NEW UPDATES POSTED BELOW:
I was link surfing today over at Dellers, and I found myself looking at the long list of bios for the 1010 team on their website. I noted something curious in the bio posted on Splattergate’s designer Franny Armstrong, because it was rather off the wall. She listed a “guilty pleasure”. Well no harm, we all have those, but at the same time she says her Actual job: “Asking powerful people for money and/or emissions cuts“.
The “emissions cuts” part I get. But wait a minute…not in season blueberries? Hmmm.
Now I don’t know much about growing blueberries, but I did find this on a BBC gardening site:
Blueberries produce fruit on branches that were produced the previous year. For the first two or three years of a blueberry’s life it’s not necessary to prune it much, apart from keeping the plant tidy. After this, blueberries need regular pruning to maintain plant vigour and high quality berry production. Prune them between November and March when the plant is dormant.
They need cold weather apparently:
“These bushes are hardy and require a minimum of 750 hours accumulated chilling time below 8 degrees centigrade in order to produce good yields of berries, so please do not put them into your greeenhouse over the winter.”
OK, so you can’t grow them “off season” in a local greenhouse. That means UK “off season” blueberries have to come someplace where the “off season” is opposite, like another hemisphere.
Looking more into blueberries, I find this from a Latin American Markets site on Chilean blueberry production:
While the US is the main importer of Chilean blueberries, Europe, and in particular the UK, are also strong markets.
“We’ve seen an explosion in UK blueberry consumption over the past two to three years,” says Hortifrut’s Francisco Ortuzar. “Unlike some other parts of Europe, the market is familiar with blueberries and category managers have done a good job of promoting the fruit.”
Huh, imagine that. Demand for blueberries in the UK is ummm ‘exploding’. Given what I know, I would imagine the demand would increase in the “off season” when no local blueberries can be harvested.
I wonder how they get there? Oh, here we go:
Tesco blueberries are harvested in Argentina and are flown to the UK for sale.
So I think it would be safe to assume that Franny is eating off season blueberries, flown in from Chile or Argentina using the speedy but horrible CO2 belching airplanes to preserve freshness.
Yet WE are the ones that have to reduce our consumption of things like “guilty pleasures”. Ya know, modern, guilty, dirty things like air travel, cars, and incandescent lights (though I do like the new LED replacements), to keep the planet from “burning up” due to CO2 emissions. And if we don’t, or give an indifferent shrug like those school kids in her movie…we get the red button.
She also mentions in her bio:
“Not flying to America or Australia to launch my climate movie”
…yet Franny can have her off season jet set blueberries. No pressure to eliminate that. I guess Franny never stopped to think how “not in season blueberries” get to her local shop.
Now that’s just plane stupid.
UPDATE: 8:05 PM PST 10/7/10 I was informed by email of some silliness. For the record, somebody who obviously didn’t like this story has signed up my name as a “supporter” at the 10:10 website, here: http://www.1010global.org/uk/people along with Christopher Monckton, and James Dellingpole. This is of course false, and the product of a simple minded prank. I don’t know what this stupidity will do for them, especially since it is obvious none of us would sign up to 10:10. Here’s the screen cap:
UPDATE2: 11:40PM PST 10/7/10
It appears the application of names is being handled by a static list superimposed at the website. The people counter continues to rise, but the list does not change. Here’s a screencap from 11:38PM of the “people” page at http://www.1010global.org/uk/people
If you visit the other pages on the website, you’ll find that static list with my name on it, along with Monckton and Delingpole, superimposed on it, even though the counter has advanced from 94,885 to 94,910 signups, a total of 25 names, more than enough to move the list down.
But it appears the “legal” page here: http://www.1010global.org/legal has what appears to be a correctly updated list:
How fun! Let’s watch the amusement unfold.
It seems that far from Franny being an ordinary ‘man(person) of the people’ self taught having struggled up the hard way etc etc, it turns out that Franny has had quite the privileged upper middle class upbringing with all the breaks and assistance that entails.
Far from being a “self taught film maker” she had all the help in the world from her daddy, an ex BBC documentary maker and dotcom profiteer.
