Guest essay by Eric Worrall
In the wake of serial failures like the collapse of AG climate litigation initiative, climate activists are desperately searching for other means to force the rest of us to accept their policy ideas.
Greta Thunberg is right – only a general strike will force action on climate change
McEver Dugan and Evan Cholerton
Thu 25 Apr 2019 00.16 AESTEvery day at work we all contribute to a system that is burning us alive. Downing tools on 27 September will help change it
Climate change is hurling humanity towards disaster. There is no more room to question the science, when nearly every climate scientist is in agreement that the implications of a global rise in average temperature will spell drastic changes for human civilisation. In the face of such a rapidly encroaching threat, political niceties and traditional incrementalism and compromise cannot come close to the level of change and upheaval required to solve, or even mitigate, the problem of global climate change.
…The current ineptitude and impotency of the ruling class is unacceptable when the consequences of inaction are so far-reaching. More than ever, it is time for workers – those who will be hardest hit by soaring food and healthcare costs, and by property destruction caused by natural disasters and the rising sea – to exert their power and force the hand of major players (governments and corporations) to avert what is almost certain to be the next global mass extinction.
…
Through all of this, as Greta Thunberg has said, one thing must be made clear. There is no greater way to capture the attention of the public, and the powers that be, than a general labour strike. An old and effective strategy, it is the holy grail of activism. And in such dire times, there is no question that a general strike is sorely needed once more. Earth Strike is seeking to revive the general strike in service of a global, apocalyptic problem – one that encompasses the lives of every creature on the face of this planet.
The reason Earth Strike exists is that shutting off the global labour supply will force governments and industry giants to listen. There’s no way to avoid the conversation when profits are in danger of eroding, and production has stalled to a halt. Every day we go into work and spend our time and labour building a system that is burning us alive. The top polluters in the world are directly dependent on this effort. It is time to withhold it.…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/24/greta-thunberg-general-strike-action-climate-change
What do you think? Are you worried about the impact of the upcoming climate change general strike?
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“There is no more room to question the science”
Except that climate science itself came to be by questioning “the science” that warming, ice melt, and sea level rise are to be expected in interglacials.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2018/12/21/eemian/
Yeah. I am not questioning the science at all I am questioning the interpretation of the science, and why there is so much post-science being applied to the real science.
Now that we see clearly there is no catastrophe coming and no reason to act in haste to overthrow the dominant paradigm, what’s an activist like me to do? Planting trees is one way we can improve the environment. I like trees.
The science says the ECS is low, probably under 1 degree per doubling. The models say otherwise therefore the models are unscientific because they are invalidated.
A general circulation model is not “science” it is an unvalidated iterative calculation of a future climate state that will not happen – it is too unlikely.
Nicely phrased, Crispin.
+1
Even sadder is the fact that they disagree with their CAGW bible:
When the IPCC states that changes in technology and society will mitigate most of the problems their ‘projected’ GW ‘may’ cause.
It should be noted that this is an “opinion” article not part of Guardian’s reporting.
This means they have very little checking or standards: it’s “opinion”.
Why do the Guardian’s ‘opinion’ pieces always push the far left end of town?
As they say, “the stupid it burns”, and mostly it will be burning the workers and those who will be hardest hit by soaring energy costs, transport costs and by taxation imposed by Global Warming/Climate Change Alarmists.
Not what market economists think
However, that’s preferring fee-and-dividend type approaches.
https://www.clcouncil.org/economists-statement/
The statement admits a carbon tax would put upwards pressure on prices, Geoff.
The only reason “carbon leakage” could be a problem is because a US carbon tax would make US produced goods more expensive. The economists think this can be compensated by returning a carbon “dividend” to poor people, but some groups will still be severely disadvantaged, such as people living in low population density impoverished rural economies, people who have no choice other than to use private, fossil fuel powered transport to get to work.
In case you think you can ignore the exceptions, many of the yellow vest protestors in France are poor rural workers who rioted against Macron’s attempt to impose higher fuel costs on them.
Carbon Dividend to the “poor” is just Wealth Redistribution
Out of every thousand carbon tax dollars, only three hundred will ever be passed on to the ‘poor’. The rest, sadly, will never reach the destination we are told it will. The ‘workers’ least of all.
So, by this same logic, taxing physicists working on fusion will spur them to come up with commercially viable fusion power sooner. Perhaps we can start taking away some of their blood each day to REALLY motivate innovation.
Send their families to Siberia if the scientists don’t fix global warming. Worked for Stalin so the guardian should be keen on this idea.
“Not what market economists think”.
