Guest post by Charles G. Battig, M.D.
At the September 4, 2019 Albemarle County board of supervisors meeting, members of an environmentalist group spoke in support of a county plan to meet the goals of the U.N. Paris Climate Accord. The following is a rebuttal to that proposal. It will be presented at the board of supervisors meeting September 18, 2019.
At the BOS meeting here two weeks ago, several lobbyists spoke. One expressed concern that her favorite bird was not showing up on time. I share that concern. She should be grateful that that bird showed up at all, and had avoided the 200mph wind turbine blade tips killing 100,000 of thousands of our feathered friends each year while providing intermittent renewable energy.
Be thankful also that that bird missed a massive commercial solar farm such as proposed for southern VA which would cause a sudden climate change for natural fauna in farm fields being put into a perpetual twilight zone in place of natural daylight. Those solar panels depend upon the mining of toxic rare earth minerals by children in Africa and the use of toxic chemicals in solar panel manufacturing in China; once in place, these panels begin leaching out toxic chemicals into native VA soil killing parts of the natural food chain for that bird…all for intermittent renewable energy, backed up by fossil fuel energy plants Good luck and best wishes for her favorite bird’s survival.
Another lobbyist made claim of many happy commercial interests here because of county staff climate proposals…I do not doubt it…I would also be happy all the way to the bank if I could get BOS to impose laws restricting freedom of choice and requiring purchase of my unique products, and impose taxes on the working class to pay for it. If products are so good and would save the earth as claimed then let the free market and the public decide. It should be an easy sell if they do as advertised. Instead paid lobbyists and stakeholders show up and want government favoritism at taxpayer expense, and claim that the (undefined and un-measured climate) will be measurably influenced or the planet saved…saved from what? Surveys often ask open ended feel-good questions…do you want clean air? Would you settle for healthy air? Yes…but they never include a taxpayer price tag for achieving that. Voters are tired of crony capitalism sustained by false scare stories and false remedies. County taxpayers are the biggest stakeholders yet are excluded from closed door negotiations. The Board of Supervisors is expected to represent them, and not paid lobbyists.
Carbon free…what does that mean? It is a wordsmithing scam…we are all carbon-based life forms; we eat carbohydrates to stay alive. It has become a politically disguised term for carbon dioxide. We exhale 4 per cent CO2…1000x 100x the atmospheric concentration. Plants live on CO2 and produce O2 which we breathe to stay alive. Too low CO2 and plants die; satellites show a global increase in greenery secondary to increased atmospheric CO2. Why are wine and beer industries here allowed to spew thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere without apparent concern?
The impact of manmade CO2 on global climate/temperature is too small to be scientifically identified. The number one green-house gas by far at 90% or so is water vapor, as in clouds. Manmade CO2 comes in around 0.25% as a contributor. There is no proof that CO2 has any measurable impact on climate…just the echo chamber of talking heads on the media, politicians, and rent seeking interests claiming an imaginary climate catastrophe…an induced climate panic based on biased climate model computers which their designers admit cannot correctly model clouds and which ignore the cosmic drivers of solar energy. Ignored is the fact that the climate has been and is always changing. Shouts of “do something” and school walkouts betray the lack of any significant understanding of science or climate. It would be better to stay in school and learn basic science rather the follow the media child who claims to be able to see the invisible carbon dioxide.
No matter how sincere you are about influencing behavior and the climate, none of these measures will have any measurable impact on the climate, but will destroy personal freedom, increase the power of an elite ruling class, and needlessly raise the cost of living. Shameful are the tactics of frightening children and those trusting of their government. The current General-Secretary of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) agrees saying that the alarmist narrative on climate change has gone off the rails as he criticized the news media for provoking unjustified anxiety.
These are facts, not so much in vogue now as are emotional stories and unsubstantiated claims, but I graduated from engineering school, earned a Masters in Engineering, then a Medical Degree, and worked on the Apollo moon project, fields where facts were learned, defended in debate, and used in practice, and subject to change…unicorns, fairy tales, and political alliances did not carry the day, and will not now. Let Albemarle county focus on the real needs of education, housing, and transportation.
Charles G. Battig, M.D.
Outstanding. I am stealing this.
Congratulations of on this move, countering the usual propaganda with some down to earth facts is much needed and may inform the BOS about the BS they are being fed by the enviro lobbyist.