Hat tip to the wonderful EUREFERENDUM website, possibly the best political and media checking site on the web today.
Just another spoiled daddys girl brat looking for a cause?
Really guys? “Blueberries not in season”? Come on…
I think we’re taking this blueberries triviality a bit far. It’s not like Ms. Armstrong is chartering a jet to shuttle each pint of berries from South America. Thanks to the miracles of modern global logistics, they’re loaded in bulk on a regularly scheduled transport flight, which would have flown regardless of whether it was half full or at capacity.
So let’s apply a bit of common sense here, to avoid looking as bad as the people we’re pointing fingers at.
And another thing (while I find myself in the strange position of defending alarmists). All things considered, 10:10 is probably the least bad of the climate activist organizations out there, for the simple reason that their campaign encourages people to undertake VOLUNTARY CO2 emissions cuts. I don’t think this point should be overlooked.
Were it not for their awful video, I might have almost respected them (with one important caveat… below) as being misguided, but principled. They weren’t forcing anyone to play along (at least not until they started blowing up anyone who didn’t volunteer).
That one big caveat… From what I understand, the second phase of 10:10’s plan is to lobby governments for legislation that would force CO2 emissions cuts. So, this bit would make them about as bad as the rest of the climate activist organizations.
But I’ll still give them credit for the voluntary action part of their mission. More than I can say for most activists whose first and only mission is to hijack the power of government to achieve their desired objectives.
@John MacManus
‘Prices fell this year because much of last years production has not been sold.’
I believe that has to do with the overly belief that the snake-oil-nutritional industry thought that blue berry extract would go the way of fish oil, but apparently it didn’t, neither has the hasty made up products of everything blue berry juice, milk, and what not. Maybe it’s because too much blue berry stuff up the potential for explosive liquid waste before reaching adequate drainage system (hmm, there’s that drainage problem again.)
‘Maybe the blueberries in question are European, frozen ( the freeze well) for the off season.’
They would hardly be fresh.
If we can make it uncool to be an eco-nazi foot soldier, then there won’t be very many of them, and the generals will be without an army. I suspect most of the foot soldiers are in it because it’s “cool”.
Just following Alinsky’s rule five: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. ”
Also rule twelve: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
“Turnabout is fair play”
Inspiration
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/10/inspiration.html
After getting more comments of “unfair” or “disappointing”, I find it humorous that nobody has yet commented on the fact that this post is tagged “satire”.
Of course there was no pressure to recognize this.
Well, I planted a blueberry last year, and it’s still a low bush that has yet to bear fruit.
In the best of all possible worlds, I’d expect a significant harvest of blueberries from that bush, but I’m not holding my breath. Maybe if we get some serious global cooling.
Til then, I’ll take the occasional faux-pints of berries in the supermarket, even if they come from those exploited Peruvian peasants.
Perhaps someone could start a company building greenhouses that could be cooled down to below 8 degrees C with large industrial cooling units for a sufficient time during the winter. That way the blueberries could be grown locally instead of flying them in!
New 10-10 poll:
“Do you enjoy off-season blueberries?”
Of course, the “yes” option would be via a little red button.
Rather than spend the expense on the chilling units to get the chill hours that stimulates the production of blueberries, plant more plants. Blueberries (the berry) store very well when frozen. If you grew enough and stored enough, you would likely be able to compete with the cost of imported blueberries during the off season.
—————–
LarryD,
Fair enough, enjoy.
Now I will do some research on the admirals/ generals.
Take care.
John
You would think an “actual job” involves receipt of monies for services rendered. In this type of business, what is she being paid for? Activism? By the wealthy?
When I was at school, back in the early ’70s, we were taught that a new ice age was on the way. Being terribly impressionable at that age, and then going on to do a combined honours degree in geology and biology, I still believe it, though I don’t think it’s as imminent as expected back then. We’re sliding gently but inexorably down a bumpy slope, and all the CO2 emissions in the world aren’t going to make one iota of difference. These activists really do need to learn about geologic history and timescales instead of wasting time on empty polemic and making movies *shakes head and forcibly removes self from soapbox before getting carried away*
As to blueberries, they do very well in my Scottish garden; I had a great crop this year, must have been the -15 degrees of global warming we had last winter. As PRD says, they freeze very well and I shall be eating them off season for several months yet 🙂
she is the more equal [snip] i guess.
