Guest philosophizing by David Middleton
There are three options in tackling climate change. Only one will work
We’re now at a fork in the road: either we cut out fossil fuels completely, or we pass on a dying planet to our children
Mayer Hillman
The world faces a near-impossible decision – one that is already determining the character and quality of the lives of the generations succeeding us.
It is clear from the latest IPCC climate report that the first and only effective course, albeit a deeply unpopular one, would be to stop using any fossil fuels. The second would be to voluntarily minimise their use as much as climate scientists have calculated would deliver some prospect of success. Finally, we can carry on as we are by aiming to meet the growth in demand for activities dependent on fossil fuels, allowing market forces to mitigate the problems that such a course of action generates – and leave it to the next generation to set in train realistic solutions (if that is possible), that the present one has been unable to find.
These are the choices. There are no others. Future generations will judge us on what we choose to do in full knowledge – accessories before the fact – of the devastating consequences of continuing with our energy-profligate lifestyles.
What a legacy we are bequeathing – regions of the world becoming uninhabitable at an accelerating rate, creating potentially millions of ecological refugees; a burgeoning world population, diminishing reserves of finite and other resources, shortages of water and food, calamitous loss of genetic variability, and wars of survival.
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Basically…
First off… I actually feel guilty about not subscribing to the Grauniad… I have way too much fun ridiculing their idiotic Climatariat propaganda.
Secondly, who in the Hell is Mayer Hillman? And why in the Hell should anyone care about his opinion… Particularly when he doesn’t know what a “fork in the road” is.
A “fork in the road” does not have “three options.”
Mayer Hillman is an architect. I could end the post right here… But there’s way too much fun to be had with this. Starting here:
The Roads Not Taken
We can assume the economic “road not taken” by sane human beings will be Mr. Hillman’s preferred road back to the Pleistocene. So let’s look at some other “roads not taken.”
Back in 1975, our climate thankfully took the high road and opted not to follow the road to “The Ice Age Cometh?”…
While taking the high road, our climate opted not to take Jimbo Hansen’s even higher road to the Eemian/Altithermal…
Our climate has consistently taken the road that avoids all of the really bad models (>95% of the models), and only followed to good models (<5% of the models).
It gets even better if the models are initialized earlier…
Even if we used the pause-busting Mears-ized RSS satellite temperature data the “road not taken” is RCP8.5 Nightmare Lane…
95% of the model runs predicted more warming than the RSS data since 1988… And this is the Mears-ized RSS data, the one in which the measurements were influenced to obtain key information (erase the pause and more closely match the surface data). The RSS model ensemble is historically forced prior to 2004.
Their “small discrepancy” would be abject failure in the oil & gas industry. And in energy, the “road not taken” has been the Unicorn Expressway…
Wait a second… The energy fork in the road does have three options!
- The Fossil Fuel Expressway
- The Hydroelectric and Nuclear Service Road
- The Unicorn Bicycle Path
So… Maybe Mr. Hillman wasn’t that far off.
Featured Image
Unaccountability and lunatic claims are frivolous goods that come from a wealthy, modern society. But in real terms they are about as important as items in the dollar section of the local ‘party’ store.
Hmmmm…… Public displays of self-delusion mental illness are becoming more and more common, it seems.
It was 25 F this morning. Strangely, I didn’t feel guilty about the heat being on.
It’s a spork, with politically congruent value and appeal.
All this “future generations will think this…” twaddle never seems to get as far as thinking through even the first implications of the statement.
There are few places in the world with a visible industrial heritage as long as the UK. When I look at the old abandoned quarries, mill buildings, railways, canals etc, I often see modern leisure facilities, parks, up-graded yuppie flats, cycle paths, and new micro environments for plants and wildlife. Even slag-heaps can be readily transformed with minimal effort and investment when there is a will.
The legacy I see is that former generations did what they had to do to build the economy and improve their living standards. That is what has left us as wealthy as we are, and able to afford such luxuries as giving more time to improving the environment. I am grateful for the industrial revolution, but some would have us cast it all away in search of some Cider-with-Rosie rural idyll that never existed.
Surely should be a handle to this fork, every fork has a handle as the most of aging British tv viewers know
https://youtu.be/pV1IP4N9ajg
I can’t even figure out what to make for dinner, let alone proper forks.
The reality is that, based on the paleoclimate record and the work done with models, one can conclude that the climate change we are experiencing is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Despite the hype, there is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and plenty of scientific rationale to support the idea that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero. There are many good reasons to be conserving on the use of fossil fuels but climate change is not one of them.
There is no reason to “conserve” coal.
(I don’t think coal conserve would taste very nice at all, not at all like Vegemite)
Use it as efficiently as possible, yes.
Limit real pollution from coal, yes, of course.
But “conserving” it by making it unavailable to people who’s economic progress and prosperity is held back by not using it?? NO WAY
To turn electricity supply systems into erratic hard to manage, expensive systems reliant on just the “correct” weather for them to deliver and make it hard for poorer people to pay for that electricity??
… That is just IDIOCY !!
When I come to a fork in the road, I swerve to miss it. Forks are not good on tires. I will conserve my own personal energy use. I will use fossil fuels because of efficiency factors and not believe catastrophe will happen because of it. I will vote next Tuesday for who I believe are not followers of the Cult of Doom and Gloom. My grandchildren will probably thank me.
Caleb Rossiter has also reviewed that latest UN horror report.
?w=1000&h=563
My snopsis with images added https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/un-horror-show/https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/un-horror-show/
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I second that.
Not sure why, but this just fascinates me (two forks on the front tire).
Good rebuttal.
Guess we can stick a fork in this one!
How could I have missed the opportunity to use that cliche?
Well, they think with forked tongue.
We try not too.
Who’s “we,” Mr. Hillman? Just the West? If it is, “our” curtailing the use of fossil fuels won’t stop the catastrophe. If it isn’t, then why are you preaching to us, whose emissions aren’t rising much?
How do you feel about nuclear power? Have you opposed employing it? If so, then you are the villain.
I know Mayer Hillman personally. He used to be my neighbour.
He’s a hard-left socialist who lives on a street in Hampstead. It is one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in London. His house (which is lovely – I’ve been in it) must be worth at least £2 million. He’s yet another one of the wealthy armchair socialists telling the poor people how they should live.
I’ve watched him talk of a personal carbon allowance. It is a frightening concept – controlling how others live and attempting to restrict their lifestyles. To me, that smacks of Communism.
However, I can report that whenever he mentioned CAGW at local residents association meetings, the other attendees would just groan. No one else cared, I’m happy to say.
Ah, April 1st comes early!
So by Monday morning we’re all supposed to drain the gas tanks of our automobiles and disconnect the gas line that fuels our furnaces, hot water heaters, and stoves? (Don’t worry about shutting off the elrctrivity because all the utilities that burn fossil fuels will have already shut down so there won’t be any electricity to shut off!)
Honestly, I have far better things to do such as watch another Trump rally, anticipate more economic growth, and prepare for a blockbuster holiday season.
If we all took this bozo’s advice, by Monday most of us would be facing divorce and charges of child abuse. Besides, it would put our civilization in grave danger of annihilation!
The people who advocate such actions simply can’t be sane!! Criminal insanity describes them much better! They aren’t the least bit sentient!
Our children’s children will think we were idiots.
Progressives only care about passing something on to the children that they fail to abort.
Once again we are presented with limited,carefully chosen options. Warmists do not seem to see how easily spotted their ‘fale dilemmas’ are.