- A publication called “Country and Town House” offers a “Green Coach” who is asked “I try to feel relaxed about climate change, but every time I look at the news and every time it gets hot I feel really panicky…. What can I do to feel OK?” Pick better sources of news, for a start. The solution is to read more sensible material about climate change. And (ahem) we know just the place. Hey. We’re green coaches. How cool is that?
- Some academic projector in Lapland wants a mere $50 billion to build curtains around the so-called “Doomsday Glacier” to keep warm seawater from melting it. As if we could just command the ocean “Stop melting Antarctica” and it would. Say Canute, can we borrow your cloak? We’ve repeatedly argued that climate policies generally are not worth the cost. But this one takes the ribbon for preposterous cost-benefit ratio.
- If you were missing your weekly dose of ice-free Arctic warnings, fear not. “The Arctic might be iceless a lot sooner than scientists thought”. Unless it isn’t, since the Daily Skeptic reports that “There has been no significant warming in one of the most climate-sensitive parts of the planet, analysis of Greenland ice core data shows, casting further doubt on the alarmist climate narrative.”
- Remember, climate change only ever causes bad things. National Geographic warned (in 2019) that greening is really browning: “Thirsty future ahead as climate change explodes plant growth/ Rising CO2 levels and a warmer earth means plants will grow bigger and have longer to suck the land dry. That’s bad news for human water supplies.” OK. Let’s hear them praise smaller plants withering after a short growing season.
- Maybe this news will finally convince Biden to close the border: a headline reads “California man first in US to be charged for smuggling greenhouse gases from Mexico”. What, did he try to hold his breath while jumping the fence? In fact he was smuggling “ozone-depleting” banned refrigerants. And since everything bad either causes climate change or is caused by it or both, you get that headline.
- From the “if wishes were horses” file, Canada’s deputy PM and floundering finance minister chirps “Our economic plan is turning Canada into a critical minerals superpower. From EV battery plants to net-zero mining, we are responsibly unlocking Canada’s natural resources to create more good jobs and prosperity today and for the next generation.” Except for the bit where projects actually get approved.
- Parker Gallant regularly notes the bizarre engineering and economic structure in Canada’s hydro- and nuclear-power rich province Ontario, whereby the more our wind turbines actually manage to produce the more money we lose. It doesn’t sound easy, but we did it. On March 13 alone, Ontario’s wind turbines churned away in the wee hours, providing 19,177 MW of energy to the grid at a cost of $2,588,575 or $135 per Megawatt hour. Plus $184,680 for 1,539 MW they were paid not to produce. Most of it was sold south for roughly $13 per MWH, leaving Ontario with 383 MW at a net cost of $2,567,937 or, he calculates, a stunning $6,704.80/MWh. Imagine powering an entire country in that way and at that kind of price. And remember that number next time you’re told alternatives are now cheaper than conventional energy.
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20 Mar 2024 | News Roundup
The Green Coach who feels really panicky whenever he looks at the news about climate change might want to ponder H.L.Mencken's words of a hundred years ago:
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”
Parker Gallant reminds us again of the curse of the Ontario Liberals who foisted windmills on mainly rural ridings who don't vote Liberal.
And there is NO PLACE on earth where renewables have resulted in cheaper energy for the consumer,quite the opposite.
Your reminder of the multitude of ice - free Arctic warnings reminded me to check the extinctionclock.org website To see how many Climate- related warnings have seen their due date come and go without any of the dire warnings coming to pass. Currently, there are 52 such warnings listed that have not come true, and zero warnings that have come true. There are an additional 42 predictions that have not yet reached their due date. So climate alarmists are batting zero currently. If you haven't heard of the extinctionclock.org website before, I recommend you check it out and be sure to let them know of any climate predictions they don't already have listed.
Don't larger plants conserve water in a CO2 rich environment?