Environmentalists as Idiots

Wash, Rinse, Repeat:

The U.S. government just put polar bears on the threatened species list because climate change is shrinking the Arctic ice where they live. Never mind that polar bears are in fact thriving — their numbers have quadrupled in the last 50 years. Never mind that full implementation of the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gases would save exactly one polar bear, according to Danish social scientist Bjorn Lomborg, author of the book “Cool It!” Yet 300 to 500 polar bears could be saved every year, Lomborg says, if there were a ban on hunting them. What’s cheaper — trillions to trim carbon emissions, or a push for a ban on polar bear hunting?

The country is being forced to subscribe to a modern version of transubstantiation, whereby corn is miraculously transformed into sinless energy even as it does worse damage than oil.

Plastic grocery bags are being banned, even though they require less energy to make and recycle than paper ones.

But the polar bears make for such cute, cuddly pictures.  I am married to someone who has seen the aftereffects of these little cuties tearing off people’s arms and legs however, so I’m not quite so sure its a good thing to have them on the endangered list.

Greenpeace – Planting Trees without Approval?

That’s the way I read this story:

Over 1000 trees planted today by 30 Greenpeace volunteers in a central North Island block of land have been pulled out.

The volunteers began at 7.30am today to “re-forest” around 1600 square metres of land that had been cleared for dairy farming.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Simon Boxer said the re-planting campaign was aimed at drawing more attention to the large amounts of forestry land in the Tahorakuri Forest, northeast of Taupo, being converted to dairy farming.

But state owned Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly which leased the land said the trees had been removed soon after the volunteers left.

“The owners of the land have taken some action, the trees have gone and as I understand it the trees are being donated to a local group,” he said.

Some questions seem to come to mind:

1. Where do these idiots get off just deciding they can come on to land they don’t own and start planting things on it? In America that is known as trespass and is against the law. I guess its different in New Zealand. It seems that something like that is possible based on this:

Greenpeace communications manager Suzette Jackson said police had arrived mid-morning, and warned the volunteers against trespassing further.

“We left then because we weren’t trying to get our team arrested, and we managed to plant all our trees.

2. The owners had to spend money and time to remove all this crap – can they sue Greenpeace to get it back? Would be an interesting test case – but again this would assume that New Zealand has a functioning legal system that actually recognizes personal property.

3. And why is this such a big problem? Apparently its a new front in the war on cow farts.

“It’s not a traditional Greenpeace action. Since we’re just starting to work on the agricultural issues, specially on dairy conversion, we want to start off a lot more calmly.”

Forestry was being replaced with one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries possible and emissions in New Zealand were increasing dramatically as a result, he said.

Good Liberal Waste of Money

Its nice to know that the Democratic Communist People’s Republic of San Francisco has this kind of money to waste:

In his quest to make San Francisco the greenest city in the nation, Mayor Gavin Newsom recently created a $160,000-a-year job for a senior aide and gave him the ambitious-sounding title of director of climate protection initiatives.

San Francisco has at least two dozen other city employees already working directly on climate issues at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In addition to the director of climate protection initiatives in Newsom’s office, San Francisco has an Energy and Climate Program team of eight people in the Department of the Environment, who combined earn more than $800,000 a year in salary and benefits, including a “climate action coordinator.” At least 12 San Francisco Public Utilities Commission staff members work on climate issues related to water and energy, including a $146,000-a-year “projects manager for the climate action plan.”

Also in the name of climate control, the Municipal Transportation Agency has a “manager of emissions reductions and sustainability programs” who works on making Muni’s bus fleet greener, and the San Francisco International Airport has a “manager of environmental services” who oversees such projects as the installation of energy-efficient lighting and solar panels.

The list doesn’t include the scores of staff members who work on broader environmental policies, like the recently hired $130,700-a-year “greening director” in Newsom’s office, or Jared Blumenfeld, who earns $207,500 a year in salary and benefits as the head of the city’s Environment Department, which has a staff of 65 and annual budget of about $14 million.

And you know you have completely gone off the deep end when the flipping Green Party commissioner questions what is going on:

“Although it sounds very well intentioned, and perhaps even necessary, I’m concerned this is a case where eco-chic has gone out of control,” said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, the only Green Party member on the Board of Supervisors.

And the evidence continues to build that the whole global warming hysteria is a) religious in nature and b) a scheme for smart hustlers to shake down taxpayers.

The Polar Caps are Not Melting

Does scientific consensus know about this?

Satellite data shows that concerns over the levels of sea ice may have been premature.

It was feared that the polar caps were vanishing because of the effects of global warming.

But figures from the respected US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that almost all the “lost” ice has come back.

Ice levels which had shrunk from 13million sq km in January 2007 to just four million in October, are almost back to their original levels.

Will the sainted Algore have anything to do if the ice comes back?  And what about the polar bears?

Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for the time of year.

The data flies in the face of many current thinkers and will be seized on by climate change sceptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming.

A photograph of polar bears clinging on to a melting iceberg has become one of the most enduring images in the campaign against climate change.

It was used by former US Vice President Al Gore during his Inconvenient Truth lectures about mankind’s impact on the world. But scientists say the northern hemisphere has endured its coldest winter in decades.

They add that snow cover across the area is at its greatest since 1966.

 
Dear Al in Tennessee – what can be done to bring back manmade global warming?

Recycling – Stuff White People Like

Wonderful new blog – Stuff White People Like.  There is a plethora of things there, but to whet your appetite – Recycling:

Recycling is a part of a larger theme of stuff white people like: saving the earth without having to do that much.

