Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to The Guardian, loving your country means you should believe in the climate crisis.
If you love Australia, climate change should scare the hell out of you
Greg Jericho
Sun 26 Jan 2020 06.00 AEDTConservatives love to talk up Australia ‘punching above its weight’, but they turn to self-hating cowards when it comes to climate change.
I love Australia.
It’s not a thing you hear too often from progressives. Mostly this is because we don’t go in for the pathetic jingo-nationalist, quasi-militaristic “love it or leave it”-style patriotism that John Howard attempted to link with a love of country.
But I do love Australia. I get an absurd amount of irrational pride when I hear of Australians doing well.
…
Because I love Australia, and the real question is why don’t conservatives who refuse to do more on climate change love Australia? Because climate change will destroy much of what we love about this country of ours.
Much of what makes Australia unique and beloved by those of us lucky enough to live here is linked to the extremes of our land and climate.
…
What we love about Australia will be taken by climate change well before other nations who emit much more greenhouse gas will feel great changes. And that should enrage us and our representatives, and it should drive their actions.
I love Australia and so I want action on climate change. And if you love Australia, so should you.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2020/jan/26/if-you-love-australia-climate-change-should-scare-the-hell-out-of-you
Interesting that someone who claims to love their country feels the need to explain that “irrational” feeling.
Prophecy and diversity. The Guardian also believes that there are “too many white girls from next door” in the Olympics.
Projection. #HateLovesAbortion
First they demonize you, then they start putting you in jail.
When that doesn’t work, they bring out the death squads.
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” Hermann Goering
It has to be said, that Dorothea Mckellar’s “My Country”, sums up Australia perfectly.
I am Australian and you, “The Guardian” know Fuck All about Australia and Australians.
Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi!, Oi, Oi!
Regards
Climate Heretic
The statement “But I do love Australia. I get an absurd amount of irrational pride when I hear of Australians doing well.” by Greg Jericho, reveals as Eric Worrall points out, a deep intellectual malfunction and irrational mindset that befuddles much of the thinking of the Warmistas. This is yet another example of the Leftists accusing the Rightists of doing exactly what they themselves do all the time.
At the moment sunny Australia is using coal and gas to generate approx 81% of is electricity. Time is 0845 AEST.
WA for example is using 1.13% renewables. But the sun has not risen over there yet. Doesn’t that tell you something?
Source: https://reneweconomy.com/nem-watch/?fbclid=IwAR0GYMpgXj4NjFW-253HmiaCU8qwpCMfGvxmt0mTrSE5uRUDq4_tlBVovM4
I spent a both of time looking at the comments on your link Clarky. It’s a bit like watching the the reverse of ours!
I think that we should give in to the fools with two previsos. The first would be that all subsidies are stopped. The second, that as of today they agree to decommission all wind and solar renewable technology at their own personal cost at end of life or when the country goes bankrupt.
Hmmm global warming will ruin the Australian way of life? Take a closer look because the Australian way of life is already being ruined. The Australian dream was one’s own house on a 1/4 acre block. But now our young people cannot afford a house because of competition through uncontrolled migration. Not that there are many houses left. There are units going up everywhere, generous free space is now a narrow passage between your unit and the next. No room for trees and grass. Even outer suburbs are looking like inner city in terms of living density with huge cranes littering the skyline to put up even more little boxes. Our roads are so congested its a major chore to move around and any road development is now at the expense of tolls, tolls and more tolls. Our social infrastructure is being similarly strained, our traditional values deemed reprehensible and unacceptable. Something we should be ashamed of and for which we should pay ever increasing and never ending compensation. We should instead be happy to abandon our traditional values in favour of those of the economic migrants and our fringe groups. The rights of any 1% minority is deemed to massively outweigh the rights of the 99% majority, not just to be accepted beside the majority but to extinguish the rights of the majority.
Stop worrying about global warming destroying the Australian way of life, the left are already achieving that in spades and they are proud of it. Pride in ones country is all about being proud of what we have achieved and the sort of society we have established. Courage lies in making an effort to support and contribute to the Australian way of life not in seeking to tear it down and destroy it. Who are the real cowards and traitors?