400ppm = .4 per mil = 0.04%
4%/0.04% = ???
Best to correct that little slip up before presenting you arguments.
Greg – September 17, 2019 at 1:14 am
Greg, its a fact, humans exhale 4% CO2, ….. or 40,000 ppm of CO2.
NOT 4% of the 0.04% of atmospheric CO2
And “YES”, that 40,000 ppm of exhaled CO2 ….. is 100 greater than the 400 ppm of the atmosphere.
The extra zero in the stated “1000x” was a simple keying mistake.
Greg, take Greta and go back to school, …. starting with 1st grade of Middle School.
@SCC
I think the above is a bit out of bounds; unnecessary roughness.
How the writer has constructed the sentence could have been better. If the writer had stated “When a human exhales 4% of the of that exhaled gas is CO2. Declarative mathematical comparison and perspective can then follow.
And if there is a typo certainly we should not be crucifying them.
Let Albemarle County have zero access to Fossil Fuels or Fossil derived products poste haste then see how their inhabitants react.
So, ….JEHILL, …… it was “out-of-bounds” for me, ….. but not “out-of-bounds” for thee, …. nor Greg, ….. right.
A “do as I say, not as I do”, thingy, HUH?
JEHILL, is that your “liberal learning” …….. or your “liberal teaching”.
you better.
Charles has to be 80 years old or so.
Don’t expect anything new or orignal from him.
we should stage a debate between the old goats of skepticism and the 16 year old know nothings.
Everyone knows you can’t tell a teenager anything has been like that since the dawn of time. You just wait long enough for life and the world to beat sense into them and they turn into normal people.
Your attack on age is reprehensible. Shame on you.
I’m one of the “old goats” who is very much capable of doing “new and original” things and I find your comment offensive.
Old(ish) goat here (54), and I also domany “new and original” things at work.
Mostly, this consists of me recognizing a “new and original” idea from management, checking back through 25+ years of my records, finding out the last time the very same “new and original” idea was tried, reading why it failed, then coming up with a “new and original” solution to the problem caused by the “new and original” idea.
Repeat as needed…
When coming out as a climate change skeptic can get you fired in many companies, it’s hardly surprising that many wait until after they are retired to reveal their true feelings.
Don,
He doesn’t care. I just wonder how long it will take Anthony to realize the he is one of the “old goats” that Mosher berates. Personally I don’t think there is any place for that kind of hateful talk on this site.
How many current skeptics were believers until they did some of their own investigation?
What Steve Mosher either forgets or ignores is that as these “younger” scientists realize they’ve been lied to, mislead, fed half-truths, etc. they are going to become skeptics with a vengeance.
I was a believer until I heard the magic phrase: “The science is settled”.
Another fact-free, ad hominem drive-by from the revered (by whom I have no idea) Mosher.
Mosher ==> Mix it up a bit, throw in a few Pompous Twits from Berkeley and have a real good time.
Once again Steve demonstrates that he is motivated by hatred and bias.
Nothing original from old people? Really? Is that the idiocy you want to be known by?
PS: If old age causes a loss of originality, what’s your excuse?
To the still maturing, academically indoctrinated, middle-aged professor Mosher, I sincerely hope old age brings you wisdom, as I have seen happen to most of my boyhood friends who have made it into the present. Wisdom tends to replace beliefs with observations and experiences, as one enters the highest state of mental maturity. I wish you a long life of learning with a truly open mind, young man.
Professor?
Well, I guess with a few decades of grade inflation for students, you’ll eventually get professors with the skills of Mosher.
Price you have to pay for rewarding mediocrity in the name of fairness and balance.
Steven, I know there are many aspects to your claim of “science advancing one funeral at a time”.
However, you are also reinforcing the contention of many of us that there are reasons the young minds are following the “consensus”:
– they were indoctrinated from Kindergarten on up and now assume CAGW is a “given”. (See most articles and even studies today with that “Begging the Question” fallacy.)
– If a youngster chooses climate science as a major today there is a good chance he/she is already convinced of the consensus, and their motivation for going into the field is to “save the world”. (See all the “Climate Communications” programs that now proliferate. It is very similar to what happened to Journalism schools – students all now want to be the next Woodward and Bernstein.)
– Once in a program, don’t you dare suggest a thesis that questions consensus. (The mentor “gatekeepers” make sure of that).
