- According to Global News, in case you missed it, “Something happened this summer, we all felt it. Day after day, new images emerged of the tropics and the Arctic on fire, devastating floods, droughts and people fleeing their homes. If you didn’t already feel consumed with dread, it certainly felt like a tipping point.” So if you’re not a nervous wreck because there’s weather, you’re an uncool loser. Luckily “We’re working on creating the kinds of social and cultural infrastructure that we need in order to address emotional and spiritual aspects of climate change” according to some “artists and designers” you never heard of either.
- Oh, and you’ll never guess. Michael Mann says we have one more final last chance to save whatever, this time for sure, absolutely the last. Provided you buy his new book, available in hardcover for just CAD$37. Should we flub it again, well, around 2028 one can expect some University of Pennsylvania climate celebrity to pen a tome telling us we have, yeah, just this one more itty bitty urgent teeny tiny now-or-never opportunity. And that if Donald Trump wins in 2024 it’s “a move away from democracy towards fascism, and there is no path to meaningful climate action that goes through fascism rather than democratic governance”. Because science.
- Electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts tend to ridicule claims that these green short-haul miracles are prone to bursting into devastating flames. But what’s this? In Britain “Car park spaces should become wider to avoid electric vehicle (EV) fires spreading to other cars and buildings, according to new guidelines proposed to ministers.” You know. Just in case.
- Luckily the rule won’t affect many people because contrary to what alarmists keep saying about insurance and extreme weather, it really is the case that “Electric car owners may face shocking 1000% rise in insurance premiums during crisis” in Britain and at least one firm has stopped insuring them altogether due to the high cost of repairs and the ease with which their massive, flammable batteries get damaged. Or do that explody thing. Governments sure can pick winners.
- And another thing. Just as Canadian governments empty the piggy bank, or the printing press, to fund EV batteries, one hyped EV manufacturer after another scales back (“GM delays opening electric-truck plant as EV demand slows”) or else collapses. Is it a good time to point out that if these “investments” turn out to be the usual industrial policy duds, there will be absolutely nothing we can do to get the money back or chastise the smug politicians who made them on our behalf?
- Scientific American is still peddling the supercontinent-extinction-in-a-quarter-billion-years tale. Which seems beside the point if man-made climate change is going to do us all in within a century. But in any case, while we’re glad to see some attention to the past history of the planet and its climate, if Pangaea wasn’t an arid wasteland why would Pangaea Ultima be?
- If a claim falls in a forest does it make a sound? Canada’s Department of Natural Resources, though not apparently its minister, admits that the two billion trees program will not in fact plant, you know, two billion trees. But then bureaucrats claim it never really meant to, it was just this impression people somehow weirdly got. Who still thinks these people can change the weather worldwide?
- Finally, more climate blah blah blah as the conferences and promises never stop. This time “the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, opened the Canada-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit, ‘Strategic Partners for a Resilient Future’, hosted in Ottawa. Over the coming two days, leaders will advance shared work on fighting climate change, growing strong economies for the middle class, and strengthening regional security. During the Summit, the Prime Minister will advance work to fight climate change and grow resilient economies.” Don’t any of these people have day jobs? Or videoconferencing software? Or even an editor?
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Tidbits
25 Oct 2023 | News Roundup
Regarding the CARICOM summit and others like it, I suspect any specific agreements (usually involving money) that are announced at the end will have been worked out and agreed upon months earlier. The actual conferences are little more than photo-ops. And of course they are going to talk about fighting climate change and growing resilient economies and so on, because these are just empty words for home consumption.
You really have to wonder about the maps produced this past summer showing the Antarctic fire red, considering July and August are dark and cold winter down there. I believe the map was intended to deceive, like subliminal advertising, because the temperature was only -50 degrees C when some computer model thought it should be -60 degrees C. Not a lot of melting going on at -50 C!
The EV lovers like to point out how many times more often that ICE gas catch fire.Without mentioning that EV fires are very difficult to put out,compared to gas powered vehicles.I heard once that Sweden has some new fangled EV fire fighting equipment that can tackle the EV fires much quicker,but I know little else about this,especially the cost.If anyone knows more please enlighten us.And Rico is right,mainstream is showing all weather maps as fire red now,even when there is no significant change in temps in said areas.Or ANY change.
Anthropogenic climate change is a pygmy shrew smoking a cigar, pointing to a pregnant elephant and saying "I did that."