- Told you so: AP reports that “A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars was burning out of control Wednesday in the North Sea, killing one crew member and injuring others, the Dutch coast guard said. The agency said it was working to save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.” Moreover “the vessel was carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric cars, making fighting the flames more difficult.” Any bets on how long it is before freighters refuse to carry them at all? Especially since it turns out that the figure of 25 EVs was a fib; the operator of the ship in question says it’s almost 500.
- We have made fun of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flying hither and yon in private planes for trivial events at which, almost without exception, he warns of carbon pollution causing climate change. But it’s worse than you think, because the planes in question are not your typical tycoon’s private jet fit for you and half a dozen close friends or so but vast Airbus A330s capable of carrying over 200 people (which given the sorts of entourages Canada’s leaders feel obliged to surround themselves with is understandable, up to a point).
- They really don’t know what they’re talking about: Canadian environment minister Steven Guilbeault, who regrettably survived a cosmetic cabinet shuffle, put out a document Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Government Of Canada Guidelines that, Blacklock’s Reporter reveals, “did not define inefficiency. The environment department instead said banned subsidies will be determined by asking, ‘Does the measure support fossil fuel consumption or solely support fossil fuel activities? Is the measure a subsidy? Does the measure provide a disproportionate benefit to the fossil fuel sector?’” Shades of the Goon Show gag about “never mind how to spell it, just write it down”. Except they’re not being funny on purpose. They really don’t know that it matters if you don’t know stuff.
- Amazon.com offers a gaming keyboard with fancy lights, advanced features and a “Climate Pledge Friendly”. Don’t look too closely at what it really means in terms of carbon offsets or whatever, especially as the thing is made in China. Just put your conscience to sleep while your lizard brain has those gaming servers hoover up the electricity.
- From the unintentional humour file, George Monbiot explained “Why it’s vital to fun journalism that puts the planet first” over the Guardian’s unrelentingly bleak coverage. Alas, it was a typo for “fund”. So send us the money instead. We really are fun.
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02 Aug 2023 | News Roundup
The fire on board the Freemantle Highway car carrier hit the news on July 26. Yesterday, UPI reported there is no longer any sign of fire. So it burned for at least 5 full days. Mind you, I have to take that UPI report with a grain of salt since it also says there were only 5 EV's on board -- and we know that to be wrong now. No doubt there will be attempts to spin this away from EV's, but the fact remains that however the fire started, having EV's on board made putting out this fire impossible. They had to let it burn out on its own -- which is pretty much the story of EV fires everywhere.