Australian cities are gradually modelling their development on the former East Germany where vertical slums are now becoming the norm.
There has been in fact an unaccountable greening and flowering of the desert areas throughout Australia that began around 2002… extra CO2? I love my country and don’t feel a need to justify that btw. But the roots of leftist thinking go deep in our education system – I still remember how devastated my grade 1 teacher was when Whitman was removed. It has taken me years and the help of authors like CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, and websites like wattsupwiththat.com and Joanne nova.com.au !! to weed out the false sentiments propagandized from infancy.
You had the courage to seek balance and truth Andrew, well done!
Ooops my website was spell corrected
There is no coherent, articulatable, or demonstrably observable reason for believing that “climate change” is a necessarily dangerous thing.
There is no reason why anyone could rationally believe that human beings possess the ability to control the climate.
There is no identifiable crisis occurring that is outside of the normal range of weather variability in any location or region of the planet.
And let us not forget that what is really being asserted by warmistas to begin with, is that CO2 increases in our atmosphere will cause global warming, and not some nebulous and vague thing called “climate change’.
The assertion is that the globe is and will continue to warm, and that this warming is entirely or nearly entirely caused by and due to an increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, that such warming is by definition dangerous, that the amount of warming which will occur, not which may occur, can be predicted and quantified, that this warming will lead to increasing amounts of water vapor in the air due to increasing ocean evaporation, and that the amount of warming which will have catastrophic outcomes is just slightly more than the warming which has already occurred since the middle of the 19th century.
Absolutely none of these things are based on any scientific understanding of our atmosphere, beginning with the part where the preindustrial temperature is asserted to be the ideal and natural temperature of our planet, right through to the part where we can and must control the temperature of the planet and avoid warming at any cost and no matter the consequences for human prosperity.
The preindustrial baseline being used in this Jengo tower of nonsense was in fact a disastrously cold period in our planet’s history.
By every quantifiable measure, the period since then has seen an unprecedented increase in human prosperity, health, and longevity.
Over the past few decades our planet is observed to have undergone a rapid and widespread greening, and farmlands all over the world have had ongoing and massive increases in productivity.
There is no statistical increase in the amount or severity of any destructive weather phenomena…no increase in droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves, cold spells, or any other sort of weather related disasters, over the entire historical period.
None.
It does not even make logical sense that any changes in what is defined as climate will necessarily be bad and not good.
It makes no sense to postulate a warmer and wetter world, observe no increase in destructive weather events, and yet be firmly convinced that destructive changes are imminent.
The pattern of warming that can be observed to have occurred shows that our planet is becoming more mild and hospitable, with the warming occurring in the places and times of year that are far too cold for life to prosper and for human beings to live comfortably.
The reality of what is occurring is that irrational alarmism has corrupted the thought processes of a large number of people, and none of what they are screaming about is real.
None of it.
It is close to the actual case that the exact opposite of what these people are saying is what has been observed to be taking place: Our planet is becoming more habitable, the biosphere is expanding, people are doing far better before than ever in history, and the pace of the improvements is accelerating rapidly.
A collection of irrational jackasses, straight up liars, assorted fraudsters, scheming profiteers, and ignorant fools are somehow in control of how hundreds of millions of people are being governed and led.
And the rest of us are doing little to stop it.
That is what must change.
+1
Nailed it…..
I completely agree
What’s the plan Nicholas?
Nicholas McGinley
Sorry, but you just make a complete fool of yourself when you write such denial crap. Even if you don’t accept (or understand the science) you do this side no favours by denying there is anything happening. The planet is warming, all the data sets say so. We should be cooling with the sun dimming, but we are not. We have have just had it’s warmest decade in human history, following on from the warmest before that and the warmest before that. That is happening for a reason. If it is not CO2, then what is it?
