Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t ozspeaksup and neo; Greta Thunberg has learned the hard way that UN bureaucrats don’t cut short their lunch breaks for anyone. The United Nations has ruled they cannot hear Great Thunberg’s climate complaint, because she has not gone through the correct procedure.
U.N. panel says it can’t rule on climate case brought by Thunberg
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Oct 12 (Reuters) – A U.N. panel said it could not immediately rule on a complaint by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and others that state inaction on climate change violates children’s rights, adding that they should have taken the case to national courts first.
The complaint was filed with the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019 and the 18-member panel has been conducting hearings and deliberating since.
The 15 activists, aged between eight and 17 at the time, had argued that France, Turkey, Brazil, Germany and Argentina had known about the risk of climate change for decades but failed to curb their carbon emissions.
“I have no doubt this judgment will haunt the committee in the future,” said U.S. petitioner Alexandria Villasenor said of Monday’s judgment. “When the climate disasters are even more severe than they are now, the committee will severely regret not doing the right thing when they had the chance.”
…
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/un-panel-says-it-cant-rule-climate-case-brought-by-greta-thunberg-2021-10-11/
For once the inertia and bureaucracy of the United Nations may be a blessing rather than a curse.
For some reason I while I was laughing I kept thinking of The 12 tasks of Asterix. One of the tasks Asterix had to complete, was to obtain the correct paperwork from the place that sends you mad.
Asterix found a solution to the puzzle, but that was just a cartoon. I doubt the bureaucrats of the United Nations will be so easily defeated.
Correction (EW): h/t Graemethecat – Asterix, not Asterisk 🙂
Which volcano did she pick? Traditional, innit.
What should be brought to the UN’s attention is the doom infected on the world’s children by Greta and her like. I think that is a terrible violation of children’s right -to tell them they are doomed. –at their age, they believe it.
It is not a violation of their rights but their minds.
Internationalised mental illness induced by fear disguised as benevolence and care to create a scared individual with 0 individual qualities than will never grow up.
Better stated, yes. Simple mental health IMHO. You don’t teach your children the world will end tomorrow, nor do you teach them they are victims. We are seeing the effects of this evil. There is always a hope, at least in western civilization.
The first problem is anybody listening to children at all. They have no experience in life, and a limited grasp of the nuances of history, therefore their opinions are invalid. This is why most countries have minimum age requirements for public officials…not that it does much good in the US, with clowns like AOC and her buddies in congress. But the problem started back in the ’60s, when for some reason people started listening to college kids and, later, high school kids, and now people like Greta, who has no idea of what she’s talking about but is for some reason listened to by true believers. The first thing that needs to happen is for adults to stop listening to children and do what is right and not necessarily what ‘feels good.’ The two don’t always have the same value.
We should never dismiss children out of hand BUT allowing them to rule the roost is absolutely the wrong way to teach them about life. I remember in the ’80s when a young man of 8 years faced up to me and announced that he did not have to listen to me because there was a Children’s Bill of Rights and he lived in a free country. Yep, free to spend the rest of the day in his room without TV, computer, or Game Boy. We eventually came to an understanding….
A big problem today is that many parents have abdicated their position of power in the home because it is much easier to give in and be your kid’s BFF. Kids need parents with rules and boundaries to test, this how they learn. The last thing they need is another buddy to encourage them in folly. The parents who have allowed or encouraged their kids to follow the Swedish troll are criminal!
And we were those college kids! In ancient times, elders [like us today] would have been seen as wise, but not today. Not sure what changed. Maybe because world history is a horrorshow and we, as elders, are the first to recognize it as such. Kids today know virtually nothing about history, it being cancelled as we speak. They cannot “relate” or compare today to the past which was almost always worst.
CO2 caused warming (not the catastrophic part, but the significant warming part) is superficially OK science; you can’t spot the defect when you hear it the first time.
