Essay by Eric Worrall
Who are you to question your betters, peasant? Aristocrats break the rules they try to impose on others, because they believe their service justifies any personal excesses.
Jet-Powered Hypocrisy: Bill Gates Cites His Own Importance to Climate Debate for Massive Carbon Footprint
by SIMON KENT 8 Feb 2023
A self-regarding Bill Gates cited his own perceived centrality to the global climate debate for his constant use of private jets to travel the world.
Broadcaster Amol Rajan from the BBC asked Gates in an interview that aired last Friday how he responds to criticism he uses private planes generating outsized carbon emissions while urging political and business leaders to act aggressively against “climate change.”
Gates replied he more than offsets his own emissions by paying for the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide. He was speaking after having flown to Kenya before the interview.
“Well, I buy the gold standard, of funding Climeworks, to do direct air capture that far exceeds my family’s carbon footprint,” the Microsoft co-founder said, repeating an argument often used by other members of the global elites.
Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/08/jet-powered-hypocrisy-bill-gates-cites-his-own-importance-to-climate-debate-for-massive-carbon-footprint/
The BBC video interview is available here.
Make no mistake, this is the elitist world Bill Gates and his fellow climate aristocrats seem intent on building.
Ordinary people might be coerced by carbon taxes into riding bicycles in all weather and eating fake meat produced by Bill Gates, but Gates and his wealthy climate aristocrat friends intend to keep at least some of the old world luxuries for themselves. They believe their good works justify any personal carbon footprint excesses.
Negative carbon footprint my ass.
To better make the point to him, stand 300 people in front of him and hand him a 9mm with 30 full 10 round clips. Tell him any time he wants to fly by private jet he must execute that many people to claim their carbon and remain carbon neutral.
Bad idea. He would love to do this as he openly wants to reduce the global population.
He might not want to IF he had to pull the trigger himself
I doubt if it would bother him at all. He spent most of his working life bankrupting small tech business and stealing their technology for his own use at Microsoft.
OK, make it 300 people who think like he does.
The propaganda would sunset within 2 years.
How about 300 of his close friends for the first batch
Maybe add close business associates? Doubt he has 300 close friends. Possibly zero at this point.
Does your analogy work both ways … is there some way somebody can claim his vast carbon use and spread its benefit among the masses?
Ah, yes… the Heydrich Maneuver.
[the spelling was quite deliberate].
The modern version of medieval indulgences.
With luck he’ll suffer the modern equivalent of medieval justice and be hung drawn and quartered in the public square. I’ll volunteer to do the disemboweling act, it’s a rotten job but somebody has to do it. I’ll use a piece of a broken window.
I believe the new standard tool is a wooden spoon with a notch in it. (Some Robin Hood related thingy) Especially apropos given it’s renewable.
Exactly!! Can’t he come up with something more original?
And where exactly is carbon currently being “Scrubbed” from the atmosphere that he is paying for?
Other than giving Climeworks money, it seems to have Net Zero effect
The “scrubbed” carbon is in the form of misallocated capital that ultimately deprives the less wealthy classes of their standard of living.
https://climeworks.com/direct-air-capture
How does it work?It’s a three-step process
carbon dioxide particles?
And there was me thinking CO2 is a gas consisting of molecules. It all makes perfect sense now.
(Would the last person who used the sarc tag please put it back on the hook by the door.)
LOL. And WHAT POWERS THE FAN, AND CAUSES THE TEMPERATURE TO RISE TO 100 DEGREES CELSIUS?!
D’oh!
That would be your $24/month. (or $48 or $96, depending on how deluded you are).
How does it work?It’s a three-step process
1) Air is drawn in through a fan located inside the collector. Once sucked in, it passes through a filter located inside the collector which traps the carbon dioxide particles.
2) When the filter is completely full of CO₂, the collector closes, and the temperature rises to about 100°C — about the same temperature it takes to boil water for a cup of tea!
3) This causes the filter to release the CO₂ so we can finally collect it.
…
This is How it really works? It’s a three-step process
1) Investors are drawn in through a sense of guilt created by the collector. Once sucked in, they pass through a filter located inside the collector which liberates the money from their bank accounts.
2) When the coffers are completely full of $$$, the collector closes, and the Investors are directed to a Donor Lunch and Honorarium – and treated to cakes and a cup of tea!
3) This causes the investors to release more $$$ so we can collect it too.
Ahh to see the truth
It’s amazing. A filter to remove gas from a gas. That’s some reverse osmosis machine.
They use “filter” and “particles” because they want the proles to visualize capturing “Carbon”. If they said we blow the air through cold liquid, then boil it to drive off the CO2 and then chill it again the mental picture wouldn’t be right, and some might wonder how you cool and heat without making more CO2.
Bill Gates‘ carbon footprint rivals the crater made by the asteroid that brought an end to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. His intellectual footprint on the other hand can be nicely covered over by a wet wipe.
But his arguments don’t hold as much water
..but they do hold a lot of “hot air”.
The Climeworks website reeks of grifting.
A bit like the Y2K scams.
New Rich.
A new nobility.
Bill Gates is a selfish egocentric, always has been.
