This gets the honor of “Climate Craziness of the Week”. Oh, that’s gonna leave a mark…
Josh writes in an email: her actual quote was:
“If we are to overcome the climate crisis we must move on to the equivalent of a war footing”
And she then likened the leadership this would require to Tony Blair’s in taking us to war in Iraq
But that’s too long for a satirical political cartoon, so Josh took the essence. Unfortunately I can’t seem to locate the online link as the Sunday Times link sends visitors to the paywall. It was in “features” and titled:
A very heated debate
Josh is working from the print edition in the UK, so I’ll take his word for it.
Here’s a letter Lucas penned in 2003 about the war in Iraq:
It is very telling. These quotes are pertinent:
They point not only to the imminent military war, which they recognise could have devastating consequences, but also to the ongoing economic war, which is being prosecuted by the US and Britain in particular, through the imposition of economic sanctions over a decade.
Um, in case you haven’t noticed lady, greens are waging economic war in the UK.
A recent broadsheet headline screamed: “Stop the war? Try telling that to the tyrannised people of Iraq.”
and …
An attack on the roads, bridges, ports or railways of Iraq would severely damage what is now an extremely well functioning food distribution system.
So will Lucas advocate stopping the tyrannizing of the British people by absurd green laws, protest takeovers of power plants by greens in the UK, Plane Stupid’s attacks on Heathrow airport, and threats of occasional electricity in the future?
Doubtful, in this case of greens -vs- the UK infrastructure, Lucas is the war leader.
Some deep self reflection is sorely needed by this confused woman.
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Lucas is a 1st class moron and illiterate
I think Caroline Lucas should re-read “Winning the Conservative Vote.” I don’t think she quite got the concept.
Wasn’t the war in Iraq about trying to stop a problem that did not exist?
i.e. Sadam having weapons of mass destruction(WMD).
Didn’t Geroge W. ask the CIA to provide “evidence” that Sadam had WMD and they made some up. Much like the IPCC provided “evidence” for CAGW.
Seems like quite a good analogy to me.
Not to worry. According to “FamilyRadio” true believers we’ve only got till May 21, 2011 anyway. http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/03/06/judgment.day.caravan/index.html?hpt=C1
I’m sure we can hang on till then. 😉 😀
In a recent survey 99.9% of the British population are illiterate, the other 0.01% cannot read.
(sarc off )
[snip – the copyright holder of the Hitler movie has foolishly come down hard on blogs that use this…so I regretfully have to snip this – Anthony]
“Many a true word is said in jest”
Ziiex
In other words, a stupid waste of lives and resources to combat a non-existent threat.
Ms. Lucas got that right, even if she didn’t intend to.
John in NZ, yes, it is an excellent analogy, but not exactly helpful to the Greens.
Josh has put his fine sharp pen right to where it (hopefully) hurts most: many people still don’t understand that Watermelons like Lucas, but politicians of other stripes as well, are actually moving towards implementing a war footing.
The trial ballons are going up – you saw the piece by one of Britain’s energy CEOs which Willis posted below. You can actually start predicting when the first brown-outs will start,not just in the UK but in the USA as well.
Ask yourselves how come that countries like Bangla Desh and Vietnam are starting to build nuclear power stations – never mind China or India – , countries to which we sent international development aid. Meanwhile, we build … windmills!
Something not right here, isn’t it?
Didn’t Maurice Strong say, before the IPCC came into being, that his aim is to destroy the economies of the industrialised, Western nations?
Seems he’s well on his way to achieving that aim – helped and supported not just by watermelons, but by politicians of all colours, and hordes of bureaucrats. And this is happening while we still talk about CO2 and debate with true AGW believers, who will never be turned away from their faith.
Sometimes, I think, this is another of their strategies: keeping us occupied while economic warfare is being prepared …
Now see how long it took me to type out what Josh said in his brilliant cartoon, with a few strokes of his pen!
WMD may have provided the excuse to take a war to Iraq… and similarly, saving us from climate change is an excuse to impose a cap & trade (C&T) profit vehicle.
But the irony is that the democrats opposed the Iraq campaign as implemented by the republican regime (they didn’t opposed the democrat’s brief experimentation under Clinton, oddly enough), but now, in the case of the threat of Gorebul Warming, they’re staunch supporters of C&T.
C&T is the new WMD, and neither is, or was, a real good idea.
John in NZ says:
March 6, 2011 at 9:43 am
Wasn’t the war in Iraq about trying to stop a problem that did not exist?
i.e. Sadam having weapons of mass destruction(WMD).
==========
Except that, at one point S. Hussein used them on his own people (I believe it was the Kurds in N. Iraq.) That strongly implies that he actually had them. What happened to them between that point and the invasion is the subject of much debate.
This also means that there is far more evidence for Hussein’s WMDs than for CAGW, so the war on CAGW isn’t quite like the war in Iraq.