[Also, the most common counter argument heard in France in liberal/libertarian circles (a few years ago, I don’t believe they do it anymore) was 100% bogus and that’s easy to see if you have even superficial physics understanding.]
miseducation and diseducation are both child abuse that a bystander can file a lawsuit over in the US
I’m certain the “correct procedure” means greasing palms at the UN.
It means suing in National Courts first. You might read the news article. But if they lose there they already have half a win here. Or the National Courts might take this Court’s positive findings and give them a win.
The Courts have a long history making green law. These suits are dangerous.
There has to be a court in some jurisdiction that can be relied on for a favorable ruling. All they need is a kid in that jurisdiction to do the suing. It should be easy-peasy. Just kidding … anybody who predicts what courts will do is an idiot.
The astonishing thing to me is that the US Ninth
CircuitCircus threw out the juvenile lawsuit (Juliana v United States) that was filed back in 2015. Twice!!Most likely only because the 9th knew any other decision would have immediately been appealed to the adults on the Supreme Court, who would have overturned it. I’m also of the belief that the current court would not have acceded to the “CO2 is a pollutant” decision.
It’s only dangerous for countries that signed on to the extension BS of the human rights charter … beyond that it’s meaningless.
The correct procedure is:
– switch off brain
– lap up what you are being told
– repeat what you have been told ad infinitum
There is a bit more to it than your casual dismissal. They got some alarming findings in their favor., especially that the damages are real.
What damages?
“Damages” that might occur due to temperature anomalies (greater than) 4°C and sea-level rise of (more than) 1 metre IN THE YEAR 2100 aren’t “real”, they are “projections”.
Echoing Willis, you have signally failed to provide specific examples of those “damages” that you claim have “really” happened already [ “are real” implies the present tense for assessing those “damages” … ], nor have you provided a list of the “findings” that you consider to be the most “alarming”.
Any chance of rectifying those omissions ?
PS : Are you any relation to the (self-declared, IIRC) “Mad Dave” Wojick of the late 1990s / early 2000s ?
Iowa’s Field of Dreams has been bought. I belive it will be turned into an amusment part. It will of course have a giant corn maze. On holloween Greta can be the lead show bringing the children of the corn out of the maze in search of a corn pellet stove to stay warm. Use of a Bank of the West net zero credit card will be required for admission.
Yes and they sport Greta dolls that look like the caricature above. And the doll was a striking resemblance of “Chuckie” from the killer doll’s fame. Maybe we could put in a rush order to Hasbro in time for COP 26 as handouts to the bureaucrats.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103956/?ref_=ttls_li_tt
HOW DARE THEY?
Blah, blah, blah.
It is funny that there are people who think CO2 causes climate change. They actually believe that a trace gas could alter the energy balance on earth.
The circus can go on for a long time. It is entertaining like the cartoon. The sad part is that it is rather expensive R&D to find a long-term solution to eventual fossil fuel replacement.
Greta can see CO2, apparently.
Greta is 18 years old now, maybe she will get a boyfriend and see something else.
Who is going to date that? especially in Scandinavia..
Come on, Leo, play the ball not the player
Along with the fact that CO2 is a trace gas , just 0.04% of the atmosphere , is the fact that about 97% of it occurs naturally .
So you finish up with the facts that , the UK , [ which only does 1% of the man made emissions ],
is blamed for 0.00001 % of an atmospheric total .[ The USA does 0.00018% ]
Anybody who believes that those tiny amounts can have any effect on the climate is either delusional or just telling lies .
Oh, there is no question that it can have an effect and perhaps even does. What is likely is that any effect is very tiny and we can not be certain what that effect on the climate is.
What we can be certain of is the beneficial effects of an atmosphere with enhanced CO2 levels.
We can also be certain that the new arcane science of attribution will find all kinds of bad consequences, both past and future. What other purpose could it have?
Not interesting.
Oh so reGretable, that’s what you are.
Totally reGretable, though near or far….
as sung by Nat King Coal….
Remembering Nat King Cole! You must be my age. Yes great time for music.
The UN and Greta Inc. are made for each other.
Let’s have a GoFundMe for Greta.
