Resisting Climate Hysteria

[Smurf1976]

I am surprised that people are not discussing the elephant in the room, which will surely cause changes.
The insurance industry and the cost to reinsure, coastal zones, flood zones, fire zones, etc.
They are not basing their data on hearsay.

A complicating factor is there's more than one force at work.

Climate change is one thing that's influencing disasters and insurance claims but there are also many more direct human actions responsible for it.

As a case in point, I've only ever had one house insurance claim in my lifetime. It was this year and was indeed triggered by extreme weather.

But was my insurance claim really due to climate change?

Or was it because the neighbour refused to remove their tree that's in poor health, breaking of which was the cause of the damage?

Or could we go back a step further and say that the law which imposes restrictions on removing large trees without approval, which is extremely difficult and costly to obtain, is the cause given that's the reason they didn't remove the tree?

There are plenty more examples of humans doing silly things which leads to insurance claims not because of weather per se, but simply because weather triggers what was always inevitable.

Building on flood plains is an example. Failing to clear bush around houses or adequately burn off is another and I see the usual suspects are complaining about that once again. Simply using poor choices of design and materials are another. Then there's poor construction or maintenance. All could be blamed on weather as the trigger but the real cause was just humans being silly.

That's not to say there isn't climate change but there's a lot of other things leading to increasing insurance payouts too.

Another is simply that so much modern stuff is a write off with even the slightest damage. At one time something would've survived unharmed due to being built with heavier materials. Then it became a case of repairing it. Today it's write off and replacement.

 

[Smurf1976]

But he may have also had a hard look at the deeply unpopular ULEZ charges imposed by the Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan.

The big problem with ULEZ is it's got nothing at all to do with climate change. It makes no claim to be being about it and isn't about it.

At best it's about urban air quality more commonly known as smog. Although not really given London's air's already considerably cleaner than it's been for centuries, to the point that soot stained buildings are actually now rare as such, there's not many left.

Ultimately it's a punishment for being poor. That's what it amounts to and it has no place in sensible responses to climate change or energy policy in my view. None whatsoever. It's nothing more than an example of the old trick of finding something that's going to happen anyway, phasing out older cars, then trying to claim credit for having done it.

There's an Australian version of that in a low key manner at the moment. People are buying electric cars and that being so, politicians think government needs a target for electric vehicles. Anyone with a shred of intelligence sees that for what it is - trying to claim credit for what's happening anyway.

It's as bad as the Greens' promise to ban ships using high sulphur fuel oil in Sydney Harbour - a policy announced after the IMO had already announced a ban. They must think voters are fools or at least ignorant to fall for that one.

There is real climate science. There are real engineering and other responses. And then there's politics. Steer clear of the latter - it's basically just poor man's comedy at this point.

 

[mullokintyre]

The biggest emitter of CO2 on the earth, China, has effectively said to the rest of the world that they will not be following the rush the rush to solve the climate change issues by planning to eliminate fossil fuels. Its just not realistic says the CCP.
From Reuters

The complete phasing-out of fossil fuels is not realistic, China's top climate official said, adding that these climate-warming fuels must continue to play a vital role in maintaining global energy security.

China is the world's biggest consumer of fossil fuels including coal and oil, and its special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua was responding to comments by ambassadors at a forum in Beijing on Thursday ahead of the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai in November. Reuters obtained a copy of text of Xie's speech, and a video recording of the meeting.


Countries are under pressure to make more ambitious pledges to tackle global warming after a U.N.-led global "stocktake" said 20 gigatons of additional carbon dioxide reductions would be needed this decade alone to keep temperatures from exceeding the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The stocktake will be at the centre of discussions at the COP28 climate meeting, with campaigners hoping it will create the political will to set clear targets to end coal and oil use.

So thats fine and laudable to reduce fossil fuel usage and this CO2 emits, as long as they don't expect China to make any sacrifices,

Xie, however, said the intermittent nature of renewable energy and the immaturity of key technologies like energy storage means the world must continue to rely on fossil fuels to safeguard economic growth.

"It is unrealistic to completely phase out fossil fuel energy," said Xie, who will represent China at COP28 this year.