So nothing is happening you say….We have just had devastating fires in Australia that have causing enormous loss of flora and fauna. Rainfall patterns are changing, causing issues for farmers around the planet. If they continue to change then we will have bigger problems trying to feed an ever increasing global population. Add to this sea level is rising. Yes, it is slow at the moment. 3mm a year. But if as is expected, it increases and we see significant rise by the end of the century, then less farmland will be available to feed this increasing population. All these people on less land with less food is not a recipe for harmony. Bangladesh is particularly at risk here. As their agricultural land floods, where can they go. India wont want 160 million people crossing their border. They will have their own issues with arable land being lost. And on it goes….
So you can repeat the old “nothing is happening” BS (like they did last decade with “the pause” but what happened to that?), but some of us are a little more in tune with the play and know that is just dumb talk.
Where do you get your science from? Your posts reads to me like you regurgitate the BS published in The Guardian and the like.
Patrick MJD
I can tell you where I don’t get it from, people who rant about how nothing is changing. So rather than hand waving, tell me where I’m wrong
Where do you want me to start given “you are more in tune with the play”?
Patrick MJD
“Where do you want me to start given “you are more in tune with the play”?”
Here’s a good place. A bit old now but the planet has warmed a lot since this was written. Simple, frank, no nonsense. One of the most respected science organisations on the planet.
http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/policy/projects/climate-evidence-causes/climate-change-evidence-causes.pdf
“Simon January 27, 2020 at 11:27 am”
35 uses of the word model.
All the doom and gloom predictions you have listed are bunkum, the IPCC have stated they have very little confidence there is a connection between major weather events and man made climate change. As for the tides, well the 3mm a year figure you stated has been happening around the same since the end of the last ice age. But hey, don’t let the facts get in the way of your alarmist BS.
And guess what. The flora and fauna in Australia will be just fine. The same as they have in all the other wild fires that have occurred since eucalypts evolved. The same eucalypts that promote fire to exist in the environment in which they have adapted to for thousands of years.
aussiecol
“All the doom and gloom predictions you have listed are bunkum, the IPCC have stated they have very little confidence there is a connection between major weather events and man made climate change.”
I’m picking reading comprehension was not a strength of yours at school. I didn’t mention weather events.
“As for the tides”
Oh dear, I didn’t mention tides
“And guess what. The flora and fauna in Australia will be just fine. The same as they have in all the other wild fires that have occurred since eucalypts evolved.”
These fires are bigger and more fierce than these parts of the country have experience since bush fires could be measured accurately. That’s what happens when the climate is hotter and drier. 2019 was the hottest and driest ever measured in the areas that had the fires. What a surprise….
That last statement of yours dude, is simply a pile of twaddle.
It should read, the fires are the largest since Bob Carr locked up large areas of land that without management, allowed significant biomass to develop in an unprecedented way.
Due to the underfunding of agencies of the last twenty years, the budget and scale of hazard reduction was far lower than was required to reduce this accumulation.
This accumulation, in conjunction with the strongest IOD/SAM combination in over twenty years, created a situation of immense risk that was realised by large scale bushfires that were triggered by lightning and arson.
This was exacerbated by the actions of Greens councillors in particular in the Eurobodalla and Shoalhaven shires where most of the fires occurred, which had prevented and fined local landowners clearing fire breaks and their free-hold land which resulted in significant destruction of personal property and life.
These policies were reinforced by the NSW State Government, where examples exist of owners urgently requesting they undertake mechanical clearing at their cost prior to the fires which were subsequently denied again, resulting in their entire properties being incinerated.
Have a look at 2002 and 2019. STRIKINGLY similar. The only times a sudden stratospheric warming event in the southern hemisphere has been officially recorded. Both times this resulted in the SAM being “scrambled” (for want of a better phrase). Three months of strong, persistent drying W winds day after day completely dessicating an already tinder-dry SE Australia, bought on by an extended +IOD, a weak ENSO condition, and a stubborn MJO that didnt see the monsoon season kick off until Xmas. Conditions in 2002 were very similar – those same climatic drivers were doing the same thing.
Have a look what happened? Fires starting from dry lightning in November in East Gippsland and the Alpine National Park – about 1.5m ha burning for 3 months. The only difference is that the areas were more remote so less lives and property were lost, but the areas were very similar. Not to mention the oceanic and atmospheric conditions were just as similar as I’ve stated above.