Given what seems to be happening in the UK, I’d say Ms. Lucas’ efforts are more like Husseins’, before he was kicked out, or Ahmadinejad (and the clergy) in Iran. Dictatorship. I’d put Gaddafi’s name in there, but his rule seems to be in serious doubt and the Green’s rule doesn’t.
“Lucas is a 1st class moron and illiterate”
I don’t support the GreenParty but I do say name calling and insults like the above do nothing of credit to this blog. Caroline Lucas is neither a moron or illiterate – that much is patently obvious.
Josh provides a clipping at http://www.cartoonsbyjosh.com/carolinelucasclipping.jpg
Thanks Anthony. My apologies. I did not know that the Hitler parodies attracted copyright rage. Very foolish of the copyright holders.
I was against the war in Iraq— we have acheived nothing really there, and many people on all sides have died.
For Caroline Lucas to link a slight increase in global temperaturates to the war in Iraq is opportunism at its worst. You have to remember Caroline Lucas is the only green MP out of hundreds. Trouble is the BBC give her the red carpet treatment instead of challenging her ( see Peter Sissons memoirs). Most British people are very sensible but we can be manipulated by left wing idiots out of a sense of moral duty
Some really nice enviro cartoons from England
http://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/
If there were no WMD why were there UN sanctions against Saddam for that very reason? Gassing whole villages of Kurds doesn’t count?
-and-
Didn’t they find that the UN was stealing wads of cash from the “food for oil” program? Wonders they were a wee bit upset when was busted up. Makes “everything” suspect in this endeavour. But one nagging question I have, how did Syria drop off the map in this then wham, nailed hard by Israel right out of the blue…things that make you say hm.
People often ask do you remember where you were on 9/11 or when Lennon was gunned down or Kennedy shot etc.
I wonder if the end of AGW will happen on one day or will it crawl away slowly over a period of time?
Unfortunately, Caroline Lucas (PhD in Writing for Women: a study of woman as reader in Elizabethan romance, by the way) is a local MP, or as we call her the only ‘green’ in the village (it’s and English or rather Welsh joke). Oddly enough she could afford to go to an independent girls school as daddy ran a central heating (HVAC) company, how ironic. Something, it would seem, she’d rather the rest of us not enjoy. One of those middle class meddlers who has never had to struggle for anything in her life I’m afraid, she’s passed through various NGO and charity positions etc. Really likes to tell everyone how they should run their lives sort of busy body. My! Isn’t our parliament full of those at the moment! They are as bad as the bankers and lawyers who also seem to be drawn to politics. (rant over….)
I really fear for the UK. I can only see a very bleak future in the coming few years. I am really pleased to live somewhere electricity generation is 85% nuclear. It is utterly futile to think that mankind can affect climate to any worthwhile extent. The numbers are very simple and are backed up by acceptance from a renowned UK government advisor, the US Department of Energy and many other reputable scientific minds.
Why cant we get to the nub of the problem ? with NUMBERS NOT ADJECTIVES and there is a good chance that the numbers below are in the right ballpark.
On average world temperature is ~+15 deg C. This is sustained by the atmospheric Greenhouse Effect ~33 deg C. Without the Greenhouse Effect the planet would be un-inhabitable at ~-18 deg C. Running the rough and ready numbers by translating the agents causing the Greenhouse Effect into degrees centigrade:
• Water Vapour accounts for as much as 95% of the Greenhouse Effect = ~ 31.35 deg C
• Other Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) account for 5% = ~1.65 deg C
• CO2 is 75% of the remaining effect when accounting for the enhanced effects of Methane, Nitrous Oxide and other GHGs = ~1.24 deg C
• Most CO2 in the atmosphere is natural, more than ~89% •
Man-made CO2 is less than 11% of total atmospheric CO2 = ~0.14 deg C for the carbon economies of the whole world
• UK’s contribution to World CO2 emissions is ~1.8% = 2.5 thousandths deg C
Maximum efforts in the UK can only achieve an insignificant and immeasurable part of that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy0_SNSM8kg
And whatever is said, outside Europe the rest of the world is not joining in. The non-joiners already amount to 62% of the world CO2 emissions and 48% of the world population. But the UK is the only Government that has enshrined action on CO2 into legislation. (http://www.energytribune.com//articles.cfm/5961/The-Utter-Futility-of-Re…) The probability is that any current global warming is not man-made and in any case such warming could be not be influenced by any remedial action taken by mankind however drastic.
So if the numbers above are even close to the right ballpark, the prospect should be greeted with Unmitigated Joy:
• all concern over CO2 as a man-made pollutant can be discounted.
• it is not necessary to damage the world’s economy to no purpose.
• if warming were happening, it would lead to a more benign and healthy climate for all mankind.
• any extra CO2 is already increasing the fertility and reducing water needs of all plant life and thus enhancing world food production.
• a warmer climate, within natural variation, as has occurred over the last century, would provide a future of greater prosperity for human development and much more food for the growing world population. This has been well proven in the Roman and Medieval pasts and would now especially benefit the third world.