The same “market economists” that couldn’t foresee let alone prevent global financial crisis 2008 due to subprime mortgage markets collapse.
https://www.google.com/search?q=global+financial+crisis+mortgage+backed+securities&oq=world+finance+crisis+mort&aqs=chrome.
https://www.google.com/search?q=globalfinancial+collaps+2008+mortgage&oq=globalfinancial+collaps+2008+mortgage&aqs=chrome.
“Not what market economists think” –
That same “market economists” that couldn’t foresee let alone prevent
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung&ei=A0fFXM3hJcv2qwHC27iACg&q=stockmarket+collaps+1990-2008&oq=stockmarket+collaps+1990-2008&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.
This same “market economists” had 10 years to read Andrew Ross Sorkin
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung&ei=PU7FXLK3CMiqrgTZsLagBw&q=too+big+to+fail++Andrew+Ross+Sorkin&oq=too+big+to+fail++Andrew+Ross+Sorkin&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.
Obviously these “market economists” are advice resistant.
A strike by middle class people who work in NGOs, middle class people who own artisan bakeries and quirky cafes. That’ll bring down civilisation for sure.
“There is no greater way to capture the attention of the public, and the powers that be, than a general labour strike.” ?
I guess they don’t realize that 97% of their supporters don’t work for a living….D’OH !
Hell, yeah.
Let’s pretend that a neurotic teenager is a Messiah.
To Hell with reason and logic and facts and all that rot.
We all need a full blown psychotic episode.
Workers of the world reunite.
Alan, Exactly! What a bunch of recycled proletariat-facing propaganda for the “precariat” masses, old-school mid-1800’s guilt-tripping reinvents itself as new age identity politics with irrational nihilist climate-alchemy thrown in.
Alan Robertson:
..”Workers of the world reunite.”
Or how about ” Workers of the world Ignite”?
Cheers
Mike
What is the difference between the Messiah and the Green messiah?
When the Messiah went to Jerusalem two milennia ago He came on a donkey. When now the Green messiah comes to the New Jerusalem only the donkey appears.
The clamoring clowns at that news rag are sounding rather desperate.
They’re quite desperate and unhappy, and filled with fear and hate, that people knock down their straw clowns with liberal and gay aplomb. #HateLovesAbortion
The whole climate fraud is crumbling down, they know it and are panicking.
Does anyone out there know where we are at with the investigation into the “Science?” Trump is putting the pieces in place but I would say far to slowly as elections around the world are being influenced by this insane bullshit. Trumps timing may be for the American elections, and it is essential that he is reelected, but a lot of damage is being done in the meantime.
I have the TV on while I write and the ABC just said that Tasmania’s forests are endangered by climate change, because as it gets hotter there will be less rain and so therefore the bushfires will destroy the ancient forests….that is just a fucking lie in every way, but the morons eat it up in advance of a Fed election in Australia in three weeks.
This must end!
A lot of damage is being done through “economic suicide” of US economic competitors.
Trumps moto was “Make America Great Again” – it wasn’t “Stop Europe Committing Economic Suicide”
Of COURSE we all should go on strike. Lets start with the folks who grow the food, then with the guys (and gals) who get it to the factories where it is made into things we want to buy, then with the shippers who get it to the grocery stores (and restaurants) where we buy it, and then we should walk or take our horses and buggies to the store to get it, and they when we get it home we will have to chop wood to prepare it (the only thing we will be able to afford is mush) on a wood burning stove. And it is going to be very hard to find wood in Atlanta!
This sounds like a TERRIFIC idea!
The worst thing is that even if we DID all that, the idiots proposing the general strike won’t learn anything from it.
Mush??? How did you afford Mush??? My pot is full of water, sticks and dirt…I can smell the fiber from here
What occurs when the psych wards are closed and dope is legalized, the crazies are still crazy but now they’re self-‘medicating’ and using extremist politics to derange and disable society, and the next generation is their primary target.
” Using extremist politics to derange and disable society” Consider it war, which targets infrastructure first. You note the USA is first to opt out of self-destruction. I don’t suppose that is accidental. If the rest of the world puts up a trade barrier the least you would expect is a tariff advantage for scoffers. South Australia is reported by some to have a flight of energy intensive manufacturing – going to where supply is reliable and cheap. But I don’t worry about druggies outside the deaths from prescription drugs.