To make it even more eerily similar…a fire started in Namadji NP about 50km SW of Canberra the other day. Guess what happened in early 2003? A fire started in a similar location – and Canberrans will never forget what eventually happened a week or so later. Let’s hope this time – 2019-20 won’t repeat as closely to 2002-03 as it has so far.
Spot on, Nicholas.
Why stop at Greg Jericho?
How about Larry Elliott?
“Inequality makes climate crisis much harder to tackle”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/26/inequality-climate-crisis-harder-tackle-poor-sacrifice-davos
The bog mindles.
Here is a great article by Viv Forbes in Australia,.
https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/fire-lighters.pdf
More stuff on bushfires in Australia here:
https://saltbushclub.com/category/bushfires/
Water makes it cooler where you irrigate because of evaporation but water vapor is a ghg and more of it makes it warmer everywhere else. Average global WV has been increasing 1.5% per decade. There is a limit to how much WV the atmosphere can hold so there is a limit on how much the planet will warm.
It’s the Grauniad, famous for its appalling spelling and incoherent “journalism” busy running though its trust funds. No one takes any notice.
Isn’t Jericho the brave soul who hid behind an anonymous blog to attack conservatives and was eventually outed by one?
Projection.
The main problem for Greg Jericho is that Australia has a huge mining and petrochemical industry, so there are thousands of highly trained and competent geologists, geophysicists, mining engineers and petroleum engineers as well as people expert in maths-based disciplines, who do the accounts, logistics and market analysis. Mining is a high-risk business from operational safety, political and market volatility points of view, so qualitative and quantitative risk analysis and management is key to success. When this overwhelmingly high level of intelligence, training and experience turns to address climate change, it finds uncertainty in every aspect. Almost everyone in the industry does not believe there is a risk of climate catastrophe, and many are prepared to argue the case. Greg has no hope in the face of such rational and informed opposition – he’s simply out of his depth.
As I was reading Mr. Jericho’s screed that included …
“ I love Australia. ”
… I thought of the poem by Dorothea Mackellar, “My Country.”
I got the feeling that Dorothea really did understand and love Australia.
I get the feeling Mr. Jericho doesn’t really understand and that his love of country is superficial. Note his “irrational pride” for who knows what.
The definition of a “country” is a human construct. It is real only in the mind (And thus isn’t as the mind is temporary). Sure we can write it down and build monuments to a country however, those too are temporary. A country is inanimate. It can’t be “loved” in the human emotional sense, as that is in the mind too.
What to do?
In not so many powerful words, even though fiction, “Live long and prosper”.
Mr. Jericho believes that in 1908 when ‘My Country’ was published the average Australian surface temperature was 2 degrees C below today.
How do they make this stuff up and seek to be credible?
And no one at the Guardian raises an eyebrow.
Let’s make it 3 degrees in Jericho’s next article.
No complaints from the readership.
Maybe they are just experiencing cognitive dissonance based on the fact that AUSTRALIA EXPORTS MORE COAL THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH BY MORE THAN DOUBLE the second largest exporter, Indonesia and four time as much as the US.
http://www.worldstopexports.com/coal-exports-country/
Greg is very much a hero in this town – a self-serving career public servant who believes that public servants are destined to be social engineers championing so-called ‘woke’ issues, and not apolitical non-partisan professionals. When 51% of Canberrans work for the public service, it’s difficult to stay straight faced here in Canberra as a self-employed professional – and for me to be a scientist who owns and runs a business is something that confuses the hell out of many people I meet at weekend bbqs here. And oh how they shut up as soon as I start bringing science into the discussion around bushfires – they can’t run to the fridge or toilet or change the subject quick enough! Canberra is one of the most protected, ignorant and privileged cities in the world, where its lack of understanding of the real world never ceases to amaze me. This anti-scientific tripe is the norm for Greg, so I’m hardly surprised – but it will be lapped up with gusto by the Canberra crowd.
Meanwhile a fire burns on its outskirts………….caused by a Defence helicopter landing light!
“I love Australia and so I want action on climate change. And if you love Australia, so should you.”
The question is how much cares Australia about Greg Jericho.