Bill McKibben and his eco-worriers over at 350.org have been big on getting Universities and other organizations to “divest” from fossil-fuel based investments. They’ve even gone so far as to claim: Irish parliament makes history with vote to divest country fully from fossil fuels.
Good luck with that, Ireland. But that gesture really only goes so far. Josh suggests these folks at 350.org should lead by example, and is calling on all environmentalists to give up everything to do with fossil fuels. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Lets hope the loincloth is made of cotton, eh?
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Josh
Maybe the universities will invest in solar power and lose all their money.
Due to unavoidable circumstances and a difficult financial environment, tuition and all fees will be increased by a modest 975.0% for the next academic year.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.
They have to pay their electricity somehow….
http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/24/california-to-vote-for-renewable-energy/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=atdailycaller
Oh, and studying by candle light…
Paraffin wax is a petroleum by-product created when crude oil is refined into gasoline. It is a white, odorless solid that is formed into 10 lb. slabs. Paraffin is the most commonly used wax for candle making.
In the good old days whale oil was used for lighting so get hunting those whales again.
‘Save the Whales’
or make CO2?
Decisions, decisions…really?
Remember paper or plastic – save a tree!?
Ironic
Hello tallow.
Beeswax: encouraging bees is always good. Wood burning stoves are out though, it still releases the toxic molecule.
Rich people get to burn beeswax candles.
Fossil fuel divesters should be required to raise their own bees for their own candles. One wonders if they’ll ever figure out that it will take way more than one beehive to supply a household with wax.
Poor people burn tallow candles (soft, drippy, easily guttered) or use oil lamps.
A return to the old ways that easily caused house fires.
Bees are an invasive species.
Universities are a business. It’s profitable to educate dimwits with all the loan money they have available. Problem is, dimwits end up running the university.
Those who can go into the private sector.
The rest remain in academia.
and ruin it for everyone else.
And our countries
And some of the dim wits end up running our cities and our countries and want to ban fossil fuels or tax them so that they are so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford to own a car or pay there power bills .Our present government has banned any further off shore oil and gas exploration as long as they are in power in New Zealand .
Can I pay using my plastic card?
Better still, they should be compelled to be entirely dependent on renewables.
That should be part of “divestment”, don’t you think?
Try building any of those without petroleum products.
Or Tesla and getting 110% of energy out of a hamster wheel.
When McKibben and similar ilk come up with such horse manure I wonder what world they actually live in, whether they are dumber than posts or they believe they are just so much smarter than everyone else. That they don’t understand that the modern technology they use to broadcast their propaganda is fossil fuel based is remarkable.
McKibben at least has an excuse for not understanding technology. He made his name as the society gossip columnist at The New Yorker magazine. Believe it. His science background is less than zilch.
Why would any responsible person or organization divest themselves of profitable investments?
Well I could come up with a few examples, starting from investing on criminal but profitable businesses.
You could have a point if there was anything criminal in High Density Carbon based Fuel sources…
But there isn’t!!!!
The only criminal activity associated with the Fossil Fuel Industry are the Eco-Terrorists that try to shut things down through violent acts of sabotage.
Hugs, I don’t believe you are allowed to invest in government.
Just politicians.
Sadly, I updung (updinged, updang??) you because you’re absolutely correct.
I gave you a +1 for that “updang,” hil R.
We’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes Miriam-Webster to catch up with cutting edge English.
That should read, Phil R.
I have a sticky ‘P’ key due to the Mayonnaise Incident. Don’t ask.
@H.R.
We run a carbon neutral cleaning service for this type of ‘incident’, it only costs £150 per keyboard (plus shipping and taxes) .. Of course we only work with wooden keyboards because of the plastic ‘thing’, you know.
Investing in CO2-free enterprises worked well for Al Gore. link That’s why he pumps up the alarmism.
I suspect that it’s a bit like a pyramid scheme. Gore got rich but those who follow him might not do so well.
Nor can the poorer people that can ill afford the subsidies paid for renewable electricity
I have had this argument with one of my believer friends, his point was that it needs to be a “global” solution, individual sacrifices don’t have enough impact *facepalm*. And then he joked about being “selfish” with a laugh. I am not making this up.
“I’ll start sacrificing when everyone else does.” Now take that attitude and multiply it by all the people in the “First World”. The flaw in the reasoning won’t be hard to find.
