This will make Greta mad.....

Angry Greta!

Good news! Big cracks are beginning to form in the climate alarmist environmental  movement. Even the true believers are asking media to cool it. Why? It may be because 2019 was a truly outrageous year even for the climate catastrophists. At the start of the year politicians and others, amplified by media, made claims that we had only 12 years before the world as we know it ends if we don’t buckle-down and address climate change now. The mainstream media gleefully reported that global climate catastrophe was imminent. Great fires, floods, storms, record heat, all those things were happening (they imagined) and were attributed to human caused climate change. The end was near unless there was some kind of massive intervention.

 

By the close of the year Greta Thunberg, the autistic, troubled teenage wunderkind, was proclaimed TIME magazine's person of the year (see this). She was recognized despite not yet finishing high school, but still credited with enough scientific credibility to be a world renowned self-proclaimed spokesperson against catastrophic climate change. Just remarkable, wouldn’t you say? What a world we live in! Greta, of course, will not like this blog post.

In the midst of the daily climate warnings by the media and almost on queue, the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic swept away the ridiculous notion that catastrophic climate change was the worst thing that could happen to humanity. Of course that did not stop the bleating from the apocalyptic hordes just so we didn't forget them during the lockdown. In fact they pointed out that CO2 levels continued to rise despite reduced human activity during the worldwide Pandemic lockdown. 

Maybe as result of all the outragiously scary stuff that appeared in 2019 an article was posted in Nature magazine, which in my opinion began the catastrophists retreat. The article admonished catastrophists to tone down their rhetoric without retreating from their alarmist position: 

“We must all — from physical scientists and climate-impact modellers to communicators and policymakers — stop presenting the worst-case scenario as the most likely one. Overstating the likelihood of extreme climate impacts can make mitigation seem harder than it actually is. This could lead to defeatism, because the problem is perceived as being out of control and unsolvable.”

They pointed out that the worst case scenario envisioned by the IPCC was unlikely to happen and should not be used to terrify the general public, rather we were on track to a far lessor disaster (but still a disaster) unless we switch to so-called cleaner energy sources like “renewables” - wind, solar etc., and proceed with other mitigation strategies. Apparently when media reports on the future of climate change, they have a tendency to use the worst case scenario to make the case. Journalists have become climate activists, long ago tossing out objectivity. The Nature article suggested that the worst case was also the MOST UNLIKELY. Rather, the article suggested using more realistic scenarios to make policy and report to the public. Mostly the article was ignored, especially by media.

Every year the National Post features a week in June called Junk Science Week. Understandably climate change stories have been at the forefront of that week every year. This year the column written by University of Guelph Prof. Ross McKitrick highlighted the article above from Nature. That was the only press I saw commenting on it.

The onset of the COVID19 Pandemic pulled the world's attention from the fake but widely believed existential crisis of climate change, to a very real existential crisis for humanity. 

It was during the height of the North American Pandemic lockdown in April that a more dramatic and widely publicized event occurred. Film maker Michael Moore released a film onto YouTube for free called Planet of the Humans. It was the story of “green energy,” wind, solar and biomass, written and narrated by a climate catastrophist and friend of Moore's. Yet it was a critical condemnation of low carbon emitting "renewables” or rather “unreliables” as I prefer to call them. The film  exposed the false hope that these alternative energy sources provide, and the lies and corruption that has characterized Green energy advocacy. The fact that Nuclear Plants have no carbon emissions was totally ignored by the film.  But, the film made waves. It was roundly criticized by the environmental left, and eventually removed from YouTube due to protests and for very flimsy reasons. Nevertheless, reposted, the film can be seen here, and it is well worth a view.

But the biggest story so far this year in my opinion was the book and apology by Michael Shellenberger. I first became aware of it by reading a column by John Robson in the National Post, himself a climate change skeptic. Shellenberger is a frequent contributor to Forbes Magazine. His most recent contribution, an apology for the climate change scare, was posted then removed, censored by Forbes, and that was the reason for Robson's column. The apology will warm the cockles of your heart if you are a climate change skeptic. I have no doubt catastrophists will lose their lunch over it. Shellenberger reposted his apology here, on his website. Its a great read! He did an interview with Alex Epstein about the apology here:

Shellenberger has a history of criticizing the environmental movement. For example this TED Talk where he denounces so-called renewables and promotes nuclear power, which is a no-no among lefty environmentalists:

The book Shellenberger wrote is called Apocalypse Never:Why Environmental Alarmism hurts us all, is only available in electronic form, Kindle or Kobo so far (early July 2020) in Canada. It just got published in the States (June 30, 2020). The book is reviewed here by Alex Epstein. It's been well received and is popular and I'm hoping it will begin a retreat from the current anti-human man-made climate change hysteria to a more moderate humanistic form of environmentalism. If the book is widely read and taken seriously, it could change government policies.  