– If you graduate, the grants are all based on exploring the harm of CAGW; (and you will not get published with a contrary view – the leaked e-mails you helped publicize made that clear.)
– If you are one of the “Ancients” you hope pass soon, you’ve been vilified by the consensus Mafias (the self named “Hockey Team” for one). (See also John Holder at Harvard vs Soon and Ballinas, or later as POTUS adviser vs Pielke Jr.)
Do it SM!
BTW, your attitude towards older folks is disgusting and nothing short of age discrimination.
When given the basic data and asked to do the arithmetic difference between the 1999 version of GISS temp data and the current one, both the 16 year old child and 80 year old geezer will determine easily than the adjustments significantly increase the warming trend.
Wouldn’t serve a useful purpose, Between an 80 year olds and a 16 year olds, we know who the Master Debaters are
Indeed.
Charles should have been in Blind River, Ontario a few years ago. Might have saved their taxpayers millions of dollars:
https://ottawacitizen.com/feature/how-solar-energy-dreams-became-a-nightmare-for-the-small-ontario-town-of-blind-river
Bravo… The green scam and it’s blind “lets save the world by taxing people” needs to be stopped, but only the truth backed up by facts will stop them. I am waiting for just one government to admit the true about the co2 lie.
Why are wine and beer industries here allowed to spew thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere without apparent concern?
That seems out of place and counter productive. It invites the climate lobby to apply CO2 sequestration demands to the wine and beer industry.
Consistent emphasis that CO2 is not a problem and a clear explanation why that is so needs to be adhered to throughout the rebuttal.
Have to disagree about ignoring CO2 coming out of beverages. Let people know that CO2 coming out of things they use or consume (beer, cider, sodas, carbonated mixed drinks, home carbonation units like Soda Stream, CO2 powered anything – pellet guns, draft kegs, paintball guns, not to mention spray bottles etc.) are all going to cost more or be outright banned.
The general population is still unwilling to spend a hundred bucks a year to prevent “climate catastrophe.” So how long are they going to be willing to drink flat beer?
Paul Stevens
September 17, 2019 at 4:56 am
I quite agree Paul…most people have no idea that their world is filled with CO2. Not to mention their angry breath when they berate “deniers”!
All of the CO2 coming out of wine and beer came from the atmosphere in the first place.
This makes as much sense as complaining about the impact of agriculture since people who eat food then turn around and exhale CO2.
So did the CO2 coming out of oil and coal.
If there really is a “climate emergency”, then how long the carbon in the CO2 has been sequestered is completely immaterial.
Not all of it. Production of alcoholic beverages takes energy, notwithstanding the fertilizers used for crop production and transportation requirements. Heck, even peat used in whisky production is considered a fossil fuel.
Alcoholic beverages are not required for life. The same applies for entertainment, sporting events, outdoor activities, etc. Just as some would ban air travel, it’s only a matter of time before there are calls for banning all luxuries.
“alcoholic beverages are not required for life.”
I would suggest not stating this on your way into Ireland…*
*see: uisce beatha
Been known to tip an Irish whiskey a time or two. Generally, it only saves one’s life in fiction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtJgMViTbNo
Thanks to Charles G. Battig for a wide-ranging and comprehensive rebuttal of the foolish, insane and insubstantial views of the Climate Alarmists on the measures required to fulfil their fantasies.
…unicorns, fairy tales…
Name-calling and sarcasm are out of place in an otherwise straightforward presentation of the facts.
No, you call a cat, a cat. You call greentard fantasies and stupidities, fantasies and stupidities. He is too kind in fact.
You and I are entitled to our opinion, and my opinion is that when the facts are on your side, those facts should be presented in clear concise language without digression into a denigrating tone allowing your target audience to disregard the message.
I’m rather sure that “How to win friends and influence people” says much the same thing.
Steve case September 16, 2019 at 10:47 pm
“…unicorns, fairy tales, and political alliances did not carry the day, and will not now.”
That is not name calling. It is descriptions for actions and viewpoints which the author disagrees with.
Sarcasm, well yes. But in the presence of the absurd it is almost a requirement.
michael
Unlike the others in the room at this coming debate the man is educated, understands science, worked in the real world on technical-scientific issues; had to assess, analyse, debate complex topics; knows that plant food is a rounding error chemical which falls out of; and can never cause ‘climate’, is necessary for life, and we would want more, not less of it.
