Kayak trip for climate action includes a few long haul flights
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
An Australian grandfather has announced plans to Kayak from Canberra, Australia’s landlocked capital city, to Paris, to deliver a message about climate change to the upcoming COP21 Paris climate conference.
According to the Canberra Times;
“He intends to drag and paddle his wheeled kayak halfway around the world to deliver a message on behalf of all Australians who want action on climate change. The message: we are in this fight against global warming.”
Naturally, in the time honoured tradition of climate activism, activist Steve Posselt plans to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by our modern fossil fuel powered economy to achieve his goal. Not only does his kayak appear to be a modern plastic construction, lightweight and safe, rather than the kind of fire burned dugout effort you would expect from a truly committed eco-warrior, but Steve’s route to Paris includes a couple of long haul airline flights.
“From Canberra he drags his kayak to Port Kembla and then paddles up to Sydney. He will fly to the Gulf of Mexico, then paddle through North America to Canada. From there he will fly to Britain and will paddle through England and across the English Channel to Paris. There he will deliver his message at the United Nations Climate Summit in November 2015.”
Nevertheless, you have to admire Steve Posselt’s audacious hypocrisy, given that he is employing all this fossil fuel sourced goodness to achieve his goal;
“It is not a big deal to go to a zero carbon economy. It’s about political will.”
You first mate.
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Nice to have such a big laugh early in the day (in UK)
It sounds like he has found a way to have someone else fund a kayaking holiday through North America and the UK. Most retirees have to dip in to their savings for the big overseas trip. Clever bloke.
I note that he’s chosen the ‘scenic’ route rather than the much-more paddle-able one via SE Asia, around India, and past the Horn of Africa and Yemen. The one he’s chosen, through the Anglosphere, has hazards like bears, gators, and crocs, but is unlikely to result in his being murdered, held for ransom by pirates, or crucified for being a non-Muslim. I’d release some CO2 to avoid that, too, but in my case it wouldn’t be an utter hypocrite for doing so.
Clearly he’s a sceptic, this stunt is pure sarcasm at the expense of the green blob.
Flying a plastic kayak around the world – perfect.
+1
Could you make this sort of stuff up?
Are they seriously expecting people to applaud this hypocrisy?
Yes. And they will. Expect to see this covered by at least a couple MSM outlets without any mention of the large air journey interludes in between paddling legs.
Al’s right. They will. “we are in this fight against global warming … ” … extremists, and the MSM are still on their side.
His carbon footprint would be significantly smaller if he left his kayak at home and flew directly to Paris. So he’s either mocking greens, a hypocrite, or an idiot.
How about he’s an idiot, hypocrite, who is mocking himself and greens (unknowingly of course). At least he doesn’t believe he can walk there.
He is a clever idiot, because I will almost guarantee someone else is paying for his grand kayaking holiday with his “suport crew of one” (i.e. probably his wife, who didn’t want any publicity).
But partly he will drag his Canoe by foot,,, Possibly it will compensate for that….
http://kayak4earth.com/mayor-sends-kayak-paris/
see line No. 6 or so.
It’s 10am here in Holland and I still think I’m dreaming.
Whenever I think they just can’t be serious or THAT stupid – they are.
This guy will be a real hero – fighting wild animals
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/grandfather-to-take-on-alligators-and-bears-for-climate-change-20150115-12nt6d.html
During the trip he will have a support crew of one. Each day he will set off and be met again at the end of the day.
The experienced adventure kayaker has food and sleeping arrangements taken care of. But there will be a few challenges on this trip that do worry him.
“There will be alligators, black bears and polar bears,” Mr Posselt said. “I don’t fancy coming across a polar bear with only a can of capsicum spray on me.”
“… he will fly to Britain and will paddle through England and across the English Channel to Paris.”
Hmm. Paddle across the English Channel, presumably some time in November or December. Good luck with the usual seasonal Atlantic gales we get about then, mate. Hope your support vessel (which you will be required to have in order to cross the busiest shipping lanes in the world) is “carbon neutral” as well.
You got there first.
And I’ll add that the Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world so he’s better get the correct authorisations.
…or not…
I do believe it is time for us to create more absurd claims and actions in support of CAGW. Draw some attention to the facts, by using reverse psychology. This guy has started the kayak rolling, we should follow his lead.
He will probably sit in the kyak on the ferry. Then of course he will present his epic journey as a graph, leaving out the fossil fuel bits.