Can governments get off the climate change bandwagon? Events during the Pandemic prove governments can be wrong and change their approach quickly. For example the official view on masks for the general public has gone from they are ineffective and possibly even harmful, to they are now mandatory. Quite a switch, and climate change policies can and should change equally as fast. I hope so.

Pandemic Musings at the end of the beginning.....

We are just half way through 2020. So far its been a blast! I’ve been absent from this blog and my obsession with Climate Change (see previous posts) for many months. Instead I’ve been posting my thoughts and reactions onto Facebook and Twitter. I thought Climate Change would be the big story of the year. Boy was I wrong.


I would not have predicted the Pandemic in January, although by the end of that month and certainly by early February it was becoming increasingly obvious, certainly to me. The W.H.O. finally got around to declaring a Pandemic on March 11, 2020, and thats when my family went into lockdown. The next day the shit literally hit the fan. Since then I’ve learned a lot. Here I’ll share ten things I have learned so far in the Pandemic.....

1. Where we are in this Pandemic? Winston S. Churchill said it best in Nov. 1942 but then in reference to the war with the NAZI's:

“This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.”

COVID19 is here to stay, vaccines, treatments, or not.

2. Don’t just trust the authorities, whether they are public health experts or politicians. They all have ulterior motives that don’t necessarily coincide with your best interests. An example of that of course were the early recommendations from everyone NOT to use masks for a respiratory virus! Unbelievable, and ultimately wrong. The authorities wanted to protect PPE for the front-line workers. Fine, but don’t mislead people, don’t lie. They’re still lying because they’re telling people to use non-medical grade masks. Do your own research, educate yourself and operate on the best facts. Get the best masks you can afford, they will protect you and everyone else.

3. A corollary to number 2 above, the authorities over reacted by forcing lockdowns, destroying the economy and ultimately wreaking havoc on the lives of citizens. The Pandemic in Europe clearly showed us that the elderly and immune compromised were most affected by the virus. The fact that almost 80% of Canadian deaths were among the elderly demonstrates that truth. Predictions that the lockdowns would have negative consequences did come true and have been ignored so far. Huge government and individual debt, business bankruptcies, psychological stress, cancelled medical care, deaths and deterioration due to other medical conditions, and general population unrest, all have come true. The latter - unrest - has exploded into the global reaction to so-called systemic racism.

4. Along with a healthy skepticism of the authorities, be even more skeptical of all the shit thats posted on social media by your friends and self-proclaimed experts.

5. Don’t trust the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for anything, ever. They have lied about the virus, about the extent of the epidemic in China and are still lying. Their “data,” such as it is, should have a giant asterisk beside it. Furthermore labelling Taiwan as a rogue province by the CCP, should be dismissed and Taiwan should be embraced by the free world, just to piss off the CCP if nothing else.

6. Viruses don’t get “created” or accidentally released in labs like the Wuhan Virus Lab. People who make that claim have never worked in a lab or know the difficulties involved. By far the majority of laboratory work, fails. COVID19 was created by nature, it evolved and jumped from an animal (most likely a bat) to a human.

7. Governments should immediately stop flights and travel from countries that have epidemics, especially if they originate in countries that lack press freedoms, like Communist China.

8. To follow up to number 7 above, countries need borders and the ability to control them. I’ve always thought that the idea of “open borders” was a flaw in libertarian thinking. Countries are property, collective property yes, but still property that needs protection. Our border has helped protect Canadians and vigilance needs to be increased. Thats an important function of government.

9. Models are just models, they try but they do not represent reality. The alarming models that were trotted out to predict the course of the Pandemic, were not realized, not even close. I’m reminded of a comment by Science writer Matt Ridley faulting those who referred to “data” taken from climate models. He rightly pointed out that data comes from observations made in reality, not from predictive models, and poor ones at that. Of course this underscores my obsession with climate change whose catastrophic “consequences” are almost entirely based on predictive models and not actual data.

10. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and physical distancing has worked to reduce the “R-naught” (reproductive rate of the virus) in this Pandemic. Masks and scrupulous hygiene techniques do protect and prevent transmission of COVID19. Many will argue about masks. But why? Certainly anyone running a business has the right to require customers wear a mask. I would, just the same as I would require customers to wear clothes and treat other customers with respect in my business. The municipal bylaws requiring masking is probably unnecessary - but no more onerous then requiring seatbelts, hardhats or any other safety equipment in the workplace and other places. Are masks effective? Of course they are, at least to some degree. I doubt anyone reading this would want surgeons working on them or their loved ones without masks. Masks have been routinely used since the late 1800’s.
Think of it this way: imagine being in a crowded elevator with a naked man who starts urinating all over the place. Most in the elevator will get a little wet, but if the man was wearing pants, it would be primarily his problem. Thats what masks do, keep the problem mostly to the wearer.

Take care of yourself, stay safe, we have a  long way to go.