Global Warming

[lapal_fan]

The fact any of the cars taking these politicians to the conference aren't even electric ffs.. how hard would it be to just keep up appearances and hire the electric version of whatever..

[Xann]

Quote

 

If Brexit proved anything, it’s that a handful of people with powerful connections can go a long, long, way.

Over two decades, a steady drip feed of newspaper stories – and some well-timed political spending – turned a marginal interest into a British national obsession.

Surely it wouldn’t be possible for British politics to be captured like this again? Well, we might be about to find out.

Officially the UK government has committed to Net Zero by 2050, but behind the scenes an organised, well-funded opposition to climate change action is growing on the Conservative Right. And many of those at the vanguard – and their tactics – come straight from the veterans of Brexit.

Sign this petition to demand that the UK government adopt the recommendations of numerous independent bodies that rules about MPs’ behaviour should be tightened so that we can drive dark money out of our politics. And object to proposals to weaken the parliamentary sleaze watchdog.

A classic example of this appeared in The Telegraph this week: the day before the Budget, it reported a YouGov survey that found a majority of the British public “want a referendum on Boris Johnson’s net zero plans” by the next general election – a majority of those who expressed a preference, that is.

Even Remainers and young people wanted a public vote on Johnson’s carbon policies. Other outlets picked the story up, too. Self-styled “Brexit hardman” Steve Baker tweeted his support for a Net Zero referendum.

It is easy to scoff at The Telegraph, with its dyspeptic opinion pages filled with lockdown sceptics and cosplay libertarians. But the jewel in the Barclay family’s media empire matters. There is a reason Johnson is said to call the Telegraph his “real boss”.

The day after the Telegraph story, Nigel Farage told GB News viewers that a referendum on Green taxes “could well be my latest campaign”.

A question nobody was asking

Perhaps it’s because I spent so long looking at the dark money behind Brexit, but the first thing I thought while reading The Telegraph’s story was: “Who has paid a professional pollster to carry out a survey on a question nobody is asking?”

The answer is something called Car26.org. This, The Telegraph informed its readers, is a “new campaign group calling for a referendum on net zero proposals and a pause in eco regulations until such a ballot is held”.

Yep, you read that right. No climate change mitigation policies until a referendum on Net Zero. Sound familiar?

Brexit saw vast sums of money spent through ‘astroturf’ groups: campaigns posing as grassroots initiatives with no visible support but a deep-pocketed funder behind the scenes. A 20-something scriptwriter in Manchester spent a fortune on hard Brexit Facebook ads.

Before the 2019 general election nominally ‘third party’ campaigns spent £700,000 pushing Conservative talking points without declaring any donations.

Car26.org looks like it was lifted straight out of the same playbook. It was registered at Companies House only last month. Its public face and director – Lois Perry – is a representative for Reclaim, the culture war party fronted by Laurence Fox, the actor and anti-lockdown, anti-diversity activist, and bankrolled by Brexit donor Jeremy Hosking.

There’s more. At the bottom of the Car26 website – past the description of young people’s involvement in climate protests as “borderline child abuse” – there’s a note saying the site is “powered by Blue Sky”. Blue Sky Strategy is a tiny communications company run by a small group of Brexit veterans, including Rebecca Ryan, who is director of the astroturf Defund the BBC campaign and who used to work alongside Vote Leave’s former chief technology officer, Thomas Borwick. What a small world.

 

Open Democracy

[OutByEaster?]

Lovely to see the CEO of Shell on the Beeb yesterday promising that Shell has a plan in place to go completely carbon neutral.

Of course, he accepted that putting that plan in place would cost a huge sum of money.

And he went on to explain that Shell would be able to finance the plan by generating the money through the development and sale of fossil fuels.

The planet is in safe hands gents!

 

 

[HanoiVillan]

This is a fascinating thread:

 

[lapal_fan]

Well, I've just ordered my electric company vehicle - home charge point will also be installed soon.

I've managed to reduce the waste to landfill for my client by 50% in 18 months.

I've identified inefficient utility consumption on their 400 building portfolio and have approved a strategy document on how to minimise that, which could save them up to 30% in consumption.

I've requested the waste contractor provide me with a waste minimisation plan, so we can reduce the amount of journeys to the sites, saving carbon/money.

I've requested all of supply chain provide me with a list of contractor "good news stories" about work they do as standard which is sustainable/green.

I've been promised 75 saplings to plant in late Nov/early Dec

We've been given budget to increase biodiversity across the portfolio by 10% (baseline tbd) by creating areas of wildflowers/not cutting the grass - reducing cost of grounds maintenance

and I got the client to approve the installation of AMR's on their water supply, because the portfolio is aging and I know there will be leaks across the estate, which we can payback the project spend on relatively quickly, just by being able to monitor usage. 

GIVE ME MOARRRRRRRRRR! 

Don't worry about the planet, I've got this 

[foreveryoung]

6 hours ago, lapal_fan said:

Well, I've just ordered my electric company vehicle - home charge point will also be installed soon.