I especially like his last line – maybe the simpletons at the County Office should focus on their jobs, not their leftard virtue signalling, costly, and quite inane mother earth obsessions.
“These are facts, not so much in vogue now as are emotional stories and unsubstantiated claims, but I graduated from engineering school, earned a Masters in Engineering, then a Medical Degree, and worked on the Apollo moon project, fields where facts were learned, defended in debate, and used in practice, and subject to change…unicorns, fairy tales, and political alliances did not carry the day, and will not now. Let Albemarle county focus on the real needs of education, housing, and transportation.”
“We are all carbon based life forms” EXACTLY! Even the original “Star Trek” got that right!
Dr Battig
4% CO2 in our breath is only 100 times the atmospheric 400 ppm, not 1000 as stated.
Yikes! Correct, hope he reads these comments.
Great article, But it took to the 3rd paragraph to find out where Albemarle County was.. at first I thought it was in California… But there were several references to southern VA. I assume that Albemarle County is in Virginia.
Just like to know where we are talking about…
Again – great article !!!
JPP
Albemarle County is in central Virginia; Charlottesville is there. Likewise, University of Virginia (UVA); thus, the county is the center of far-left studies for the state (or Commonwealth), along with secondary centers in Blacksburg (Virginia Tech), Richmond (Virginia Commonwealth U and U of Richmond), and of course the whole of NOVA (Northern Virginia), the hand-basket (along with the nearby counties of Maryland) in which Washington DC nestles in such near-unanimous comfort.
I heard Dr. Battig give a speech on climate in Richmond several years ago; very good, concise, factual, logical, vivid, hard-hitting. I admire his courage no less than his perspicacity.
Albemarle County
Notable folks from there:
Howie Long, NFL
Dave Matthews, Band
Sissy Spacek, things
and lesser known:
Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe
Won’t work. He is calling for sense rather than emotion. But politics and votes operate on emotion.
If the Board listen to him they will have a continuous and vocal protest outside until they give in. What do you think they are going to do?
The board should take urgent action.
Be it resolved that all Albemarle county supervisors will take public transit or bicycles to all work, civic meetings, and county events.
Will they pass this into law? Ha, ha, ha.
Dodgy G
Consider this, in terms of what the emotional mechanism is. Today on the CBC-1 radio channel we heard a certain Greta say that she didn’t want people to be worried or angry- she wants everyone to be terrified, as she is terrified.
Who terrified this teenager? Aren’t people who attempt to instill terror in the general population normally titled “terrorists”? How is the UN not guilty of attempting to terrorise the entire population of the world with their hoary stories of future drownings and false narratives about CO2?
They have a stated intention to coerce the population of the USA into declaring a “state of emergency” based on instilling terror into the ordinary citizen. Is that how it goes next week?
They have, according to Greta, caused her to become so terrified that she is willing to risk her life crossing the Atlantic ocean on a small boat in a desperate attempt to terrorise others with tales of fear and woe, disaster, starvation and global suffering.
Someone is responsible for this, and it is not herself. She in obviously incapable of creating this level of complex narrative with such an integrated set of catastrophic claims. She is hardly a star researcher and linguist.
If anyone is listening to Greta, they should note that she is a distressed victim of terrorism, identify those responsible and punish them appropriately, certainly cutting off their sources of funding in the process.
Why should government be in education, housing, or transportation ?
The only task for government is to defend our liberty. The free market will take care of education, housing, transportation etc
A very good rebuttal to the green group religion.
However, this is the first I’ve heard of toxic metals leaching from solar panels. Is there a reference for that statement?
The author is making a common basic error. He is directing his remarks to the science of global warming, loosely speaking. He disputes the effect of CO2 emissions on global temperatures.
This is an error because the activists are not interested one way or the other in that. What they are interested in is using the issue to radicalize. So they will not dispute his views on CO2, they will confine themselves to calling him a right wing denier of the scientific consensus, and the argument will go on inconclusively and the proposals not be affected.
What should he do, then?
He should be challenging the policy in its own terms. Assuming the so-called consensus is correct, how effective will the proposals be in remedying global warming?
He needs to ask about the direct and the indirect effects. The direct ones will be tha reduction in the levels of global CO2 emissions the proposals will make. It will be easy to show that they are so small as to be unmeasurable.
Then he should demand that the indirect effects be quantified. The force of example. How many other states or countries will be influenced by the decision if taken, and how much will this reduce global emissions?