Recycling is fantastic! You can still buy all the stuff you like (bottled water, beer, wine, organic iced tea, and cans of all varieties) and then when you’re done you just put it in a DIFFERENT bin than where you would throw your other garbage. And boom! Environment saved! Everyone feels great, it’s so easy!

EcoNazi – Jail Politicians Who Ignore Science

anti-growth, anti-human, anti-logicand heaven help us “to cheering” wants to lock up politicians who ignore science. Who decides what is the right science? Him? Just how much of today’s science was considered completely wrong 5 years ago? And what was considered truth 5 years ago that would be derided as idiocy today?

clipped from www.mcgilldaily.com Suzuki underlined the importance of looking backward by explaining that, because the past 50 years have seen a boom in technology and population expansion, ideas of economic growth have been skewed. “That means you have lived your entire lives in a completely unsustainable period,” Suzuki said to the young audience. “You all think [economic] growth and change is normal. It’s not.” He urged today’s youth to speak out against politicians complicit in climate change, even suggesting they look for a legal way to throw our current political leaders in jail for ignoring science – drawing rounds of cheering and applause. Suzuki said that politicians, who never see beyond the next election, are committing a criminal act by ignoring science.

More In Their Own Words

clipped from scienceandpublicpolicy.org In Their Own Words “Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say.” -Michael Schirber, LiveScience June 29, 2005 “The surface waters of the North Atlantic are getting saltier, suggests a new study of records spanning over 50 years. They found that during this time, the layer of water that makes up the top 400 metres has gradually become saltier. The seawater is probably becoming saltier due to global warming, Boyer says.” -Catherine Brahic, New Scientist August 23, 2007

$40,000 Fine or Six Months in Jail for Littering

From the UK:

A young mother-of-three is to be tried by a crown court jury after being accused of throwing an apple core from her car on to the pavement.

Kate Badger, 26, denies the littering charge but also claims the nature of the accusation is “ridiculous” because apples are biodegradable.

The council originally wanted simply to issue a £60 on-the-spot penalty for the alleged offence, said to have been committed on March 19 last year while Miss Badger’s Volkswagen Golf was parked on a street in Wolverhampton town centre.

Miss Badger refused to pay and the local authority took her to the magistrates’ court, where she chose to be tried by a jury in a crown court.

She faces a fine of up to £20,000 or six months in prison if she is found guilty of the charge, which states that she threw “controlled waste” from the car.

Oh how this must warm the hearts of the US EcoNazis. They only hope that this kind of power comes their way.

 

Green Communism

Owning a car opens up possibilities to a person that is beyond their reach otherwise, it opens up a freedom that many millions do not currently enjoy. The ability to find work at further distances from their homes than ever gives them more choices to find lucrative employment opportunities, the ability to find markets and entertainments are also greatly expanded. All this greatly expands individual freedom.If many millions more of the people of India (and around the world) find themselves able to afford this new car, it will incredibly improve their standard of living. It will also force the government to redirect their own efforts to internal improvements to accommodate this rise in cars that will add even more to raising the standard of living in once poor countries.

Green communists do not care about people and these two stories add to the ever growing proof that enviro-communists have gravitated to environmentalism as a replacement for an overt espousal of communist ideals.

clipped from newsbusters.org If you need any more proof that the concept of Global Warming is less “science” and is more just a replacement for the kind of failed concepts of communism and socialism that is increasingly being rejected by the world, two recent stories helps clarify the point. In a piece titled “Deadly Ozone From Drive-Thru Mania,” our Miss Hastings pours out her considerable “intellect” into the theory that drive thru windows are destroying the planet and making us a bunch of fatties. Yeah, it’s all because of … you guessed it… capitalism. Her solution, of course, is to put an end to all this capitalism stuff like all good communists aim to do. Isn’t this great news? Not to the communists of Greenpeace who are protesting this new product. Green communists are attempting to forever keep the poor in the grinding poverty in which they currently wallow. Their pals in the media are happy to fan the flames of alarmism over the supposed “global disaster” of this incredible new freedom-promoting car.

Eco-Equity? Green Jobs Act Signed Into Law

Think about this number $125 million. Just how many families making $75,000 a year would have to donate their entire income to the federal government so that this idiocy can take place? Try 1666 (I’ll round down instead of up). So consider a whole neighborhood of 1666 houses with families each making that much and then consider that all their economic action would be wasted.And then the government would have to steal more money from hard working people to support these 1666 families. Its never presented in quite that straightforward a way – but that’s what it comes down to.Just how many “Green pathways out of poverty” will actually be created? I’m sure that all this money will go to a bunch of people who can throw around “green” language and suck all the funds from some gullible bureaucrat. But if even 1 job is created it won’t be done by green seminars on how to get poor people to install solar panels.

And what’s worse? $125 million is now the floor under which a whole edifice of “green” spending will occur – each year wasting the economic output of more and more families.

clipped from www.treehugger.com the 2007 Energy Bill did contain one surprise piece of legislation The Green Jobs Act, passed as part of the Energy Bill, commits the federal government to funding job training for 35,000 people a year to work in environmentally-friendly fields. The Act allocates $125 million yearly for green job training programs all over the USA. Of that: $25 million will be allocated to create “green pathways out of poverty,” i.e. job training for low-income people in fields like solar power installation and green roofing. $80 million for “just transitions” – green job re-training, for example teaching construction workers competency in green construction techniques. $20 million for renewal energy and energy efficiency research showing that it is possible to achieve economic growth thorough protecting the environment The law is the first to link social justice with environmentalism in this way on the national level