He frequently thought it his right to plagiarize code or to reverse engineer it if prevented from plagiarizing.
In the very early days courts held that actual code on magnetic media wasn’t protected by copyright, but the higher levels were
Transcript of 1980 interview of Bill Gates by an actual coder
https://m.slashdot.org/story/9485
Bill felt that trade secret laws were all that protected code and when you bought his software …Basic…you agreed to not to reveal it’s secrets and reuse it even in a slightly adjusted form.
It was like music, where a sound a like is still seen as a taking
Back when Gates and Paul Allen first came out with a version of Basic, Gates was known as a loud complainer about people using it without paying for it (which they were).
But notice that MS carefully avoided effective copy protection. If you wouldn’t pay for it, they would prefer that you still used it. This meant a) less income for competitors, b) a more monolithic computer culture, more control for MS, and c) the chance to catch the “thieves” later and squeeze out more in fines or settlements than they would have collected up front in licenses.
IMO, classical psychological projection. Guilt for his excessive wealth. Must do something to make himself feel good. All at our collective expense
His thinking that this would work the way he thinks it does—“I think it, therefore it is”—is the biggest joke, the biggest delusion, and the biggest danger.
No CO2 has been removed from the atmosphere. It keeps rising. Buying indulgences is a racket and always has been.
Technically, wouldn’t Gates have to compensate for every Windows computer out on the market? They wouldn’t be sucking up juice if not for the Windows operating system. With Win11 MS more-or-less owns and operates every one of them. Seems like MS and Gates should be on the hook for a hole lot of energy….
That is half a kilowatt for every pc…..
Climeworks has a webpage where even the little people, humble folk, can buy indulgences to salve their troubled climate consciences by helping to rid the atmosphere of that satanic gas.
Visited the website. It’s not obvious where in the world the CO2 is stored which was my first question
It works just like that thing you clip on your fuel line to magically make the car get better gas mileage…
And that magical but suppressed 100 mpg carburetor.
I have looked at that Climeworks webpage before. It looks like a blatant con.
These days, every crook in the western world seems to be running cons using climate change as a hook to pull in the gullible masses. All they need to do is pose as a “climate defender” and the cash rolls in. You can see some of these con merchants on tv getting free publicity from the compliant media. Many years ago, I had a cynical uncle who told me to follow the money and see where it goes. And there is a lot of money in climate change funding.
Isn’t it possible for Gates, Kerry et al to make virtual pilgrimages via Zoom or other electronic means?
What’s the point of holding these conferences in exotic locations (and popular holiday places) if you don’t go yourself.
Yeah, you don’t get to sample the local hookers via teleconference.
Didn’t Microsoft create the Tech and Coding that make just such a thing (Virtual-ly everything) possible?
Microsoft Teams for one
Microsoft Teams is one of many videoconferencing products, so it’s a bit of a stretch to say that Microsoft created the technology.
Not much of a stretch to say if Gates is so worried about “climate” supposedly caused by CO2 emissions, he should be using Teams instead of a private jet.
Irony. “TEAMS” isn’t good enough for its owner.
You can’t get underaged sex workers via Zoom. At least not the kind that will do the manual labor for you.
That’s all very lovely Mr Gates
Don’t you think it’s also very lovely that there is an infinite amount of fossil fuel under the ground, allowing you personally to use so much more than Joe Average?
What if there isn’t an infinite amount – is that still OK?
How does the ‘infinite amount’ correspond to skyrocketing prices – when the opposite sort of price curve and by your own words, applies to solar panels.
One more question,
In one word or less, what **exactly* is it about you that makes *you* special above anyone else
It is the Golden Rule. Them with the gold, rule.
I see carbon zealots around my area on their pushbkes…with pannier bags for their shopping.
One there was one bike with a tow behind kids carrier for say under 5s
So Bill time to travel less if you really believe it rather than this carbon credits nonsense
I would bet that those young kids when they grow up ‘rebel’ against their parents austere carbon lifestyle
The push back has already started, a lot of the fire seemed to go out of the school strikes after Greta turned 18. Teenage kids don’t want to be bossed about by an adult, even when that adult is Greta Thunberg.
As it’s been said many times, “the peasants are revolting”.
When I was newly married, not long after I’d finished college (without student loans in those days), I had very little spare cash so it was either buy a house or run a car. The car got delayed for a couple of years. I cycled to work in all weathers, and did shopping on the way home a couple of evenings a week. A back pack and panniers.
Now fifty years later I cycle to the shop to save money and to keep the body going. These days a back pack is sufficient.
One of the meals we had during the week was Stovies we never had much leftover cooked meat so substituted Corned Beef instead. In these days of vegan substitutes getting Beef Dripping is tricky, thanks to Nut Zero things have gone full circle.
I imagine that not everyone you see shopping on a bike is doing it to save the planet, quite a few to save money.
I fail to see the difference between what Gates is doing and the old practice of buying indulgences that Martin Luther questioned. All it does is make him feel better about himself, it doesn’t save a damn thing.
Offsets huh?
Let us look at that concept with different examples.
I go out and cause the accidental deaths of two people.
In most rational societies this would be considered a hideous action and people would regard the loss of life as a ‘bad thing’.