Your friend is absolutely correct. Individual sacrifice does not have enough impact. To really get an impact, you have to sacrifice whole countries. Venezuela is a good example. Due to their cancellation of their oil production industry, they are also leaders in the “Leave It In The Ground” movement. Other countries that come to mind are Cuba, Haiti, and North Korea.
There is a bit of unrecognized genius in these solutions as well. When the populace does not own any consumer goods which require electricity, then there is no need to provide electricity. So the savings is twofold. In addition, the populace saves a lot of money that they would otherwise spend on consumer goods.
As a result, everything is worse. It’s the Paradox of Thrift. Only under ‘evil’ capitalism is everyone better off. Pinker
I may be commie but Steven is Pinker.
The Paradox of Thrift is a Keynesian myth. If consumption decreases then prices fall. Says Law.
Prices were really low during the Great Depression. link That should have stimulated demand but nobody had any money. Even with cheap everything, it was a miserable time.
Don’t forget New Zealand
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/12/new-zealand-bans-all-new-offshore-oil-exploration-as-part-of-carbon-neutral-future
Another impractical socialist government trying to send the country broke.
And after they have succeeded they will export the unemployed to Australia to go on CentreLink.
NZ’ers (Granted category 444 visa upon entry) arriving in Australia cannot claim benefits from CentreLink for at least 2 years after arrival IIRC.
Will take effect in 30 years, 2050? She’ll be long gone, living a posh lifestyle all on the tax payers coin. When NZ MP’s found out about the Australia Guilt Edge pension funds scheme, they voted on it on the spot and now have almost the same scheme in place.
““divest” from fossil-fuel based investments.”
so I take it they are all for Trump’s tariffs on China
Not only that the loin-cloth is made from cotton, but that the cotton (a plant from a hot country) arrived by wooden, wind-assisted or rowed boats. Oh, and not only plucked by hand, but treated, spun and woven by hand, too. Might make it a bit expensive, though…
And no hydrocarbon-based fertilizers or pesticides/herbicides used in its cultivation! And don’t let me catch the farmworkers with any rubber or fiberglass handled tools! And the blacksmith making them better not be burning coal in that forge!
We’re gonna jump down turn around
pick a bale of cotton,
jump down turn around pick a bale a day.
Jump down turn around
pick a bale of cotton,
jump down turn around pick a bale a day.
I just drove by several miles of recently harvested cotton fields. Rather large machines used, air conditioned, I believe. Large diesel trucks hauling it away in big round bales. Used airplanes for applications, now a dangerous occupation due to windmills. Put lots of workers out of business long, long ago.
http://www.windaction.org/posts/46562-wind-energy-and-aviation-safety-fatalities#.W4BptbhOkdX
Sounds like we’ll have to rebuild all the canal systems in the US with animals to pull the canal boats to deliver the cotton.
(That or replace all the railroads’ engines with 0-4-4 wood-burners.)
There was a way around paying a lot for all that hand labor, but the method escapes me at the moment.
Cotton growing uses lots of water too.
Shouldn’t present much of a problem for Ireland, Most homes are within walking distance of the nearest Pub.
Though they may need to moderate their consumption so they don’t get too drunk to walk
The beers they are quaffing are emitting carbon dioxide, so Ireland will have to divest itself from Pubs.
Not to mention the methane emissions on the way home.
Don’t worry, soon all premises selling alcohol will be shut down as a result of yet another revelation from the UN’s WHO!!!! 😉
“Shouldn’t present much of a problem for Ireland”
Is Peat considered a fossil fuel?
https://www.whisky.com/information/knowledge/tasting/flavour/peat-and-its-significance-in-whisky.html
No more whiskey at their local pub?
“Whisky” please.
Peat should be out, but the Irish use kilns to dry malt so it does not get that smoke flavor. The Scotts dry their malt on screens over a peat fire and it really shows in the Highland tipples. Islay has an iodine flavor from the use of seaweed, but some people like that. So, if you would like to compare these differences, come around for a wee dram.
“Ban Mining. Let the Bastards Freeze in the Dark”.
(Bumper sticker from the 70’s)
In 70s Texas we were paying outrageous prices for electricity while – because of interstate commerce laws- people in the NE were paying less for the surplus energy produced here.
We had bumper stickers “leave your lights on and freeze a Yankee”
What are those little bubbles, that the Guinness is releasing?