Here is their support vehicle. Is it an electric car? He did say “It is not a big deal to go to a zero carbon economy. It’s about political will.”
http://www.kayak4earth.com/MaryRiver/MaryDayReports/gettingready1.htm
http://www.kayak4earth.com/MaryRiver/MaryDayReports/MaryDayReportImages/gettingready1.jpg
Their venture is sponsored by:
The Australian Water Association.
United Utilities (In 2010 United Utilities was sold to a consortium led by the Mitsubishi Corporation)
and others.
I have a theory that people who put activist stickers on their cars have a form of mental illness. The more stickers, the greater the mental illness. There is one bloke locally who has gone to the extent of buying individual lettering to spell out full sentences on his windscreen.
Jack says: “Then of course he will present his epic journey as a graph, leaving out the fossil fuel bits.”
Jack, how cynical! 🙂
No, for the fossil fuel bits, he will interpolate what his data SHOULD have been, basing his graph on other locations up to 1200 km away.
Can’t he wheel thru the tunnel?
I hear he has got sponsorship from Mitsubishi
Reminds me of a Top Gear stunt . Presumably he will be sponsored by donors A£5/ mile?
If he uses a support vessel it had better be one of these:
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi338.htm
Wonder if anyone can find good ‘topgallant” people any more?
Topmen. There are a few left, there are still some square rigged sailing ships around.
Yes we have true believers with rock hard minds and yes some of them vote and with our strange voting systems, they often over-rule the majority who at least take the time to look at the science, weigh up the arguments for and against and vote accordingly. Sorry, you will have to put up with their once a year look at me stunt, while we have to put up with them and their crazy beliefs year round.!
I’ve long had an ambition to canoe around Europe. That’s the Europe as it was originally conceived by the Greeks which basically involves a trip from Greece, through the Mediterranean, past Spain, France, Germany, Denmark and then up one of the rivers of the Baltic, followed by a 10mile drag over land to reach a tributary of the Danube – thence down the Danube to the black sea, and back to Greece.
Now all I need to find is a cause that vaguely matches this trip and some sponsors and off I’ll go.
YES! Exactly. Fund me and I’ll do it in the name of the shivvering shaorn sheep of Shropshire! Always loved kayaking.
Plenty of training possible in Shropshire. More rain and the Cluns breached its banks again. Wonder if he knows anything about the English Channel. Does he know wat sort of radar footprint he will be to a befemoth super tanker! Busiest shipping channel in the world.
Now that sounds like a fine trip. Take about two or three years and stop more often than you paddle and that can be the trip of a lifetime! Also could be a real pain in poor weather unless long stays in coastal inns or B&Bs are part of the plan.
He could do it in 90 days using a clipper ship and salt-soaked beef with water barrels and no heat and no diesel backup … That took 90 to 120 days (Australia – Britain), but he’ll have trouble going up the Mississippi. Even in the 1810’s the “real zero-carbon” Mississippi travelers going up river either walked or rode horses (the Natchez Trace) or poled up the Miss, the Ohio, and the Missouri. Lewis and Clark’s expeditions could paddle some sections of the Missouri, but they still needed 1 year to go St Louis – North Dakota (wintered over), 1 year North Dakota – Pacific Ocean (wintered over) and one year back to St Louis.
But they were tougher then: He stayed a bit in St Louis, wrote his reports, then returned to Washington to report to Jefferson. Coast to coast (and back! ) in less than five years!
But this guy claims the “impact” of carbon is so bad he is going to be able to do the entire earth in 90 days carbon-free?
What a hoot. Posselt should be fronting the Trade Descriptions Act, not to mention the Gullible Old Fool Award of the Decade.
And he’s paddling across the Channel. Wow. Would that be in a bathtub aboard the Chunnel train?
James, Wrong title. It should be Gullible Old NUMPTY Award of the decade, or GONAD for short
I wish I could afford a holiday like that.
You, I, and most of humanity.
+1 +2 +3
Feels more like an advert for fossil fuels. My first quick look when i saw that yellow and red and I though it was Shell sponsoring him.
LMFAO – wish I had thought of that one 🙂
If he takes the top-end route he may get even as far as the Mitchel River mouth.
Well I was fine with it until I read the ‘flying’ part. I was at least hoping that he’d gotten his will up-to-date, as actually attempting to paddle the whole way – which would have been more ecological – would likely get him Dead.
Say btw, anyone heard anything more about that iceberg sitter?
Good question. Made me look. Here is the link:
http://alexbellini.com/adrift-2015-2/
Oh good… he actually recognizes the need for a rugged, buoyant pod.
Though I had to laugh at the litany of supposed disasters that he’s expecting to face. Earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surges, hurricanes, and tornadoes while floating on an iceberg? Really, you twit?