At climate talks in Glasgow in 2021, China led efforts to change the language of the final agreement from "phasing out" to "phasing down" fossil fuels. China also supports a bigger role for abatement technologies like carbon capture and storage.


While ending fossil fuel use would not be on the table at COP28, Xie said China was open to setting a global renewable energy target as long as it took the divergent economic conditions of different countries into account.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are constantly berated for not doing enough.
Mick

 

[noirua]

Switzerland’s glaciers lose ‘mind-blowing’ volume of ice in just two years​

By Laura Paddison, CNN
Updated 7:50 AM EDT, Thu September 28, 2023

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/28/europe/switzerland-glaciers-ice-loss-climate-intl/index.html

Glaciers in Switzerland are shrinking at a “mind-blowing” rate. A total of 10% of their ice volume has disappeared over a period of just two years as a combination of low snowfall and soaring temperatures cause unprecedented melting, according to figures released Thursday.

 

[basilio]

Switzerland’s glaciers lose ‘mind-blowing’ volume of ice in just two years​

By Laura Paddison, CNN
Updated 7:50 AM EDT, Thu September 28, 2023

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/28/europe/switzerland-glaciers-ice-loss-climate-intl/index.html

Glaciers in Switzerland are shrinking at a “mind-blowing” rate. A total of 10% of their ice volume has disappeared over a period of just two years as a combination of low snowfall and soaring temperatures cause unprecedented melting, according to figures released Thursday.

10% loss of ice volume in just 2 effing years ?

Things are moving very quickly indeed on the climate change front. But realistically there is zero chance that those who have resolutely decided CC is something to be denied, deflected ignored or put in the "don't want to know basket" will review their stand.

 

[wayneL]

10% loss of ice volume in just 2 effing years ?

Things are moving very quickly indeed on the climate change front. But realistically there is zero chance that those who have resolutely decided CC is something to be denied, deflected ignored or put in the "don't want to know basket" will review their stand.

Exactly, Gates, Kerry, Leo, Gore et al ain't gonna stop flying in private jets or living in massive mansions anytime soon. Nor will the West stop offshoring
their emissions thereby increasing then in toto etc c etc

What they do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what they say.

 

[Smurf1976]

Things are moving very quickly indeed on the climate change front. But realistically there is zero chance that those who have resolutely decided CC is something to be denied, deflected ignored or put in the "don't want to know basket" will review their stand.

I see both sides of this.

Taking the climate science to be as claimed and not arguing about that, so that is burning fossil fuels releases CO2 which warms the planet, well personally I couldn't solve all of that but I and many like me certainly could tell you and anyone willing to listen how to do a major chunk of it. Indeed more than a few have tried doing just that but there's a problem:

Farmers will complain that we've put wires above their land.

Conservationists will complain that we've put water over some other land.

Someone else will then complain that they don't like the look of wind turbines on the horizon.

Others will then complain that solar panels are spoiling the look of the roof.

Those who don't object to any of that will say that making any noise above 0dB is unacceptable in a big city.

And if we try to get around all that with a different approach, the next argument will be to say that we can't put some waste underground in the middle of nowhere not far from where it originated because it might disturb some mythical spirits.

And so in due course we'll all just give up one by one. Seeing it as a problem that many want to complain about but which pretty much nobody actually wants to solve when it comes to the crunch of real action. If the problem's to be fixed then that requires doing what's needed to fix it. Simple as that.

Unable to fix the problem from that angle, I've resorted to the purely practical personal approach. Bought an air-conditioner for the bedroom.....

 

[Smurf1976]

Bought an air-conditioner for the bedroom

As a practical example of things people can do to help, and which also make good economic sense, is simply buy efficient and durable appliances.

The A/C I'm installing has a cooling EER of 6.45 and a heating COP of 5.74 as per the official specs. Now without going into too much detail, I'll simply point out that it's entirely possible to buy one that'll use twice as much energy in cooling mode, and ~two thirds more in heating mode. Indeed the same manufacturer offers a cheaper version that's less efficient - consumption is about a third higher in cooling mode and about 20% higher in heating mode.

Buying efficient technology is something everyone can do no matter where they stand on the politics and climate science itself. And the price difference isn't huge either.