This is not to say that the world should not be seeking more efficient ways of generating its energy, conserving its energy use and stopping damaging its environments. It remains absolutely clear that our planet is vastly damaged by many human activities such as:
• environmental pollution.
• over fishing.
• forest clearance.
• farming for bio-fuels.
• and all other habitat destruction.
And there is a real need to wean the world off the continued use of fossil fuels simply on the grounds of:
• security of supply
• increasing scarcity
• rising costs
• their use as the feedstock for industry rather than simply burning them.
The French long-term energy strategy with its massive commitment to nuclear power is impressive, (85% of electricity generation). Even if one is concerned about CO2, Nuclear Energy pays off, French electricity prices and CO2 emissions / head are the lowest in the developed world.
However in the light of the state of the current solar cycle, it seems that there is a real prospect of damaging cooling occurring in the near future for several decades as anticipated by Piers Corbyn and many others. And as UK power stations face closure according to Green Euro policies, the lights may well go out in the winter 2015 if not sooner. This is all because CO2 based Catastrophic Man-made Global Warming has become a state sponsored religion.
And now after “Splattergate” thanks to the 10:10 organisation everyone worldwide now knows exactly how they think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Mw5_EBk0g
Splattergate was classic NOBLE CAUSE CORRUPTION. It is probably the most egregious piece of publicity ever produced in the Man-made Global Warming cause. So any misrepresentation is valid in the Cause and any opposition however cogent or well qualified is routinely denigrated, publically ridiculed and as we now see literally terminated.
And so to carry on: If the capital cost of Nuclear power is ~£1.4 billion / gigawatt (according to Prof David MacKay) and the newly commissioned array off Thanet cost £0.78 billion and is rated at 0.300 gigawatt but even using a generous load factor of 35% is only capable of producing on average 0.105 gigawatt , it appears that in capital cost terms alone offshore wind costs ~£7.5 billion / gigawatt or more than 5 times the cost of the equivalent nuclear production.
This of course ignores all the additional costs of the essential parallel backup generating capacity as well as the costs of continuing feed-in tariffs, estimated at about a further £1.2 billion over the 20 year life of the project. Paying just for starters more than 5 times as much for an unreliable energy source must make utter economic nonsense.
Supporting renewable energy, especially wind farms, is something that the UK cash strapped government should re-examine very carefully. And just to add to the nonsense, Carbon Capture and Storage can only increase electricity costs and deprive the planet of a source of increased plant fertility. It is one of many suggestions, which might reduce CO2 emissions. All are expensive and all are pretty well pointless.
So major government savings and greatly increased national prosperity could be achieved by terminating all CO2 related Government green activities and repealing the Climate Change Bill.
Otherwise the UK is “standing into grave danger”. Future Energy Security (destroyed by both the last Government and sadly continued by the current Coalition) is the foremost responsibility of a government to its citizens, probably more important than even than its Military Security.
John in NZ says:
March 6, 2011 at 9:43 am………Wasn’t the war in Iraq about trying to stop a problem that did not exist?
i.e. Sadam having weapons of mass destruction(WMD).
Just what I thought!
It’s more like the 3rd Balkan War with the Jenkins Ear varition.
@John in NZ
@Josh
The “no WMD’s” mantra of the left is another successful ‘big lie”, just like CAGW.
Prior to Sadaam kicking them out in 1998, the UNSCOM mission found considerable quantities of WMD’s. This from “A Report of the Sanctions and Security Project of the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
at the University of Notre Dame: January 28 2003”:
They were there in 1998, everybody knows that, and they weren’t found in 2003 when the US went in. I assume, John, that you have proof of their destruction? Otherwise, we should rather be more nervous and less condescending about the issue.
A standard 55 gallon drum is 23″ OD x 37″ high. You can put eight (8) stacked 2 high in a space 4′ x 4′. In round figures, one drum holds 520 lbm of water (~8.4 cu.ft). So now you have two tons of say, Sarin, in a large walk-in closet. Two (2) milligrams of Sarin is a lethal dose for a really large person (200kg). Round numbers; 1,900 kg of Sarin, or 1,900,000 g Sarin, or 1,900,000,000 mg Sarin or 950,000,000 lethal doses. Starting to sweat a little, yet? And oh yeah, VX is deadlier than Sarin.
My view? Sneer less, pray more.
Statements like this and the one from the energy company executive last week smack of desperation and it follows shortly after the head of the United Nations made a fool of himself by asking Hollywood to “educate us”.
On top of this a couple of weeks back Al Gore reckoned all the snow we have experienced has come from AGW evaporation etc. However if this were the case the two warmest years of the nineties namely 95′ and 98′ would have been followed by very cold and snowy winters but I do not recall this being the case.
AGW is in big trouble.
I’ve been doing huge digging in the garden today. Not trenches for Caroline Lucas’ war though. I’m going to be growing as much food as I can this year. I advise others with any garden space to do the same. Food prices are going to soar.