Finally, he should move to asking what the cost/benefit ratio is. It is going to be easy to show that the costs are huge and the benefits few to none.
He should end by arguing that there are some issues that are global in scale, and on which local action can have no effect. Tuvalu cannot improve its chances of surviving sea level rise by reducing its own local emissions. We cannot reduce the incidence of malaria worldwide by vaccinating our own children in Albermarle County against it (now that a vaccine seems to have been discovered). You do not reduce world hunger by eating up the rest of your dinner, all you do is get fat.
The thing to demand is that action be effective. And he should ask the question, in his last sentence: if we in Albermarle County want to reduce global warming and the problems that the consensus believes to be being caused by CO2 emissions, is this local action the best use of funds to do that?
Or is there some other course of action that might be a more effective use of those funds? And the answer would be certainly yes. If you really want, as Albermarle County, to reduce global emissions, your best bet would be to bring pressure to bear on the largest emitters at an international level. But good luck with that. Don’t notice that Tuvalu has had much success, and you will not either.
You have made interesting suggestions about effectively countering those who want to squander money on a futile attempt to create an ideal world climate. Here in Ireland the Greens are once again baying for increased carbon taxes.
I would like them to answer a few pertinent questions:
1. What would the ideal climate be in each of the climatic zones?
2. Do we have the proven ability to create this in each zone?
3. Can we not make far better use of the billions squandered on CO2 reduction to adapt to and benefit from regional climate changes?
I would hope for honest answers something along these lines:
1. We are unable to qualify and quantify the “ideal climate.”
2. We are unable to engineer significant climate change and produce the (imaginary) ideal.
3. With human ingenuity, we are well able to successfully adapt to changes in our environment and climate.
But, again, in the case of any local initiative, you need to ask these two questions:
1) What percentage reduction in tonnage will the propose action make to global emissions. Global emissions.
How many tons are you going to cut, and what proportion of global tons emitted is this?
2) What percentage reduction in tonnage will the proposed action make as a result of force of example leading to others making reductions?
After you make your reductions, how many others will follow your example because you have done it, and how many tons will thereby be reduced?
Michael In dublin… Brilliant questions. I for one wonder the same thing, as to what sort of weather they would like. I also like to ask them, Do they eat meat, do they wear vegan cloths, how do they get to work, phones/ computers, are made from fossil fuels so why do they use them… The questions are endless
“what sort of weather would they like ?”
Late Spring weather, 24 hours a day, 364 days of the year, across the entire surface Earth…(and 1 day of Winter for Christmas..) ! Is that asking too much ? : )
Dr. Battig, Thank you for your admirable service to productive and indeed adventurous science.
Given that the yearly average global temperature has in (little known) fact gradually increased something over a degree during the past century to just over 58 degrees F., to prolong the averaging nonsense that has concealed that the 2 significant elevations over that same interval have largely been in the nightly lows of Canadian, Scandinavian, and Siberian latitudes rather than any lower latitude daily highs, the ‘average’ earthling will be most comfortable wearing a light sweater!
How proud we must be to be counted among Homo ‘sapiens’ with such wildly irrational conduct leading so many of us by the figurative ring in our noses.
Oh but that just sounds so boring, how can I get re-elected on vague claims about improving education, it sounds so much better if I can shout about how we helped save the planet.
while basically right , this sounds a lot like getting it off your chest. I don’t think this has been written with the intent of influencing politicians to act in the desired way.
Besides, it’s too easy to follow the money if it is earmarked for education, housing, or transportation. OTOH, ‘climate change’ affects everything, so you can justify spending tax dollars on anything.
And receive campaign contributions from a NEW group of donors.
When lots of money moves around, it is easier for some to fall DIRECTLY into someones pocket that has not provided any value added work. Think Solyndra.
Thanks, Dr. Batting, for the very well written peace.
As others pointed out: 4/0.04=100
Not sure if the beer thing suits the context of a short briefing the best, because it can smell negatively in green eyes, but phrased more positively towards CO2 it may be more useful.
I am still in favor of using the term ” … and our increased CO2 contribution has …”, as contribution sounds positive, whereas emission sounds negative. As the article also states, so many are emotional about politics and social conduct, thus keeping CO2 phrased in a positive manner may be very important.
” once in place, these panels begin leaching out toxic chemicals into native VA soil”
This sounds like BS to me.