Nitrogen.
Beat me to it, approximately 75% nitrogen, 25% co2.
Beer gas (what we call nitro in the States at least for home brew) is typically a solution of the two, but beer, once the yeast eats the sugars suspended in the wort, already released the bulk of the co2 byproduct during fermentation. Beer is undrinkable when finished fermenting as the co2 has been expelled, until co2 is reintroduced through forced carbonation or bottle conditioning. It’s even suggested when I make my washes for spirits to decarbonate any potential suspended co2. I don’t and it’s more delicious than any store bought… By miles.
I crank my 5 gallon corny kegs up to 30 psi co2 for 36 hours then attach the beer gas nitro tank at 30 psi for serving. Regular co2 faucet has serving pressure around 8-12 psi depending on the style.
I custom made a two faucet system so my ten gallon batches are served both standard co2 and nitro. I like options
I’d rather send him some homemade shine than give anything to British currency. I didn’t see a way to donate in dollars. I’d actually gladly spend more money on shipping to deliver some of this fine, clean sippin’ than give that foul, anti-Western, anti-white nation any support in any manner.
Josh, if you read this send me a message I’ll gladly send you something that has taken much effort and time, and is far more valuable than the ten bucks I was about to donate.
I’d wager you never sipped something so fine and dandy
It’s only the elites and commies that are anti white and anti western,just like a lot of your Democrats.Most ordinary Brits don’t agree with them.
Since the Haber-Bosch process feeds half the world by making synthetic fertilizer out of natural gas… half of all environmentalists would need to stop eating.
David: I remember reading online that guano (bird droppings) were mined from South Pacific islands (and probably elsewhere) back in the 19th century for agricultural fertilizer. You can look at these islands today on Google Earth and see the still-disturbed island surfaces from the 19th century mining. Jarvis Island is one of them.
I imagine the guano mining industry died out sometime later when we figured out how to get agricultural fertilizers from natural gas. The anti-fossil fuel activists are free to go back to guano mining or using animal dung for their fertilizer if they feel natural gas and other fossil fuels are so horribly evil. They will have to mine the guano by hand of course.
David, I always enjoy reading your posts here at WUWT. Keep up the great work.
Caribbean islands as well. The Bond novel Dr. No is set in Jamaica. The antagonist’s nefarious private island was ostensibly a guano mining operation. Use it.
BUT it IS OK to use geologically stored solar energy (aka fossil fuels) as the “training wheels” of energy to get our economies going, help impoverished countries develop, and create the technologies needed to provide sustainable fuel for 1000 years!
In latest news, restaurants and eateries all over Brooklyn and Washington are being taken by storm by the latest food craze. The New York Guardian correspondent briefly stopped wringing her hands in order to sample this new dietary delight, as endorsed by global celebrities such as film star & world-wide jet-setter ‘Lenrandio from Somewhere Crappio’
Seemingly a NASA discovery brought on by the effects of Global Climate Change even in outer space. The effect of Outer Space Climate Change was quite unexpected AND unprecedented – it effected to overwhelm NASA’s newest satellite coolant system based upon Advanced Super Coolant technology known as “Probably Pee”
Probably just a coincidence but, engineers from Microsoft Windows 10 Office spellchecker department are currently on ‘extended leave’
The overall result was that the satellite, NASA codename “OMGWTFnow” endured a serious attitude deficiency as it flew over farmers’ fields in North-East Cumbria, England.
It was not reduced to a complete mash as it returned to Terra Firma with great velocity, it alighted upon a small pile of an organic substance happening to be in the farmer’s field.
Just before it reached its final tipping point to became extinct, the satellite’s sensors detected that the substance was in fact organic in nature, contained some water, was high in nutritious fibre with a distinct & refreshing aroma.
The data were fed into Bonkersley University of Excellence’s latest supercomputer, Big William the 97th, which concluded that, as an all-time first, things were actually better than first thought – the new substance would be perfect addition to the diets of discerning, health-conscious gastronomes & rich folks who ‘care’.
And so it became. Even small portions cause a feeling of extreme fullness followed by a strong & uncontrollable desire to spread it around everywhere.
Because a patent dispute immediately erupted, it is only currently known by the mysterious acronym “Bee Ess” and no more details are available.