 

[basilio]

Exactly, Gates, Kerry, Leo, Gore et al ain't gonna stop flying in private jets or living in massive mansions anytime soon. Nor will the West stop offshoring
their emissions thereby increasing then in toto etc c etc

What they do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what they say.

Ah Congratulations Wayne .. Passed Climate Change deflection 303 with flying colours. Extra points for summarily trashing any big name figures who are actually taking action to tackle the problem.

Absolutely no surprise of course. You have been such a studious student over the years. You have shown great tenacity in following every climate denialist down a 1000 burrows. Of course you always come up for air to announce yet another special story on why nothing is that bad or that unusual.

The piece de resistance is your steadfast trashing of everyone else's lifestyle to "prove" CC is not real. As you say you will never hear anything you don't want to hear.

---------------------------------------
I agree with Smurfs take that there is much that can be done to reduce the impact of GG without too much trouble. In fact the cost benefit of going to renewable energy is now quite distinct. Having said that the speed at which these changes should be made if we are to minimise global heating is now ridiculous. In any case getting community agreement/support to go on such a crash program ??

Yep . It will have a (very small) chance to happen when Wayne, Sean and Co acknowledge there actually is a serious problem. And yes there are a lot of eggs that will have to be cracked.

 

[basilio]

Sydney smashes 1 October heat record as Victoria fights bushfires​

The previous hottest start to October in Sydney was 33.1C but Sunday’s mercury peaked at 35.6C

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Royce Kurmelovs and Cait Kelly
Sun 1 Oct 2023 17.52 AEDT


Sydney has endured its hottest ever start to October on record as fire danger warnings were issued across NSW – and as two bushfires threatened campers and towns in eastern Victoria.

According to data from the Bureau of Meteorology, two years had tied for Sydney’s hottest 1 October on record: 33.1C was recorded at Observatory Hill weather station in both 1961 and 2009.

However, the station recorded 35.6C at 3.02pm, smashing the previous record. Sydney Airport’s mercury got up to 36.9C and Penrith’s peaked at 37.3C at 3.07pm.

Sydney smashes 1 October heat record as Victoria fights bushfires

The previous hottest start to October in Sydney was 33.1C but Sunday’s mercury peaked at 35.6C

www.theguardian.com

 

[wayneL]

Ah Congratulations Wayne .. Passed Climate Change deflection 303 with flying colours. Extra points for summarily trashing any big name figures who are actually taking action to tackle the problem.

Absolutely no surprise of course. You have been such a studious student over the years. You have shown great tenacity in following every climate denialist down a 1000 burrows. Of course you always come up for air to announce yet another special story on why nothing is that bad or that unusual.

The piece de resistance is your steadfast trashing of everyone else's lifestyle to "prove" CC is not real. As you say you will never hear anything you don't want to hear.

---------------------------------------
I agree with Smurfs take that there is much that can be done to reduce the impact of GG without too much trouble. In fact the cost benefit of going to renewable energy is now quite distinct. Having said that the speed at which these changes should be made if we are to minimise global heating is now ridiculous. In any case getting community agreement/support to go on such a crash program ??

Yep . It will have a (very small) chance to happen when Wayne, Sean and Co acknowledge there actually is a serious problem. And yes there are a lot of eggs that will have to be cracked.

Hahaha you contradicted yourself, massively.

You are so ideologically possessed, you are utterly blind to it.

 

[mullokintyre]

China is pitting out more CO2 than all the countries of the Western World combined.
But thats ok, they are a devloping nation, so their CO2 is harmless, unlike ours.
Mick

 

[basilio]

China is pitting out more CO2 than all the countries of the Western World combined.
But thats ok, they are a devloping nation, so their CO2 is harmless, unlike ours.
Mick

Nuh it isn't ok is it Mick. What do we take from this slice of the picture ?

Are we interested in the total contribution the Western industrial world world made to the billions of excess tons of CO2 since the start of the Industrial Revolution ? Given it was that contribution that moved CO2 levels from 277ppm in 1750 to 340 in 1980 what do we say ?

Do we recognise that China has become the industrial powerhouse of the world in the last 20 years because it suited Western capitalism ? Just offshoring our expensive jobs and industrial manufacturing to cheaper countries ?