Yeah, I’m not sure about that statement either. Unless poorly manufactured (a possibility) the panels should be sealed until they are damaged and/or broken, which may be several months or years.
“Leaching potential test results show that such panels have a leaching potential of approximately 4 grams of lead per kilowatt installed, compared to approximately 23 grams of cadmium per kilowatt installed for CdTe panels. This has to be weighed against that cadmium is considered approximately 10 times more hazardous than lead,” Westgaard said.”
https://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-news/cadmium-risk-in-photovoltaic-panels-041411
They have to be exposed to water to leach (which the paragraph previous to your quote mentions). Every panel I’ve seen was sealed against the elements.
“Every panel I’ve seen was sealed against the elements.”
Every oil and gas pipeline I’ve seen as well.
They always start off sealed, but seals have a way of failing. One of the biggest failures of solar panels is water intrusion.
Plus, moisture intrusion is exacerbated by below freezing or vaporizing temps.
“moisture intrusion is exacerbated by below freezing”
Bingo.
Just got back from an enjoyable two weeks in the southern Mediterranean. Lovely thousand year-old cobblestone streets, marble and stone buildings, etc.
The Canadian in me always goes from the “glad I don’t have to shovel those steps” to “lucky they don’t have frost”…
Solar installations in the north are a ridiculous idea both from the lack of daylight and the the fact that they don’t work very well when covered with snow AND the fact that when the snow does melt…it will freeze. Then thaw. Then freeze. Duh.
I’ll keep posting this as a warning and consider it my civic duty:
https://ottawacitizen.com/feature/how-solar-energy-dreams-became-a-nightmare-for-the-small-ontario-town-of-blind-river
For the non-US readers, the county seat of Albemarle County is Charlottesville, which is also the home of the University of Virginia (UVA), which alone should explain the ueber-liberal nonsense of the county BOS. But wait! There’s more!!
UVA was also home to Dr. Michael Mann (yes, that Dr. Mann) from 1999-2005, before moving to Penn State U.
Albemarle County was also the birthplace and home of Thomas Jefferson, who founded UVA. There have been moves by Charlottesville city government to have a statue of Jefferson removed, and it has officially stopped celebrating Jefferson’s birthday. Several other statues of Jefferson scattered about the city, county, and grounds of UVA have been defaced.
Sadly, this is what passes for an enlightened community and education, today.
You know what I want? I want another HUGE climate march, where all the climate hypocrites march and display their virtue signalling hypocrisy, that is great entertainment for me, hilarious leftist idiots.
So Albemarle County wants to “..meet the goals of the U.N. Paris Climate Accord.” Under Paris, the US is to provide $100 Billion each year to the undeveloped nations of the world. So how much is Albemarle County going to provide towards this obligation? Based on the County’s population, their share would be about $300,000 per year. Go for it.
Since Albemarle wants to be so virtuous, they can also pay my share to the UN.
Charlottesville is reliably DemoncRatic. Inanity is the modern product of intellectualism. They do not know cannot imagine, what they do not know. The good doctor will not disturb the smugness of their self-righteousness. Alas – from Hardy VA.
They want to imitate those countries which signed the Paris accord? They should build coal power plants.
NYT: 2017 article reports that 1,600 coal power plants are being built in 62 countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html
All 62 countries signed the Paris accord, promising to someday think about reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.
Don b… Add all the nuclear plants as well, it seems the world governments know the “climate lie” is in fact a lie, but want to tax us to make billions before the the truth comes out… I truly do not understand why, solar cycles, earths tilt, earths magnetic field etc etc is never spoken about, its always Co2
In my experience, public input tends to be pro forma, as suggested by the impossibly short time available for a speaker to make a case for anything. In the case of Albemarle county we find this on their web site:
COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE
PUBLIC MEETINGS
PUBLIC SPEAKER SIGNUP
The following guidelines will be used unless otherwise indicated:
EACH SPEAKER IS ALLOTTED 2 OR 3 MINUTES BASED ON THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE SIGNED UP TO SPEAK;
INDIVIDUALS CANNOT RELINQUISH THEIR TIME TO ANOTHER SPEAKER;
INDIVIDUALS CAN ONLY SIGN UP ONE PERSON TO SPEAK;
PLEASE GIVE ANY WRITTEN STATEMENTS TO THE CLERK PRIOR TO THE START OF THE MEETING.