And why, exactly, are there nine seats in the thing? Does he expect to be hosting press events on a regular basis?
He should call the pod “Wilson”.
I looked at the link. What cost in energy and materials for the capsule? What cost likewise for website, back up team, etc. etc.? Why isn’t everyone just laughing?
Bellini, Posselt, Turney….ye gods!
“stupid is as stupid does”
On the Kentish coast, andf a foggy November day, he stands a fair chance of colliding with an idle windmill. Now that would be ironic, wouldn’t it?
This is a great story.
The Green Publicity Machine, which was once a deadly and efficient mechanism has been spluttering and farting for years, now it appears to have finally blasted out something more substantial!
Is this the same Worral who kept native animals in captivity in order to amuse and make a profit from decidedly non-eco gawking tourists? What a w…er!
???
I think you are thinking of this Worrel, who saved countless lives during his long career by helping the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories to produce anti-venom, through a captive breeding programme which included some of the world’s deadliest snakes.
http://www.reptilepark.com.au/about-us/history/park-founder-eric-worrel/
You’ve just won this week’s “Prize idiot” award
Really – pot kettle black methinks……………….
I think we’ve got it all wrong.
This “idiot” is about to embark on a fantastic vacation, undoubtedly funded by other acolytes and disciples.
Probably one of the biggest treks of his life, and he’s figured out how to do it for free.
He’ll be laughing the whole way…when he’s off camera.
I think you’re right.
If you’ve been to his website, they have a “Sponsor Us” link.
My assumption as well.
For now, the green have a lot of competition in the field of fear ,yes peoples are very concerned about terrorism , seeing the crowd in Paris and in all large city in France .
We can have anxiety but also you have to worry about something sometime and not everything all the time.
Unfortunately this terror is a competitor and a serious one for the green and their business since environment will come second or third or worse in the mind of political party.
Is someone going to tell him that Paris isn’t on the Channel coast?
Geography is unimportant when you are “saving the world”™
Do I need the /sarc?
There is also a support vehicle following him on land for the entire journey with a crew of two.
His itinerary that catalogues the distance covered shows a distance from Sydney to the Gulf of Mexico of just 235 km.
If it comes out of Canberra , the site of Australia’s Federal Parliament;
A / It will be totally impractical.
B / It won’t work
C / The amount of red tape required before he starts will likely sink the whole shebang.
D / It will be a fine example of the usual gross green hypocrisy.
E / The kayak is made from barb wire as in “he will be a s**ts creek in a barb wire canoe” if he tries the stunt.
Meaning he has Buckleys chance to none of doing what he says he is going to do
F / Its going to cost [ and probably already has ] somebody somewhere one hell of a lot of hard earned to rescue / fix / hide / get rid of / blame somebody, anybody else, preferably the Opposition for the inevitable and widely publicized Grand FU when he comes unstuck, as in sunk, somewhere off Sydney.
G / Some mothers do have them!
H / If he’s a public servant or was at any time in his career increase all of the above by a factor of 10.
I / This is Australia where weird, wonderful and usually highly embarrassing examples of the H.sapiens species of very doubtful and dubious provenance regularly make an appearance.
Meanwhile the rest of us will hope that his damn kayak runs over him sometime before he manages to leave the Capital Territory and bring an end to this fine example of the usual green blob stupidity and hypocrisy.
Thanks for the laugh ROM!
I second that!
Good thing I wasn’t trying to drink and read at the same time – screen may have had a bath of vin rouge!
Much appreciated, ROM!
Auto
Correction for the Australian country colloquialism
E / The kayak is made from barb wire as in “he will be up s**ts creek in a barb wire canoe” if he tries the stunt.
Somewhat like floating down the Clyde on a water biscuit?
Floating somewhere on an air biscuit.
Thanks too for a laugh Leo Smith.
It’s nice to start the day off with a smile, and this post produced it. Thanks, Eric.
🙂
We need to smile and laugh at times…this post has certainly given us that..
Hooray, just noticed the Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly in Niño 3.4 Region – 1999 to Present at WUWT show a fall below the 0.5 degrees anomaly.
This means no El Nino officially for 2014 and probably none for 2015.
El Nino being defined as 3 months of consecutive 3 monthly periods above 0.5 in Nino 3/4 region.
No comment yet from media or Bob Tisdale?
Still caused a very warm year but should be a lot cooler from here in.
What were the names of the two idiots that froze to death a few years ago in the Antarctica delivering an Man-Made Global Warming Message only to become part of the Carbon-Nitrate Cycles.
I love Being Green, but Heaven can wait.
Paul
Mummy! I dont like Grandpa!
Shut up and eat your Greens.