Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to the NYT, the State of the Union speech was a missed opportunity to focus attention on the link between Russia’s military power and Western fossil fuel dependency.
War Abroad and Politics at Home Push U.S. Climate Action Aside
Climate change, a central part of Biden’s agenda, was barely mentioned in the State of the Union. And Europe is confronting its heavy reliance on Russian gas.
By Somini Sengupta and Lisa FriedmanMarch 2, 2022
War and politics are complicating the efforts of the two biggest polluters in history — the United States and Europe — to slow down global warming, just as scientists warn of intensifying hazards.
On Tuesday evening, President Biden barely made a mention of his climate goals in the State of the Union speech despite promises to make climate an issue that drives his presidency. European politicians have their own problem: They are struggling to get out from under one of the Kremlin’s most powerful economic weapons — its fossil fuel exports, which Europe relies on for heat and electricity.
Oil and gas prices are soaring globally. That is a boon to those who extract and sell the very products that drive fatal heat waves, wildfires and sea level rise. And it is leading to new demands for increased drilling in the United States, already one of the world’s biggest producers of oil and gas.
…
Energy experts said that Mr. Biden missed an opportunity to connect the war in Ukraine to the need to more swiftly sever an economic reliance on fossil fuels. “The president did not articulate the long-term opportunity for the U.S. to lead the world in breaking free of the geopolitical nightmare that is oil dependency,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic adviser to the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/climate/state-of-the-union-biden-ukraine-climate.html
Of course, Biden hasn’t given up on the green revolution. The NYT article goes on to reassure readers significant green handouts are still proceeding. It is just President Biden doesn’t want to talk about it so much anymore.
As I’ve said before, the main political obstacle to the green revolution is that it does not work. The careers of math challenged politicians who believe the green hype are always destroyed by rising energy prices and fed up voters. Even undemocratic countries like China face this problem – Xi Jinping is facing a huge backlash in China for his green incompetence, which could yet end his reign.
Given green failure is inevitable, why bother writing about it?
My motivation is hope of reducing the depth of each successive failure, just a little, by piercing the smoke screen, and broadcasting to people an explanation of why their lives just turned to sh*t, and what they can do about it.
Each successive failure – Carter, Obama, Biden – does tremendous long term harm to the national economy and the lives of ordinary people. Anything we can do to minimise that suffering, including our own suffering, has to be worth it.
Worse, recovery from each successive green failure is not absolutely guaranteed. So far the USA has always bounced back, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but so did the British Empire, and before that the Spanish Empire. Until one day they didn’t.
History teaches that societal collapses are like stock market crashes. Always easier to see with hindsight.
I like civilisation, the medicines which keep me alive and healthy, the comfort of having a refrigerator full of food, and easy mechanised transport so I don’t have to walk everywhere. I have no wish to see all that come to an abrupt end.
We have no way of knowing what is the breaking strain, of the American and other Western economies, political systems and societies. But politicians like President Biden seem utterly determined to find that breaking limit and breach it, with their dogged pursuit of green economic insanity and heavy handed government economic interventions. It is up to all of us to try to spread the word of what is happening, to help gather enough political support to put a stop to this madness at the ballot box, before it is too late.
Little Amelia from Kiev livens up people’s time in one of Kiev’s air-raid shelters with her singing
https://youtu.be/g2BHRt9jSXY
Azov Nazis just leveled a civilian building in Mariupol. About 200 civilians are under the ruins.
Singing there ?
Are you afraid of Putin? Then listen to his propaganda. It won’t help in a moment of trial.
Zelensky wouldn’t have had to arm lunatics and release any convict willing to fight for the Ukraine, if Russia hadn’t invaded. There will be a price to pay, but IMO any negative consequences are all on Putin. Don’t forget, Putin has also unleashed his own crazies on the Ukraine, but transporting violent fanatics from Chechnya to the front line.
More than 800,000 refugees from Ukraine have already reached Poland, the vast majority of them women and children, including the elderly. One million refugees will soon be surpassed. Men who can fight are returning to Ukraine, including many who have long lived in other countries. Ukraine has about 40 million citizens. Russia is unable to control all of Ukraine. No one greets the invaders with flowers except on their graves.
The New York Slimes, all the lies that fit we print, is badly translated in most of EU MSM.
So one can puke in at least 4 languages. Should I give examples?
Hopefully, people will come to their senses.
The green scam will die under a pile of reality.
Net-zero carbon is a self-inflicted disaster.
NYT quoting a ‘strategic advisor to the “Progressive Policies Institute, a Washington based think tank.”