I read Dr. Battig’s statement out loud and it took me just under five minutes. He will need to edit it down a bit or (better) split it up and get a freind to go with him and deliver one of the parts.
Steven Mosher: you better.
You better what???
Juan-
You are correct. It pro forma. The local Sierra Club (which probably has been working with the county staff for over a year on this) will have enough people signed up to speak to guarantee that he will only get 2 minutes. His comments will mean nothing. Whoever tallies up the “score” for the evening, his will be counted as one of the few “against”, versus the overwhelming number “for”. Thus the county commissioners (or whatever they are called) will judge that the county is overwhelming for a climate action plan.
I am having the same problem here in San Antonio, Tx. I have decided to speak to the only thing that the city council understands- the money. The cost to make a local area “carbon neutral” by 2050 is astronomical. The city could not raise taxes high enough to pay for it, and still provide police and fire protection and other standard municipal services.
I have no illusions though. The city council will vote for the Climate Action Plan for two reasons. (1) virtue signaling, and (2) they are term limited to two terms in office, so they will be long gone when any of the ideas in the plan are tried to be implemented.
“100,000 of thousands”
Might want to correct that.
Albemarle County contains the University of Virginia, which is a festering nest of marxists these days. Founder Thomas Jefferson is turning in his grave…
Battig ==> What exactly did the Board of Supervisors propose?
I have sailed across Albemarle Sound many a time — a tricky bit of water if the wind is up.
Battig ==> And I could never get my tongue around the word “Albemarle” — how exactly does one say it?
“‘Albemarle’ — how exactly does one say it?”
Just the way it looks: AL – BE – MARLE (NOT marley – pretend there’s no “e” at the end).
I’m a native Virginian; I live outside Richmond right now.)
Well, it is confusing. I’ve lived in Albemarle County for about 17 years and many old country (as opposed to city) natives pronounce it “Alb-marl”. Soft “b”.
Kip
Albemarle[ al-buh-mahrl ]
solar panels do NOT put everything under them in perpetual twilight.
You can graze sheep under/round them, or keep chickens… in the UK it is quite usual to grow natural vegetation/wildflowers around them for the benefit of insects.
https://www.bostonseeds.com/products/1/Grass-Seeds/130/Solar-Park-Seed-Mixtures/
“Grass and wildflower seed mixtures are frequently sown on solar farms as they can provide low maintenance ground cover as well as creating a habitat for pollinating insects”
Your figures on wind turbines and birds are completely wrong (and if you had quoted a source I’d have been able to show you why).
I trust the author is also boycotting all forms of modern electronic device also using African mined rare earths -e.g no cellphone
What about rainfall Griff? How do you get that grass evenly watered?
By the way, musicians should boycott Neodymium speakers because their manufacture produces radioactive waste using your logic, as they are essential to wind generators.
Dr. Battig, I’d be proud if you’d read them my primer poetry.
Mother Goose on Climate Prediction
As record winds blow
Unprecedented snow,
Oh, where is our globe a’ warming?
That depends on the sun
And the ways oceans run,
Plus clouds (with complexity) forming!
Now, for quite long,
Climate models are wrong.
So, what caused the pause in the warming?
Yes, look to the sun,
The ways oceans run,
And the clouds, in complexity forming.
CO2 is “too small”
To stop temperature’s fall
When the sun, clouds and oceans together,
Begin to cause cold
In cycles so old…
No one alive can remember!
So, if I do some harm
By just keeping warm,
You’ll have to kindly forgive me!
I find my solution
Makes carbon pollution;
Lest Gaia too quickly outlives me!
Nice!
Albemarle County is where Charlottesville is. Charlottesville is the home of U Va. That means they have 10 really good basketball players and 10 thousand leftist idiots. The good doctor will be drowned by the rising tide of idiocracy.
I’m embarrassed that I was born there. Perhaps, since I escaped at age 3, I was not affected by whatever it is in the water there that is serving to make these folks batshite crazy.
Thomas Jefferson would be flabbergasted.
It’s worse than the water supply, it’s in their daily media consumption.
Don’t be too tough with Steven Mosher when he pulls the side of the sweet little sixteens.
After all, the governments want to withhold the paid pension contributions to plug the state’s financial holes ..
So the governments talk about “demographic crisis” while instead spreading emergency demagogics.
Steven Mosher leans on the right, the political correct side. Leave him that little pride.