However if I was to go out on the weekend and in a literal orgy of unprotected sex get several women ‘in the family way’ I would be offsetting, right? Two people died but several new babies are on the way? So all good, right?
Yeah. NO.
Offsets are a lie.
At least he’s not cooking his food on a gas cooktop. That would be a cardinal green sin. Yes, yes, someone else is, but it doesn’t count if it’s not direct.
He’s gone full John Kerry. Never go full John Kerry.
That’s the only way to Lurch forward
He’s mustarding hard to catchup.
Bill, why don’t you still buy the carbon credits and stop flying. Seems simple to me. Oh, you had a good idea 50 years ago and capitalized on it, making yourself extraordinarily wealthy, but how does that make you special? Many many people are much better than average at doing certain things, but can’t or don’t monetize it – they are also special in the same way you are, but don’t fly.
Bill’s good idea was to get a licensing deal from IBM and buy the OS he wanted to license for (IBM’s) cash from a real programmer. Note that he didn’t buy the OS until after he’d inked the deal to license it. Now that’s a great, no risk, idea.
Now would this same carbon also have been captured had he not paid?
And how can he prove that this captured co2 is his and not mine?
I’ll listen to him and Kerry when they fly commercial, in the back, not once but continuously, like the rest of us.
He could prove actual specialness by flying through disputed Ukrainian – Russian airspace unscathed – or without using a plane.
But he’s not King Canute.
Basically, Bill is saying, if you have sufficient wealth you are free to do what ever you want, because you can afford to project virtue signals and finance your indulgences as much as you want..
You can buy up vast tracts of farmland and announce you are planting trees to offset your personal CO2 score. You can set up a company to spray into the atmosphere and make clouds, claiming that reduces the solar input and thus cools the planet. The list of options to “do something” is endless when money is an incidental thing, to you personally.
For the majority of humankind however, money is a resource in short supply. Most have to make good use of the limited amount of money they have.
That difference, in wealth/money availability, is the key reason why the vast majority find the Green virtue champions, mostly the super rich and famous blowhards, unacceptable. Living in their personal hypocritic world the billionaires fail to understand why they are so out of touch with humanity. Why they are so out of touch with real people living real and often difficult lives.
I can’t see reducing CO2 footprint by paying whatever. Not that reducing CO2 is necessary, but if he, Gates, is convinced, he should let his ass at home.
The ultimate in “White Supremacy”.
More like “Wealth Supremecy.”
Gates is correct in doing the math on net carbon release to the atmosphere.
But all that proves is that he is just like all those rich nobles and merchants who purchased indulgences from the Catholic Church to make up for their outsized sinning. The end result of that practice was the Reformation, and the Catholic Church’s loss of control of much of the entire European continent and their worldwide colonial holdings. Prior to the Reformation, Popes were more powerful than any European king … after the Reformation, they were just another religious symbol with no real power at all.
There is a lesson in there somewhere.
“because they believe their service justifies any personal excesses”
Um…no.
That’s a rationalization, not a reason.
The reason is because they know damn good and well that they have no intention of living their lives according to the rules they set forth for the hoi polloi.
They are our betters…our aristocracy…our royalty. They DESERVE to have better things than the rest of us. It’s just not right that we little people have access to basically the same luxuries and extravagances (albeit on a smaller scale) as they do…so the obvious answer is to disallow us from accessing those luxuries. How can they possibly enjoy their extravagances when they know that Joe Middleclass can buy basically the same level of comfort and luxury at the local big box store?
Marie Antoinette’s “let them eat cake” declaration is viewed as an illustration of how out of touch she was because only the elite had access to such extravagance. Now everyone can have cake whenever they want and the Marie Antoinette’s of the world simply cannot abide it.
but I’m sure his 3 kids fly commercial
I planted trees. Lots of them. They are capturing tons of carbon. Have been for 40 years. Where is my carbon credit.
When does the public get to see who was on the Lolitta Express. Amazing the guards all fell asleep when Epstein strangled himself and broke his hyoid bone in a modern medical miracle.
For much more about Bill Gates and why and how we need to prosecute him on every Contient, please see–https://www.ur1light.com/post/bill-gates-debugged-after-24-years-prosecuting-the-most-destructive-person-alive
Autocratic, dictatorial types ALWAYS impose onerous restrictions on the common people and at the same time, ALWAYS exempt themselves.
A wanna-be character in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where outlandish abject stupidity is a virtue and bureaucracy considered a life force
The good old “don’t do as I do, do as I say” excuse.
Ah, that old do as I say, not as I do law enacted by rich grifters – what Bill needs to understand is he’s no more important than any other human on this planet and his own carbon footprint is that of a small city of about 500,000 people just struggling to get through each day, day by day
The sheer brass neck hypocrisy of these elitist idiots is perverse
I watched a video on the Climeworks web site wherein they claimed they could not only stop climate change but reverse it.
They apparently do not realise that this reversal would also be a climate change. Would they like to go back to the Little Ice Age conditions?
There is also no thought that they are forcing their view of climate onto all other species, not just themselves. Some of us might like the way climate is changing (more greening, for instance)