Anyone who counts the availability off-season produce as a ‘guilty pleasure’ rather than a wonder of human endeavour probably deserves [snip OTT ~mod]. If it weren’t for off-season veg, people in the UK would be eating turnips six months a year. Rotten miserablists, Greens, the whole bloody lot of ’em.
The Climate Cabal are a [snip – a bit OTT ~mod] off legitimate enterprise. Pandering and even extorting PR monies with the stated or unstated threat to harm those who won’t pay.
Blueberries be darned. The only thought that comes, rampaging, across my synapses when I see that photo is “get a real job, you lazy, immature, tosser.” Who is this Franny to lecture the world on how things should be? A privileged, guilt-ridden, liberal know-nothing? SUCH arrogance. Get out of your ridiculously comfortable comfort zone, learn what it is to have to scrape a living to survive, and we’ll talk.
I get my thrills,
with blueberries chilled,
blueberries chilled,
with CO 2.
One button to push,
and all doubt is gone,
all doubt is gone,
I blew up you.
Science is settled.
Here’s a thing: In your screencap there are 94, 885 people on board (3,000 less than earlier in the week). Now it’s 73,063. Is the website malfunctioning or have there been mass defections?
Massaging the figures?
Today, 9 Oct, the 10:10 site shows 73,111 people on board not the 94,900 from earlier this week.
TomFP says:
Blimey – I just took a look at the 10:10 website, and Just the Facts is in great company – recent signups include Monckton, the Pole, and our own dear Anthony!
Has anyone checked for Michael Jackson, John Lennon and Elvis on the list? How about the Fox’s glacier mints polar bear 🙂
crosspatch says:
The sad thing is that it sounds as if she actually believes that. Climate ALWAYS changes. It is NEVER stable and there is no way to make it stable.
Climate is actually quite stable in the sense that short term changes (weather) tend to be much greater than any long term changes.
We are currently about 2 degrees cooler than we were during the warmest period of the Holocene. Sea levels are about 2 meters lower now than they were at that time.
Sea level often changes by more the 2m twice a day and people have been drowned by tidal changes.
While we have had periods of warming and cooling, the general trend for the past 2000 years has been one of cooling. Warm periods tend not to get quite as warm as the previous warm period and cold periods tend to get a little colder than the previous one. The Little Ice Age was the coldest period since the Younger Dryas and that covers pretty much the entire Holocene. Let me state that again, the recent Little Ice Age was the coldest period we have seen in about 13,000 years and we have still not recovered to what the temperatures were before that period.
This is the point at which the wheels fall off the AGW bandwagon. Even if current temperatures were a bit higher that they were a thousand years ago there would be no issue. How accurate are the methods of determining prehistoric temperatures anyway?
The AGW’s react by denying the LIA, MWP (and probably the RWP too). Even though these are well documented by the people around at the time. Then have the audacity to call anyone who dosn’t agree with them a “denier”.
crosspatch says:
When I see the “greenies” protesting in a public square in Beijing, maybe then I will believe they are serious and really believe in what they say.
How do you suppose they would get to Beijing? Probably they’d want to use something like this considering where G-YMMM made it’s last flight from
Alex Cull says:
I see that Nessie of Loch Ness has joined the campaign, and thrown her support behind 10:10. Excellent news!
Presumably her relatives from around the world will be signing if she can manage to get a signal on her phone 🙂
Cold Englishman says:
Recent signups include Nessie of Loch Ness, Elvis Presley, Michael Chrichton, and would you believe West Dorset District Council.
I really don’t believe the last one. Shouldn’t John Lennon be on or is he too busy with Google? Wonder what they’ll do if Adolf Hitler, Napoléon Bonaparte or Vlad II Dracul want to sign up.