A shady corporation based in a seaside mansion, known only as Algore inc, is claiming to have invented Bee Ess some years ago – using a process involving such high temperatures as can only be found near the centre of the Earth. Their spokesman was last seen on an elevator contraption, ignoring questions yet looking ‘quite full and well fed’
On what we can only speculate but Twitters have it that he does his own cooking.
The Cumbrian farmer whose field the unfortunate satellite landed in was unavailable for comment.
Some reports suggest he may have died.
Laughing.
spellcheckers eh
‘Some reports’ were actually fake
😀
Every facet of first world life is enhanced by fossil fuels. In fact, the measure of life is time. And we have purchased time because fossil fuels have enriched and empowered us in ways too numerous to lay out in this short comment. Our life expectancies have over doubled because of fossil fuels. If you love life, you MUST love fossil fuels… until something better is available.
Giving up medicine, heating, clothing, fertilisers, pest control and eating only natural foods has me feeling …green.
The Synod of the Church of England has voted to divest from fossil fuel companies unless they conform to the Paris Agreement. Don’t care about poverty and lung disease- the stupid, ignorant, stupid, badly informed, stupid, unscientific, stupid prelates mired in their pointless virtue signaling.
They believe god will provide….& she has,
they have chosen not to use it
I am not aware of anything in the Paris Agreement saying what oil companies should do, the actions are all on governments. So all oil companies are complying with the agreement no matter what they do.
Sadly, most of the mainline religious organizations have stopped caring about the Gospel and are more interested in spreading Marxism instead.
That’s because they rejected the Gospel to begin with. Many of them suspect that God had nothing to do with the Bible. Someone said once “if you don’t believe in God you will believe in anything.” That seems to describe the CAGW community.
Done! (after looking up the pounds the dollars conversion so I knew how much I was actually donating.)
According to Wiki 78% of the Irish (Republic) identify as Catholic (down from 84% in 2011), so I guess their government is simply following the dictates of Pope Francis.
Are they going to give up all products made from Fossil Fuel products? Please let that happen.
Only the ones that are burned or in any way produce CO2.
“Good luck with that, Ireland …”.
Indeed, good luck with solar energy in Ireland.
Pretty hilarious
Loincloths made of cotton? Not likely, last I heard, without fossil fuel, cotton would have to be picked by slaves. Last time we tried that it didn’t work out so well!
No, cotton was picked by many different groups. My mother (who was white as they come) grew up picking cotton.
Lets hope the loincloth is made of cotton, eh?
Let’s hope it doesn’t fall off.
So does this mean that fossil fuel companies cannot get wind and solar subsidies/tax breaks? After all, that’s supporting fossil fuels and they often use the money to further invest in their fossil fuel activities.
Sometimes a company will buy its own stock.
There are reasons for this; look them up.
Via mutual funds, we own stock it many companies, including FF companies.
Our funds benefit.
Thanks to Weepy Bill.
Since the list of so-called “subsidies” for fossil fuel companies included roads, I do hope these people will not be on the roads anymore.
Or are they simply hypocrites?
The point about my earlier post on the Synod of the Church of England’s disinvestment is that the stupid stupid stupid prelates seem not to realise it’s the same consumer that makes for global warming (if any) not the producer. Walk bare foot back to your palace, Bishop.
Hi
What a joke, the Irish State is a net borrower and similar in outlook and policy to the tax and spend Democrat Party in the US. More token gestures from politicians with very inflated egos. Reality however has a habit of busting in, just ask Malcolm Turnbull in Oz.Regards Peter
Thanks for the many hilarious cartoons, Josh. PayPal assures me that you will see a slight improvement to the heft of your wallet.
Naturally, I assume that no fossil fuels were disturbed anywhere in the chain of manmade products culminating in the sending of electrical signals from Near Chicago to the Sceptred Isles. :>)
. . .
Anthony. In the past I have happily flung funds to you, via PayPal. I very much enjoyed the wittiness of the understated request for donations:
Shameless Plug
Donations accepted: fling funds
above the Donate button. Please, please restore this in place of the characterless”Support our work” over the “PayPal Donate Now” button. …I might even be moved to fling more funds. :>)
And thanks again to you for this great site.
I’ve always wondered what the point of divestment is. You sell your stake in whatever evil thing is currently fashionable. And this accomplishes what? Somebody else owning it doesn’t change anything. What am I missing?
The only value I see is virtue signaling.