Rick Whitbeck of Power the Future joins the podcast to discuss class environmentalism and the Biden administration’s Alaska attacks.
The post Rick Whitbeck: Alaska represents classic environmentalism appeared first on CFACT.
via CFACT
September 21, 2023 at 11:01AM
Guest essay by Larry Hamlin
The September 17, 2023 edition of the L A Times published the latest China Watch section (shown below) which highlights a large Solar PV project in Chongqing where a 37 MW facility on the rooftop of a large car manufacturing company went into operation in April of this year.
This large PV project is touted as being able to save 264,500 short tons of coal use over its planned 25-year life.
Energy Institute data shows that China’s coal energy use increased by about 1% between 2021 and 2022 representing a growth in coal consumption from 4.68 billion short tons in 2021 to about 4.73 billion short tons in 2022 with further growth expected to occur through at least year 2030.
In year 2018 China consumed about 4.38 billion short tons of coal which has now increased during the 5-year period through 2022 by about 350 million short tons according to EIA and Energy Institute data.
The 25 year expected savings in coal consumption of this PV project represents about 0.5% of the yearly coal use increase that occurred between 2021 and 2022 and about 0.075% of the 5-year increase in coal use that occurred between 2018 and 2022.
Stated another way it would take about 200 PV projects like this each operating for 25 years to save an amount of coal equivalent to the yearly increase of China’s coal use just between 2021 and 2022.
Given the continuing growth of China’s huge coal use that has occurred over the last 5 years it is abundantly clear China will continue to depend and rely upon coal as its primary energy resource for the foreseeable future.
via Watts Up With That?
September 21, 2023 at 08:04AM
By Paul Homewood
h/t Paul Kolk
Could this headline be any more fraudulent?
British bird lovers will see a very different pattern of species as the climate warms, according to scientists.
They say climate change is bad news for birds, but locally we will see "winners and losers".
Migrants seldom seen on British shores, such as black-winged stilts and bee-eaters, are delighting bird watchers.
But populations of cuckoos are "in freefall" as UK wildlife struggles to cope with multiple pressures.
In nature-depleted Britain, almost half of all bird species are in decline due to a host of pressures – from the loss of meadows, hedgerows and other natural land to climate change and the use of pesticides.
The number of wild birds in Britain has fallen by 73 million since 1970, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, which studies birds in the British Isles.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66858850
The above graph has no relevance whatsoever to the issue of migratory birds. And since most of the decline occurred in the 1970s & 80s, it clearly has nothing to do with climate change either. As the article itself admits, bird populations have been declining for decades because of things like loss of habitat and pesticides. You do not need to invoke the climate bogeyman at all, particularly since there is zero evidence that climate has made any difference at all.
As for this supposed “freefall”, all the BBC can point to are cuckoos and willow warblers.
The Woodland Trust make clear that, while willow warbler populations have been dropping in southern England, they have been increasing in the north.
As willow warblers like open woodland and eat mainly insects, it is highly likely that changes to habitat are the cause of these shifting patterns.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/birds/willow-warbler/
The BBC’s claim that “Climate change is one of the biggest pressures that all species are facing, but particularly migratory species, because they have to worry about the climate conditions not only where they’re breeding, but also where they’re wintering and the areas that they’re travelling through to get here, which can be thousands of kilometres”, clearly is not supported by the ability of the bird to thrive in Scotland.
As for the cuckoo, this is what the Woodland have to say:
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/06/21/cuckoos-in-decline-must-be-climate-change/
Apart from these two birds, the BBC offer no other evidence to back up their headline, that UK migratory birds are ‘in freefall’ over climate change.
Most other migratory birds are doing fine, or at least as well as British species.
It may be that a few uncommon birds decline, but others also appear to be on the increase.
For the BBC to imply that there is some sort of catastrophe going on is simply fraudulent.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
September 21, 2023 at 07:45AM
In scaling back many Net Zero policies Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the most radical climate policy decision a UK government has made in years. It dominated the evening news and if you watched the reports, as I did, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone speaking up to support the government.
What might be surprising to some is that the best of the night’s efforts was, I thought, from the BBC, principally because they excluded its climate editor Justin Rowlatt, whose barely suppressed anger the previous evening made a mockery of balanced reporting. One good point in the BBC’s six o’clock news and BBC News at Ten was the inclusion of Jacob Rees-Mogg as the lone voice supporting the changes in policy.
ITV’s news at 18.30 had Robert Peston who casually linked global warming with weather extremes, thereby showing he didn’t know the science of global warming or the difference between weather and climate. Never mind, others did the same.
The subsequent report on News at Ten brought in the business backlash at the start. It only mentioned the comments made by the Ford motor company who were critical of the changes, but failed to mention supportive statements by Toyota and Jaguar-Land Rover who said they were in favour and Vauxhall who said the changes would make no difference to them. Again no one was included who spoke-up for the new proposals. Curiously, there was an interview with Gill Nowell who was described as being an electric vehicle owner. No mention was made that she is a green campaigner.
But the hostility of Channel 4 News was beyond the pale. It had a backdrop that read, “Emergency on Planet Earth,” which told you all you needed to know about the report. After critical comments by Ford, it was the turn of Emily Shukburgh the Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge’s climate change initiative, to attack Rishi Sunak. Sir Simon Clarke MP followed with his criticism and then Sharon Lane of Tees Components (also against Sunak). Then the report moved to a motor leasing conference from which it included Tony Poston of the British Vehicle Retail and Licensing Association (against Sunak) and Marc Palmer of Autotrader magazine (also against Sunak.)
So far the Channel 4 News coverage was quite evidently partisan, an impression confirmed by an interview with Chris Skidmore MP (strongly against Sunak) who was handed soft questions by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. By this time I was thinking that surely someone would be brought on who actually supported Sunak’s reforms.
Enter George Eustace MP who did but he was harangued by Guru-Murthy and given a much tougher time than Skidmore. Guru-Murthy made a serious blunder by confusing suggestions made by the Climate Change Committee which Sunak rejected with adopted government policies that would now be cancelled.
At the end of the interview George Eustace said Sunak still wanted to get to Net Zero but what he had done was a refinement of the course. At this Guru-Murthy laughed in a mocking way and turned back to the camera with a smile leaving viewers with no doubt how ridiculous he thought that answer was.
Next against a backdrop of flames, Guru-Murthy turned to reporter Alex Thompson who said he would look at the physics of the announcement. This was accompanied by his description of a series of catastrophic images on the screen being with the floods in Libya and the smoke in Manhattan from Canadian bush fires. The recent flood in Libya has nothing to do with climate change and was all to do with a lack of maintenance of the now burst dams. The same goes for the Canadian fires whose cause can be laid at poor forrest maintenance policies and arson. He also mentioned Zack Goldsmith (against Sunak), Sir Alok Sharma MP (against Sunak) and Lord Deben (you can guess his position). Nobody was in favour of the new proposals.
All things considered it was a classic night of one-sided and hyped up climate reporting. The prize for most biased climate bias goes to Channel 4 News, with a special commendation for Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s mocking laughter.
Feedback: david.whitehouse@netzerowatch.com
via Net Zero Watch
September 21, 2023 at 05:20AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 