Let’s have a GoFarAwayFund for Greta.
The reality is that, based on the paleoclimate record and the work done with models, the climate change we have been experiencing today 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 there is plenty of scientific rationale to support the conclusion that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero. Hence all efforts to reduce CO2 emissions will have no effect on global climate. There is no climate crisis. There is no action that those countries could have taken to stop Mother Nature from changing the Earth’s climate as has been taking place for eons. Mankind does not even know what the optimum global climate actually is let alone how to achieve it.
One of the better, most succinct statements of the issue that I have seen. However, you say “based on the paleoclimate record and the work done with models, the climate change we have been experiencing today is caused by the sun etc. etc.” You can’t mean the IPCC models, can you? The IPCC models I have examined have no input parameters for the sun. They simply ignore it. But I have not looked at all of them. . . . Otherwise, Bravo! A very clear statement of the issue, including the most important part, which very few have been willing to state: “Mankind does not even know what the optimum global climate actually is let alone how to achieve it.”
Based on that truth alone, it is high time humanity cried out as one to the totalitarians, “Give us back our freedom and our economies!”
William,
“the climate change we have been experiencing today…” I really haven’t experienced any climate change of significance in my last 67 years. Grandpa’s diaries in which he recorded every mundane event and daily temperatures indicate there was more climate change in the 1930s, then it changed back.
William: I’d go further.
As a 73-year old UK resident since birth, I can say that the climate in this part of the world hasn’t changed. Hot summers, cool summers, rainy summers, cold dry winters, warm wet winters – you name it, there’s nothing new. Met Office data going back over 100 years confirms this – look at how all the graphs for temperature, rainfall and sunshine for every month of every year spike up and down:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-temperature-rainfall-and-sunshine-time-series
No dangerous man-made climate change here, yet the Met Office persists with its doomsday scenarios.
Would that the ‘great and the good’ of the UK would make some effort to embrace reality.
Optimum global climate for what? Human life? Polar bears? Whales? Cockroaches?
The whole thing is lunacy. We’ve started from an assumption that the period prior to industrialization was “correct”, assumed that all change in the global climate (really, various climates) is a result of industrialization, that all change is bad, and that we need to fix the earth that we “broke” so that the climate reverts back to how it was prior to industrialization and then somehow keep it there forever.
And the hubris to think that we can control climate to reach a so-called optimum. As if there were only one global climate. It’s madness.
I fear those who want to fix things more than I fear the results of industrialization. They are actively trying to change the weather/climate directly, quickly, and drastically. And when the do so they will cause more damage than anything done by irresponsible industrialists.
It’s Asterix the Gaul, not Asterisk!!
Clearly an autocorrect thing but I was coming down here to say exactly the same thing.
Asterix is great. A giant of European culture.
Would you accept one of us talking about Mackie Mouse?
I think you will find that Obelix is a giant of European culture.
Asterix is much smaller.
It’s just so much Cacophonix to me!
Surely you mean McAye Mouse.
Ha 🙂
It’s been a long road for some:
Brilliant! Thanks for giving me a good laugh, Gringojay!
So who made the UN the world court of social conscience?
They did
I don’t understand how these minors establish legal standing. They can’t prove harm and it should be their parents or legal guardians that bring suit on their behalf!
Surely you jest. Correct legal principles in a climate suit—never!
Yes, I was ‘jest’ joking. 🙂
It was wrong of them to even respond to the childish ravings. There isn’t even a cause of action to form the basis of a legal action.
Isn’t that why Michael Mann is pushing what he calls ‘attribution science’?
They need to establish cause and judges keep asking for that pesky proof.
Only 4 days to go before BBC One screens The Trick and nothing from WUWT.
Phil Jones will be declared a hero after being hounded by climate change deniers for 12 years.
FFS wake up!
We’re aware of it, but I don’t think BBC wants to send us a reviewer link for an advance screening, so we have to wait like everyone else 🙂
The content has been extensively trailed… long article in the Guardian which I linked to in comments here, for example.
