The fundamental problem with climate deniers and the corporate interests that fund them is that the extreme catastrophic climate change we are watching unleash unprecedented weather events around the globe are impossible to ignore and that at some point the people no longer care about the lies and just flee.
UN confirms 2022 among eight hottest years on record
The past eight years were the hottest since records began, the United Nations confirmed Thursday, despite the cooling influence of a drawn-out La Nina weather pattern.
As the extreme wet events following extreme droughts scar the land permanently and interrupt agricultural calendars around the world, let’s not forget who is responsible for this, the fucking oil companies!
NZ students ask for oil company execs to be declared criminals
Kiwi law students are fighting for BP senior executives to be investigated and tried in the International Criminal Court.
It’s one of the first cases targeting the people leading a fossil fuel organisation, rather than the company itself.
Senior leaders of the fossil fuel industry know their products cause global damage, injury and death, yet create “doubt, dependency [and] delay”, the British and Kiwi students argue.
For the suit to be successful, the global prosecutors’ office would need to open an investigation into the oil executives’ conduct.
This follows the leadership of Mike Smith taking the exact same action at the International Criminal Court…
Iwi leader Mike Smith takes OMV oil boss to International Criminal Court
Māori leader Mike Smith has shot the first arrow in a global war between indigenous communities and oil companies.
Smith has started legal proceedings in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV.
He said oil company executives deserved to stand trial for genocide and other climate crimes impacting on indigenous communities now and in the future.
Once again it is Indigenous peoples and young people who are leading the war on climate change.
Just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions that are causing the climate crisis, and big oil KNEW in the 1990s that they were creating catastrophic climate change.
The comparisons between how Big Tobacco lied and manipulated the science linking smoking to cancer is as audacious as Big Oil has lied and manipulated the science linking CO2 to global warming.
We should be collectively suing Big Oil now and using the payouts to fund the urgent Green transition away from fossil fuels.
It is outrageous that our Government has not led this fight and instead capitulate to the polluters rather than challenge them. Indigenous people have been at the forefront of the climate crisis battle and have been the frontline between corporate polluting greed and sustainable habitats.
You can see why the State illegally spied on Māori Iwi fighting big oil in this country.
Change is coming whether we like it or not.
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I think few would argue there is no ‘climate change’ Martyn, but most would say there is no ‘climate emergency’.
For the average person the trouble is knowing where the science ends and the politics starts and there’s a fair bit of the latter.
All you are claiming is that “most’ people are either stupidly shortsighted or haven’t understood the reality unveiled by the science.
Yep!
Here the thing, the scientists have been toning it down how bad it is for years, so the politicians would act. They did not.
However the corporations acted in their own self interest (the greed drive) and made it about you and I, an individual problem – which it never was. Effectively, nothing has got done when it should have been
So the science is were really close to being fubar. If tipping points start a cascading event say goodbye to your ass. Here read this (down load the PDF off the link) and draw your own conclusions. https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/state-of-the-climate
I’ll tell you why complete denial of air pollution issues still has popularity: the return of Malthusianism.
We are told that the solution to air pollution is to collapse living standards, lay off large numbers of people, and then reduce the population.
This kind of thinking was already being debunked and rejected by the late 19th century. It was only ever popular amongst the wealthy elite.
The solution to social problems is economic development and the democratisation of society. Investment in mass infrastructure projects and new scientific research is what should be on offer.
@Kristoff bingo, there is also a very linear thinking around climate change consequences and policies.
For example changes in regional eco-systems will actually be a boon for some (not popular to say) while being catastrophic for others. Proposed solutions are often myopic. For example spending billions on solar panels and wind turbines only makes sense if you are blessed with the sun and wind to generate enough power at a minimum to offset the carbon cost of manufacture and transport. Then consider the range of materials required for battery manufacture at volume. It will be a supply chain logistics that makes the geopolitics of oil look like child’s play. Without innovation is battery technology (like a new chemistry), an EV revolution is difficult to foresee and only makes sense if national grids that are largely run off renewables.
Germany is a cautionary tale of ideology over pragmatism. Despite spending billions and far more than California on solar, they only generate a fraction of the electricity. Who would have guessed? They are also burning record amounts of lignite since natural gas supplies from Russia are compromised. No doubt the closed nuclear power stations would have been useful this winter and next.
The solution to climate change is IMO, are sources of abundant, cheap energy and resilient supply. Likely some kind of hybrid network combined with usage efficiencies. This will require new and improved technologies, advanced materials science etc. Not only will a fall in standards of living be rejected in the developed world, for many parts of the developing world where children don’t get enough to eat, you are never going to talk people out of using fossil fuels without providing affordable alternatives.
If nevertheless you think harsh conditions need to be imposed for the greater good and to save the planet, consider that the average person will cut down the last tree before they let their family freeze and hunt the last animal before they let their family go hungry, that in itself will be a ecological disaster.
Here is a link to Australian bush fires: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_bushfire_seasons
Correction, it was the ’74 – ’75 season that I was referring to 117 million hectares burnt compared to less than 19 million in 2019/20.
Trucks are the biggest polluters, not cars or cows. So until you get a world class freight/ passagner rail network,all Labour’s new taxes won’t t make much difference. Even then EV trucks are still needed to move freight in some areas.
National voted for James Shaw bill for Zero 2050 , plus the interim target for 2030.
You had to go back two decades to get the tractor photo.
Now if you had said Act doesn’t accept that there is such a thing as human induced climate change, well that would be more believable.
I know you have been consistent in saying that National will be no more than Act’s cypher. Does the mean that for the future Labour will also be no more than the Green Party’s cypher?
Just use the Exxon reports.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/12/exxon-climate-change-global-warming-research
I am not smart enough to know about the true extent of global warming but I read and listen to commentators and try to make an opinion based on the moves made by businesses and countries. There is so much mixed messaging like Fiji complaining about the effect of global,warming but they have a tourist minister and they are running a campaign to entice European tourists.Air NZ is partly owned by the government and have a huge order for new planes and Boeing have orders for thousands of new planes so obviously air travel is going to be around for some time .
I know it fits into the narrative to blame just the right but the left are no different really
Climate scientist Guy McPhersons ‘s predictions are so far turning out to be eerily accurate and i cannot see any big initiatives, (that would need to be implemented tomorrow to have any meaningful effect), that will stop the feedback loops from changing.
It’s a joke when you hear companies announce their new green initiatives. Stating they will be doing xyz by 2030 like that’s going to shift the catastrophe dial……Too late!!!!!
Climate change doesn’t mean it’s happened all before. That could only be true if you believe that there is nothing that separates humans from monkeys.
What separates humans from the animal world as any linguist worth their salt well tell you that humans can forecast the future.
If you’re to stupid to get your thick head around polluting the biosphere I got more copium for you try me.
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