017. Water has the highest specific heat of all common molecules. CO2 is extremely cheap and easy to produce. If higher concentrations of CO2 can cause warming, why aren’t we warming homes and pools using CO2 insulation? Why aren’t CO2 cylinders exploding from the accumulation of heat? Atmospheric CO2 is 0.0004 or 0.04% of the atmosphere.
Bubble wrap of 0.4% CO2 could warm water by 10 Degree C if the linear relationship exists that they claim.
Basically, if anything they claim about CO2 is true, our energy problem is solved because all you would need to do is insulate things in CO2 to warm the surroundings. No engineer I know of has considered this a viable solution and they could make trillions.
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They tried CO2 as a gap insulator in double glazing… and found it was less effective that normal air.
CO2 actually helps transfer energy, the very opposite of what AGW hangers-on say it does.
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Oddly my own take from reading broadly is that this rather positive outlook is mistaken. The future is unlikely to be anything quite so rosy. Human population is beyond the carrying capacity of the earth (while we continue to live as many of us in the West do) and negative impacts are already being experienced. But energy in particular will prove to be a major impasse as fossil fuels become more costly to extract and use and RE fails to deliver. Already global prosperity is falling (if some writers are to be believed) and the decades to come will see a major contraction of economies and significant geopolitical disruption. I don’t think we are looking forward to the good times; we’ve had those and they were fun.
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I’ve just got a copy of Ian Plimer’s latest
https://www.advanceaustralia.org.au/exclusive_professor_ian_plimer_s_new_book_green_murder_is_the_wake_up_call_we_need
Looks like he has a word or four around this
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I’ve linked to the data on global population increase since 1900 or 1950 and yet I’ve also said that the global fertility rate has also been dropping since the mid 1960s.
Here’s the UN data for that and this drop will continue to 2100, although the pop then will be about 10 billion or higher according to UN projections.
Also the very young African ( average age today about 19.7 years)fertility rate has been dropping and also expected to 2100.
But also a much higher African population by 2050 and 2100.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/WLD/world/fertility-rate
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“The New York Times Does Energy Storage”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/04/23/the-new-york-times-does-energy-storage/
Waiting for the Heath Robinson version
10