This was a non story at the time and this is finally going to nail the skeptic hype of it dead.
Dream on, Griff.
I often see claims that “THIS will see the FINAL nail in the coffin of the [ sceptic / warmist / denier / alarmist / … : Delete as required to be maximally inappropriate ] case ! ! !”
People still heatedly discuss “Climategate” (2009).
Although much less often than they used to people still talk about “The Hockey Stick”, from the original 1998 paper to (at an absolute minimum) its use in the 2001 TAR.
People even still occasionally mention “The Chapter 8 Controversy” (SAR, 1995).
I don’t think that any single news story (/ television documentary / scientific paper) will ever “finally nail” anything in domains that have (unfortunately) evolved to be as controversial as is the case for “climate science”.
You read and believe in what The Guardian tells you, Griff?
That explains a lot.
Do you really think anyone will watch it, let alone believe it.?
Quite a few will watch, some probably won’t switch off after the first few minutes. Of those, some will believe – some people will believe anything if you are sincere and look them in the eyes; BBC and CNN news anchors know this already. It’s pretty much the same thing as the Hollywood rewrites of history – how many people really believe America got the first enigma machine after U-571?
The title alone raises expectations. Perhaps the Mann will make a cameo appearance to explain the use of the term.
TRICK = Slight of hand, device to mislead, something better not be seen.
Greta’s court case implies that she believes government actually controls home heating, where-and- when cars and trucks drive, population demand for food, cement, plastics and chemicals. Not even the most planned central economies have ever achieved this competently. They are just trying to gently let her down….
At least 90% of what Grumpy G believes is nonsensical.
poor Gretta and her band of XXXX XXXX have been put in there place
there is now at least one positive for UN
” Greta Thunberg has learned the hard way”
The complaintant in a frivolous action wins when news of the filing is reported. Sorry, Eric, but she’s learned nothing, nor has she lost anything since the whole stunt was paid for and orchestrated by others. A news clip like this is max demagogue points, even though it may seem like a loss. Her producers will have her scolding the U.N. as a body within a day, if she hasn’t begun already.
I agree it is possible UN itself may have orchestrated this idiocy, to try to put pressure on national governments. But look at the mess UK, China and India are in. Even Biden was reduced to begging OPEC for more oil, and begging US suppliers to increase supply. This entire charade may be heading towards an imminent breaking point.
As the Queen said about COP26 yesterday,
She’s half right. It’s really irritating when they talk.
“When the climate disasters are even more severe than they are now, the committee will severely regret not doing the right thing when they had the chance.”
So they’ve got a bit of time then….
U.S. petitioner Alexandria Villasenor said of Monday’s judgment. “When the climate disasters are even more severe than they are now, the committee will severely regret not doing the right thing when they had the chance.”
So we have ‘Worse That We Thought’ and ‘May Already Be Too Late’.
BINGO!
In semi related Greta New, here in Oz there is a School Strike for Bludging lined up for today.
As per usual the media, both casual and Main Stream, have talked up what an amazing thing the Strike is, without actually offering up an explanation as to how a bunch of spoiled school kids spending an afternoon is public actually inconveniences anyone.
Also as per usual there has been a Gore Effect. Rained all night. Lots of standing water that hasn’t drained yet and weather cool, cloudy and a good chance of further rain.
This is a case of the dog biting its owner.
What climate disasters?
In a debate in my professional quarterly I was accused of being ‘unscholarly’ for calling Greta a a ‘doom pixie’. god, how that stung.
“state inaction on climate change violates children’s rights”
Utter nonsense. Parental responsibility has been superceded by the Experterati of the state, especially in education and health.
Children have been indoctrinated and abused – good news for the mental health industry.
The proper procedure is you pay for the desired result up front. Greta The Climate Troll had not the financial wherewithal to achieve her goals. A valuable life lesson I very much doubt she has the mental capacity to understand.
We learn that Alexandria Villasenor can see the future. Someone ought to tell her to be quiet about that gift. Not that long ago one was put to the stake for having it.