Says all you need to know.
GND cannot ever work because the Sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. EVs will consume the worlds store of lithium and cobalt, leaving nothing for grid storage. So the only backup solution is fossil fuel or nuclear generation. The greens hate nuclear as much as fossil fuels.
So the progressive think tank thinking tanks again. Reality is cruel to,progressives.
Remember, AOC’s previous job experience was bartending. Biden’s was almost 50 years of ‘10% for the big guy’ collected thru bagman Hunter when not high smoking crack.
The IEA say the price of lithium carbonate for EV batteries rose 150% in 2021 and that the world faces potential shortages of lithium and cobalt as early as 2025.
Are you afraid of Putin? Then listen to his propaganda. It won’t help in a moment of trial.
“the main political obstacle to the green revolution is that it does not work” is a plus 10
The New York Times propaganda shills abandoned news reporting long ago.
Oil and gas prices are soaring globally. That is a boon to those who extract and sell the very products that drive fatal heat waves, wildfires and sea level rise.
While it might be a boon to them isn’t that exactly what the climate changers wanted to see with carbon taxing? Raising the price thereby reducing demand and making the free fuel renewables even more competitive?
But the renewables aren’t so free are they?
Light … or blight? Anger rises at plan for Britain’s biggest solar farm (msn.com)
By my calculations of solar farms in the most productive arid areas like the Nevada desert or Australia’s Pilbara it easily takes 30-35 square meters of land sterilization to produce 1kW of nameplate solar generation. What then does it take in green merrie old England? Much too much as the ugly reality bites methinks.
Of course some 6,500 acres of land sterilization are more woke and bespoke than others-
White House advances large solar project on tribal land outside Las Vegas | Courthouse News Service
The article compares the size of the solar farm to Hyde Park. Actually Hyde Park would be a great location as it is close to the load Centre and would reduce the high distribution system losses occurring in central London. Politicians and senior executives could just pop down there whenever they needed a nice photo shot.
Especially if they take the picture on a typical cloudy winter day.
When the dopey watermelons have a growing problem and their hypocrisy knows know bounds you can always trust private enterprise to come up with some tradeoff solutions if there’s a quid being handed out- Erthos
China’s Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are More Than Twice
is number one in co2 emitance ,and number 2 , 3
“to slow down global warming, just as scientists warn of intensifying hazards.”
“Scientists” have been warning of intensifying hazards for 30 years. What else is new?
More than 800,000 refugees from Ukraine have already reached Poland, the vast majority of them women and children, including the elderly. One million refugees will soon be surpassed. Men who can fight are returning to Ukraine, including many who have long lived in other countries. Ukraine has about 40 million citizens. Russia is unable to control all of Ukraine. No one greets the invaders with flowers except on their graves.
You can see that the sudden warming in the stratosphere has moved from the middle stratosphere to the tropopause. See how low the temperature is in the lower stratosphere.
?fbclid=IwAR2sAmADTIJ08aA5CnQaKtaMW7T3qvKDAMK08_uqGBKQZSziTVi77zPJHRE
From the article: “Energy experts said that Mr. Biden missed an opportunity to connect the war in Ukraine to the need to more swiftly sever an economic reliance on fossil fuels.”
Severing our economy from fossil fuels is a dangerous delusion. A delusion the radical Democrats are infected with. All built on lies about CO2.
Lately, I seem to be hearing talking heads on tv saying more and more how crazy they think the Green New Deal really is. Reality is dawning as the price of gasoline, and subsequently, the price of everything else, goes up.
The public Questioning of the meme is beginning.
How does 1 1/2 degrees temp rise in 100 years during which time the occurrence and intensity of forest fires (wildfires sounds worse) is significantly down justify the alarm?
In exactly the same way that climate models projecting warming at 200% of measured reality justify alarm.
Politicians will use fear in any way or form to make people vote accordinly. Unfortunately a majority of the population is ignorant and lazy enough to believe what they are told insted of educating themselves.
Quite naive to think a lying politician will not behave like a lying politician.
Has anyone else noticed the decline among the left of calling him PRESIDENT Biden? Tehre are occasional mentions of the honorific but they keep calling him Mr Biden.
In spite of their hatred of mean tweets, I don’t recall the lefty mob using Mr Trump – I remember noticing that and thinking maybe they thought it would show too much respect to acknowledge him as a person instead of the office.
It’s an election year, so the Dems have to scale back on what they really want to do. Should they still have power after the 2022 elections, the Dems will go back to what the greens want them to do, at the same time, screwing Americans with their policies.,