Portugal decriminalised drugs 14 years ago – and now hardly anyone dies from overdosing
The country has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/portugal-decriminalised-drugs-14-years-ago-and-now-hardly-anyone-dies-from-overdosing-10301780.html
It’s rather silly that someone observing the dysfunction of the state and its control of illegal drugs cannot add 2 + 2 and come up with druglord state ( narco kleptocracy ). Not that law enforcement does any better at piercing the bafflegab.
Law Enforcement Action Partnership UK |
ukleap.org/
LEAP UK is a global network of law enforcement figures which seeks an alternative to our failing, punitive … Card Tricks – The Propaganda Fuelling Prohibition.
The guys who belong in psych wards are in charge.
“then with the guys (and gals) who get it to the factories where it is made into things we want to buy”
Good luck getting China to strike.
Yes, “[t]he top polluters in the world are directly dependent on this effort [labor]. It is time to withhold it.” Absolutely necessary, then, that the General Strike start in the PRC. Good luck with that.
Who is John Galt?
Wankers.
They are, ironically, the old Guard-ian, and unbelievably, unforgivably green. They are also concerned about “too many white girls next door in the Olympics.” So, rabid diversity on one hand, and conflation of logical domains, including prophecy, on the other. Either way, they are monotonically divergent.
I am looking forward to being a ‘scab’ for that strike.
the coming climate crisis will cut production and efficiency in 10 years..
or we can avoid that by going on strike now,and suffer tomorrow
Can we be assured that the employees of The Grauniad will join the strike?
Ummm…. Not sure. Isn’t a strike a denial of labour? So if you are providing a product the market doesn’t actually care for and you put no effort into producing, then is striking even possible?
Given that the legacy MSM are trying (or at least should be trying) to compete with the growth of unregulated nuMedia, I would suggest that people like the Grauniad should think very hard about taking the day off and daring the public to try and get their news from elsewhere.
Juan…Only a one day strike by The Guardian? How about the virtuous lead by example.
How about 30 days of striking and no pay for that month. Also all Guardian employees, subscribers and posters will agree to leading a CO2 free lifestyle for that month. Other than breathing out of course.
The Aussie Conversation…academic luvvie site which got 3 million taxpayer dollars as a start up and another 3 million top up is also invited to this action.
RobBob
CO2 free. Would that include not exhaling?
Thirty days! You must be joking. The Global Warming Crisis is so serious that all true believers, like Guardian Journalists and Readers, owe it to us all to lead from the front and close down this CO2 generating monstrosity and practice post birth abortions on themselves.
Just blockade Marks and Spencers and the local Waitrose grocery chain. That’s where most Guardianista’s shop.
Guardian readers do a lot of shopping in the exotic places they fly half the globe to find where they can shed crocodile tears over the way humanity (them) are damaging the world by flying so much.
They all suffer from EHS (Extreme Hypocrisy Syndrome).
Say it often enough and loudly enough and eventually the sheeple will believe.
‘nearly every climate scientist’ can be interpreted as ‘every climate scientist that agrees with me. The rest (possibly the majority) can be ignored’
Every climate scientist is in agreement…
Bit like saying nearly every Flat Earther believes in the Ice Wall at the edge of the world or every Disney marketing employee says Captain Marvel and the latest Star Wars are really popular.
(also, in case you were wondering, Brie, yes that is some sort of attack 😀 )
The ‘every climate scientist’ claim is a closed shop attempting to shut down discussion. “What would you/he/her know? You/They are not climate scientists!” That sort of denial is the same as saying you can’t discuss religion unless you are a pope or are incapable of recognising a crime if you are not a police officer.
Let them strike. In the end it will be like Earth Hour, they’ll lose a days pay and none will notice. If it goes longer than a day, after a week most will be back to work as they will be unpaid days.
Of course we could always take over their protest with Yellow Vests and signage calling for affordable energy prices and no Carbon Taxes.
Most gaudian “readers” work for the public sector where their immediate boss (not the real boss: the public) .. their boss will be fully supportive and give them leave to create chaos with full pay.
It’s a strike by public sector employees for the rest of us to give more money to the public sector in the name of the climate religion. What’s not to like about that if you’re in the public sector?
(I found your six comments from the SPAM bin today, checked to see that you have a legitimate IP and nearly clean spam blacklist, your computer clean?) MOD
Terrorists.
So a general strike by non-productive members of society. meh
Those that AOC will pay “not to work”
I’m not only unwilling to work, but I’m willing to strike to make sure I don’t have to work.
No, wait… striking is just too much work. I’m staying home.
H.R. April 25, 2019 at 8:02 pm
We need to form a union…
The IBBI
International Brotherhood of theBone Idle*
*h/t Onslow, supporting character on Keeping Up Appearances
I’m struggling with finding the website where I can get paid not to work.