In a nutshell, this is an example of why nobody really believes in the climate crisis, even the people claiming to champion it:
So a UN committee has taken two years to decide that Greta in effect did not have standing to file her complaint. If we only have ten years to save the planet, how can they justify taking 20% of that on what amounts to a paperwork issue? How long would it take them to decide a dispute on the actual merits?
If this is how the Committee handles a complaint central to a imminent global climate emergency, then I suspect child plaintiffs pleading lesser issues like sex trafficking, genocide, etc., will be collecting retirement benefits before their complaint is heard.
It’s like this Greta dear. The shortage of energy has concentrated the minds with a sudden change in the political climate-
Hungry for fuel, China looks to the U.S., Europe eyes relief plans (msn.com)
Energy security has shot to the top of government agendas in Asia and Europe as shortages of coal and rocketing gas prices have triggered power outages and choked up factories supplying big name brands….
In a blow to the fight against global warming, China and other countries have turned to coal in the short term. Beijing has also taken a slew of measures to contain price rises, including raising domestic coal output and cutting supply to power-hungry industries…..
Poland’s climate minister said on Friday the government will provide an additional 1.5 billion zlotys ($380 million) in subsidies for consumers to ease the pain as retail prices climb.
Germany too confirmed it was slashing a green energy surcharge on consumers’ bills to help with soaring utility bills…..
Norway, Europe’s second biggest gas supplier, has been among the winners of the energy crisis, reporting a record trade surplus up 28% to 53.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($6.37 billion)last month thanks to soaring revenues from selling gas, official data showed.
Germany removing green charges when they’re getting precisely the high fossil fuel prices they always wanted with carbon taxes. What’s the problem German Greens?
And is it any wonder Norway can lead the world with expensive EVs when it’s revenue from fossil fuels that affords them all?
COP26 is starting to get quite interesting and how will these hypocrites and back-pedallers spin it all at the jet in kumbayah? Need a bit more time with the transitioning there guys? No Greta must be there to hammer you all with the urgency of the climate crisis.
An addle headed, uneducated, school truant is no match for the hordes of trough feeders who live off the UN bureaucracy. The idea that the UN exists to solve problems – even imaginary problems, is the height of gullibility.
Someone here once referred to them as the “trougherati.”
UN Cancelled Gretta…. lol
Let’s suppose for just a moment that the UN had decided to hear Greta’s “climate complaint” and had in fact decided in favor of Greta following the hearing. What would be net result, other than a mass of meaningless paperwork?
Ever heard of the fact the UN is powerless to change laws or policies of any nations, whether or not they are members of the UN?
The UN realized that Greta is 18 now
That is because many UN representatives represent discontented tyrannies that have been actively trying to depose the USA and democracy for seventy years.
They’re appalled that the answer, ‘stoked fears regarding natural causes’, was so simple a method to destabilize governments.
That these destabilized governments are self destroying their industries, science and economies are significant bonuses.
Has Greta had her Covid shots yet?
Greta is basically a novelty act, like one of those kids who can sing as well as an adult. As she ages, and her message, which was pretty witless all along, is still the same, she’ll be just another angry and ignorant scold who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
You can be sure that Greta was perfectly sincere, and sincerity is attractive in its own right. Of course her sincerity is being wasted on propositions that are factually incorrect.
Bill McKIbben and Michael Mann must know that they’re incorrect on some of their points. Those guys lie, and they ain’t cute. They’re locked in by their own success, and they are never going to admit that they ever got anything wrong.
I’m an old man now, and of course much of what I believed about the world and how it runs when I was twenty I’ve been forced to discard. I was able to discard the incorrect stuff because believing it was not central to my identity as a person. Greta must eventually find out that no, the Earth is not going to become uninhabitable, and no, there is no practical way to support modern economies with green energy. The thing is, it’s going to be very hard for her to admit some of this, because she is publicly identified with positions that will cause her severe embarrassment to refute.