I've managed to reduce the waste to landfill for my client by 50% in 18 months.

I've identified inefficient utility consumption on their 400 building portfolio and have approved a strategy document on how to minimise that, which could save them up to 30% in consumption.

I've requested the waste contractor provide me with a waste minimisation plan, so we can reduce the amount of journeys to the sites, saving carbon/money.

I've requested all of supply chain provide me with a list of contractor "good news stories" about work they do as standard which is sustainable/green.

I've been promised 75 saplings to plant in late Nov/early Dec

We've been given budget to increase biodiversity across the portfolio by 10% (baseline tbd) by creating areas of wildflowers/not cutting the grass - reducing cost of grounds maintenance

and I got the client to approve the installation of AMR's on their water supply, because the portfolio is aging and I know there will be leaks across the estate, which we can payback the project spend on relatively quickly, just by being able to monitor usage. 

GIVE ME MOARRRRRRRRRR! 

Don't worry about the planet, I've got this 

I've just fired up the ole skool V8 mustang and collected some wood to have big BBQ and bonfire on Saturday night. Might put some coal on the patio heater too, may be a bit chilly.  I'm sensible though, keep the water hose running thoughout just incase the fire gets out of hand. How am I doing?

 

 

 

 

 

I've not really got the V8 Mustang.

[chrisp65]

48 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I've just fired up the ole skool V8 mustang and collected some wood to have big BBQ and bonfire on Saturday night. Might put some coal on the patio heater too, may be a bit chilly.  I'm sensible though, keep the water hose running thoughout just incase the fire gets out of hand. How am I doing?

 

 

 

 

 

I've not really got the V8 Mustang.

Sarf east London and north Kent today.

By strange coincidence, I did note the number of Mustangs.

 

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[villakram]

On 01/11/2021 at 09:30, OutByEaster? said:

There's a massive systemic change in thinking that needs to take place, you can't prevent catastrophic climate change within the framework of an economic system based on perpetual growth. 

I can't see the planet winning that fight.

 

No there's not.

The ~1.5C is already baked in, and the data says we are on track for something approaching 2C in total, see the IPCC report science sections. Change is afoot and is secular in nature, e.g., see US CO2 emission which rolled over a number of years ago due to the large scale switching from coal to gas. Similar programs are in progress to some degree in most parts of the world.

Society is changing and is changing at a pace that is making measurable impacts. The sky is falling mantra of the politically motivated types is deliberate, and designed to create the maximum response in the mind of the populace. A much more nuanced and sensible discussion of the issue would be of significant benefit to society.

[LondonLax]

8 hours ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

Surely that truck has been parked there to form a road block?

[AVFC_Hitz]

2 hours ago, LondonLax said:

Surely that truck has been parked there to form a road block?

After a bit of digging it seems it was genuinely blocked from passing by the protesters.

[bobzy]

"The carbon footprint of the world's richest 1% is on track to be 30 times higher than what's needed to limit global warming to 1.5C, a study says.

But emissions of the poorest 50% will continue to be below climate goals."

(Link:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59157836)

 

Makes you realise what an entitled and lucky position we're in.  According to the article, 80% of the global population don't own cars.  90% have never been on an aeroplane.  How many people on here are in a multi-car family?  (We don't, "only" the 1 car here *smug*)

Edited November 5, 2021 by bobzy

[bickster]

7 hours ago, LondonLax said:

Surely that truck has been parked there to get free advertising?

FTFY

[blandy]

8 hours ago, LondonLax said:

Surely that truck has been parked there to form a road block?

Yep.

 It's 100% there intentionally. there's no other traffic, there's no need for it to be sideways right there. It's staged (by whoever).

[HanoiVillan]

On aviation's contribution to global warming:

 

[LondonLax]

1 hour ago, blandy said:

Yep.

 It's 100% there intentionally. there's no other traffic, there's no need for it to be sideways right there. It's staged (by whoever).

Probably some clever advertising from “CCF”. The driver was probably the one who took the photo and sent it to the paper after he parked the truck

[villakram]

Last time went so well...

 

[HanoiVillan]

The right are desperately trying to get this idea to take off, but there are two obvious problems with it:

1 - Older voters, the crucial demographic, wanted to leave the EU but repeatedly say in polls they want tougher action on climate change (they might not *actually* want anything to change at all, but they clearly want *at least* some platitudes about taking it seriously), and;

2 - Unlike rejoining the EU, which would be a massive arseache and is probably never going to happen, winning a referendum on this topic would have no lasting effect anyway because it would be overturned by Labour winning a general election, which yes feels very far away right now, but it will happen eventually.

[blandy]

37 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

The right are desperately trying to get this idea to take off,

It’s not even “the right”. It’s grifters and oil company shills and climate change deniers. It’s pathetic and misplaced for the reasons you identify and more.

[blandy]

2 hours ago, LondonLax said:

Probably some clever advertising from “CCF”. The driver was probably the one who took the photo and sent it to the paper after he parked the truck

I looked earlier for that reason/suspicion and there’s a driver in the truck, you can see their arm on the steering wheel.