If I use all my e-mail addresses, I think i could get a whoppingly huge salary. Am I missing something …. ? Why doesn’t everybody do this? Screw capitalism, let’s all be rich.
“There’s no way to avoid the conversation when profits are in danger of eroding, and production has stalled to a halt.”
Out of all the nonsense and blatant lies in the above article, this one is perhaps the worst, as well as the most subtle. The implication here is that the activists are striking because ‘others’ don’t want to have a conversation. Yet it is the activists that have no desire for conversation. They have always claimed that the science was settled and not open for discussion. The subjects of adaptation and nuclear are not to be talked about. There is only one solution for the activists, and that solution is not open for discussion!
We must obey them; give up our wealth and freedom for their greater good. End of discussion!
So, what happens with all this insanity if we arrest emissions and we can return to 280 ppm CO2 levels by 2050-2100, but the weather and climate doesn’t change? It is becoming more apparent every passing year that that the sensitivity of atmospheric CO2/emissions is minimal, if indeed even a real problem. I think our descendants are going to have a field day laughing at this early 21st century lunacy. Just like we now think of sacrificing virgins and prisoners for better harvests by temple priests was lunacy.
Going on strike to demand LESS? A new era in labour relations is about to dawn.
Surely it would be much simpler for GT and her ilk to just walk home or swim if necessary. There they could produce less for their own use and save the world by example. If they need shoes, they can make rope sandals from reeds cut from the local swamp. Of course they would need a stone axe, steel being out of the question.
Meanwhile China and India are building coal fired power stations as though there is no tomorrow, increasing their CO2 emissions by far more than any reduction we can make. So we cripple our economy through idiocy, yet find that CO2 continues to rise anyway with barely a perceptible blip due to our efforts. Then we wake up one day to find that China and India have taken over the world economy to such a degree that they have become the defacto world government what then? Will the fact that the world did not warm to destruction despite the continued rise in CO2 be a suitable solace? What will happen when ordinary citizens realise just how much the activists have damaged us through their hubris? Just maybe some of the activists should apply the precautionary principle they so love to that scenario?
Coal-fired power stations last what? 30 to 50 years? Someone should tell them that the world ends in 12 years and that solar and batteries would be cheaper and more in tune with the timeline to total destruction of the planet. See what they say back?
The CAGW conjecture is nothing but a political construct.
Gullible people have been sucked in to “movements” of all kinds since time immemorial.
I’m just watching a documentary on Netflix about the Baghwan Sri Rajnesh and Shiela cult in the 1970s – 80s.
The belief of their disciples was absolute (and scary!)
But really, it’s no different to the CAGW cultists who commit to Al Gore’s “Climate Champions” movement.
Remember, Al took divinity studies at university – basically studying to become a preacher.
Later on, all he has done is used his preacher training to start a new variation of religion.
And the first essential for preachers is – “you have to convince yourself of the truth of your message. Or at least do a good job of faking your conviction in your message”
On the latter score, Al has nailed it!
I get so confused by Climatology,I thought Monty Python was humour,not an instruction manual.
Yet these artists have created a incredulous meme out of so few facts as to rival the “professionals” at the world bank.
The weave is fabulous they tell us.
The colours sublime.
Only the ignorant and unlearned cannot see this wonderful Global Warming.
As for STRIKE.
I say go for it.
Like a government shutdown.
Who would know the difference.
Anyone know the significance of the September 27th date?
Also, if my fingers and toes are correct, that is 5 months away. I thought we now had less than 12 years. 5 months out of this total is a mildly significant percentage.
I suggest that McEver and Evan are not really committed to this strike thing. If they truly were the entire article could have been slimed down to, “Strike! Now! Climate Change! Bring Friends!” and they could have both been out on the footpath before their morning tea had even gotten cold.
Maybe they were waiting for Greta to give instructions?
Three possibilites: Sept. 27th is the anniversary of…
2013 Lorde releases her debut studio album “Pure Heroine”
2015 A “Supermoon” coincides with a lunar eclipse creating a “Blood Moon” over much of the earth
2017 Researchers confirm existence of giant tree rat “Vika” in the Solomon Islands that can crack open coconuts
Eric Worrall asks: “What do you think? Are you worried about the impact of the upcoming climate change general strike?”
Not a bit worried. The only ones striking will be those who have the time because they are out of work or activists who are being paid to strike… which is a bit contradictory if you think about it.
I’m not sure whether this article is just plain stupid, or is inciting its readers to subversion or economic sabotage. Time will tell.