Do we look at China's role in leading renewable energy technology which has an important place in turning things around ? Or does that reality not fit with a one eyes view ?

And in any case is there anything to worry about ? Is human caused CO2 global warming actually going to raise temperatures to levels that will make much of the globe uninhabitable for human and most of the current ecology ? Or are you just echoing the latest diversionary doomer iteration that throws the blame/responsibility for global warming on China but refuses to recognise how serious the problem is and what needs to be done overall.

Current & Historical Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Levels Graph

See how levels have never been higher with this fully interactive CO2 graph featuring current & historical CO2 levels and global temperatures. A project by the 2 Degrees Institute.

www.co2levels.org

China powers ahead with renewables, carbon reduction | english.scio.gov.cn

China powers ahead with renewables, carbon reduction

english.scio.gov.cn

 

[wayneL]

Nuh it isn't ok is it Mick. What do we take from this slice of the picture ?

Are we interested in the total contribution the Western industrial world world made to the billions of excess tons of CO2 since the start of the Industrial Revolution ? Given it was that contribution that moved CO2 levels from 277ppm in 1750 to 340 in 1980 what do we say ?

Do we recognise that China has become the industrial powerhouse of the world in the last 20 years because it suited Western capitalism ? Just offshoring our expensive jobs and industrial manufacturing to cheaper countries ?

Do we look at China's role in leading renewable energy technology which has an important place in turning things around ? Or does that reality not fit with a one eyes view ?

And in any case is there anything to worry about ? Is human caused CO2 global warming actually going to raise temperatures to levels that will make much of the globe uninhabitable for human and most of the current ecology ? Or are you just echoing the latest diversionary doomer iteration that throws the blame/responsibility for global warming on China but refuses to recognise how serious the problem is and what needs to be done overall.

Current & Historical Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Levels Graph

See how levels have never been higher with this fully interactive CO2 graph featuring current & historical CO2 levels and global temperatures. A project by the 2 Degrees Institute.

www.co2levels.org

China powers ahead with renewables, carbon reduction | english.scio.gov.cn

China powers ahead with renewables, carbon reduction

english.scio.gov.cn

OMG!!!!!!!!! 0.000123

We're all going to die

 

[wayneL]

Classic Hypocrisy

 

[Sean K]

China is pitting out more CO2 than all the countries of the Western World combined.
But thats ok, they are a devloping nation, so their CO2 is harmless, unlike ours.
Mick

Bas doesn't seem to care about that. Just our miniscule contribution, painting us all as sinners going to hell and should be burned at the stake like the witches in the 1500s due to their effect on the weather.

 

[Smurf1976]

Do we recognise that China has become the industrial powerhouse of the world in the last 20 years because it suited Western capitalism ? Just offshoring our expensive jobs and industrial manufacturing to cheaper countries ?

As an observation on energy debates in general, the relocation of manufacturing to China has long been an underlying concern.

It was an issue during the dams debate in Tasmania over 40 years ago for example and that sure isn't the only place it's been raised. The infamous plan for 23 new power stations in Victoria was similarly based on an assumption of mass industrialisation that never happened (because it's all gone to China instead).

The basic argument is it's not just about energy but that the West is sowing the seeds of its own demise economically and the end result will almost certainly be a major hot war.

One some points I've agreed with environmentalists but to the extent I haven't agreed, I'll sum it up by saying there's more than one way to wreck the future. Destroying the local environment is one way most certainly but wrecking the economy or starting a war will also make life truly miserable for future generations.

Any sensible solution to one problem needs to not cause some other massive problem otherwise it's akin saying I've got a cure that's 100% certain to stop people dying of terminal illnesses - just shoot them first. Technically it works but it's missing the point and same goes for "fixing" environmental problems by relocating production offshore. It's not an actual solution, it's just NIMBY.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

there you go .... something else to worry about..

 

[basilio]

Sean can you please stick to the topic. Whatever happens in 250 million years has no relation to what is happening in the immediate future. It just throws mud in the pool.

 

[basilio]

Our world in Data is an excellent resource for examining a host of information. Check out what it says when comparing the per capita production of CO2.