DEAR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIALIST

I’m sure we’ve all seen some pretty dumb ass posts from Australians about our role in climate change over the last week. Just reading their arguments makes me think maybe climate change is a GOOD thing – not because their arguments hold any water, but because once we’re all dead, I won’t have to listen to their stupid shit any longer. These people are even dumber than anti-vaxxers.

But as an act of public service, I provide for you this rebuttal you can feel free to copy and paste, with or without attribution, as often as you like.

DEAR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIALIST:

First of all, stop pretending you have any respect for science. You don’t. Here’s how I know – people who respect science, listen to scientists. Not the fringe dwelling kind living under a bridge somewhere, but the consensus of scientists working in a field. Yes yes, we all understand that scientists on the fringes sometimes have good ideas – that is, in fact, how science works. But just because an idea is on the fringe doesn’t mean it’s correct. Before we accept it as being correct, it has to first be vetted by the majority of the scientists working in the field.

And the vast majority of climate scientists say your arguments about climate change are stupid. And you aren’t listening to them. So shut the fuck up and stop pretending that you give a shit about science. Fuck me sideways.

Second – we all know the human contribution to CO2 is small. And if you had paid ANY attention to the scientists, you would know that our small contribution is too much for the planet to handle. It’s like filling a bathtub to the brim with water… and then adding a small amount. The atmosphere is now, thanks to humans, overflowing with CO2. And that “small” amount has enormous consequences to life on this planet. It’s like if the overflowing bathtub was sitting on a live wire and you are standing on the floor beside it. But how did I get electrocuted? I ONLY ADDED A SMALL AMOUNT. How come you people are too stupid to STILL not know this? Fuck me sideways again.

Third – as for Australia’s contribution to CO2 levels, yes, it’s relatively small, because we have a relatively small population. But we’re also one of the largest producers of CO2 per capita. We are only 0.3% of the world’s population, yet we’re produce 1.1% of the CO2. The argument “oh we’re so small so it doesn’t matter what we do” is simply psychopathic. It’s like saying “I only committed 1% of the murders last year out of the total number of murders, so what does it matter?” If you had been around in the 1930s, I’m sure you’d be saying “we’re such a small country, what can we do about Hitler?” Fuck me sideways. You people. Listen – some Australians think we, as a nation, have a responsibility to be ethical. We aren’t great inventors – Australia didn’t invent the iPhone or Facebook – but we are a highly educated people with a lot of advantages. We’re fairly rich per capita and we have a pretty good life compared to most people on the planet. We also are the one of the world’s largest producers of coal, you know, that stuff that produces a lot of CO2. We also have a large coastline and lots of sun, hot rocks and wind that could be used to generate LOTS of green energy. So maybe we should try to pull our weight. And if we aren’t out there leading the world, showing them how it’s done, standing up and being counted, being as proud of ourselves as innovators on the climate change front as we were when we nailed a secret fin to a fucking sailboat, then we are part of the problem. YOU are part of the problem. And FUCK YOU for being that. Psychopaths.

Fourth – don’t fucking talk to me about the economic affects of trying to do something about climate change, you stupid fucking cunt. Just what do you think the fucking economic impact of the decline of coal as an export is going to be? Or the economic impact of rising temperatures and rising sea levels? Our current bushfires are NOTHING compared to what’s coming down the pipe. What is the cost of complete ecological collapse going to be? Coastlines under water. Farming completely fucked. Tourism fucked. The air and water will be fucked. How the fuck do you think the economy is going to work when we’re all fighting over the vehicle Max passed two days ago that could haul that tanker? Oh wait, you probably think you’re going to be Humungus in this scenario. But in reality you’re already proving yourself to be Toadie, Humungus’ sycophantic suck-ass. You’re already sucking on the engorged, dripping cock of the Murdoch press, so you won’t need to learn any new skills.

Fifth – you ask what could Australia’s government have done to prevent all of this? For a start, they could have taken the Garnaut report seriously. Then they could have tried to act like world leaders, not a bunch of numbnuts, sticking their heads in the sand. They could have helped the country prepare for the increasing heat and drought that Garnaut successfully predicted – you know, investing in fire-fighting and water infrastructure, that kind of stuff, instead of spending all of their energy trying to stop five people and a blind dog from getting into the country on a boat. They could have been ringing the alarm bells, at home and around the world, fighting the good fight against psychopathic behaviour from people like Trump, Murdoch and the fossil fuel industry. But they didn’t. Moron after moron has sat in the PM’s chair and done nothing, absolutely nothing, to prepare this country for the coming storm. Instead they have sucked on Murdoch’s dick. It must be getting crowded in Murdoch’s pants.

You’re embarrassing yourself. And you’re embarrassing us as a nation, because people are watching to see what we do. And you are making us all look like the deformed love children of Pauline Hanson and David Icke.

So please – do us all a favour and shut the fuck up.

QLD Coal Makes Half the World’s Steel

QLD Coal Makes Half the World’s Steel

Kind of embarrassing, but until recently I had no idea how much of the world’s economy is based on coal from QLD. For example – Queensland exports half the world’s coking coal which is used to make steel. HALF! That means 50% of the world’s steel is manufactured with QLD coal. For the last year I’ve been working with a client who are coal mining consultants in QLD. They’ve been giving me an education. Mining – mostly coal, coal seam gas and bauxite with some oil shale and natural gas – makes up about 9% of the QLD economy. Meanwhile the cost of solar is dropping exponentially. I have to wonder what’s going to happen to the QLD economy over the next 20 years when coal becomes a dirty word and people are using solar-generated electricity to make steel instead.

Arctic sea ice shrinks to smallest extent ever recorded

Arctic sea ice shrinks to smallest extent ever recorded

Arctic sea ice shrinks to smallest extent ever recorded.

Scientists think within 20 years there may be no ice left at all at certain times of the year. The ice acts as a giant mirror to deflect heat, so less/no ice means the earth gets hotter.

And still governments prevaricate over whether or it to act and the media perpetuate the debate. We are like the citizens of Pompeii, with scientists trying to tell us that Vesuvius is going to blow and we are all telling them they are crazy. Or we are like the citizens of Kypton, not listening to Jor-el. You decide.

The obituary of the human race will read “well it's not like they weren't warned, but they were too stupid to listen.”

 

 

CEO of ExxonMobil admits burning fossil fuels warms the planet.

CEO of ExxonMobil admits burning fossil fuels warms the planet.

CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, in an on-the-record speech to the Council of Foreign Relations that is publicly available online, has now said that it is clear that burning fossil fuels warms the planet.

His actual words are:

“So I’m not disputing that increasing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is going to have an impact. It’ll have a warming impact. The — how large it is is what is very hard for anyone to predict. And depending on how large it is, then projects how dire the consequences are.”

I discovered this video in an article by Bill Blackmore on the US ABC News about how American news directors just aren’t covering the latest stories on climate change – possibly because of political and corporate agendas but also possibly because it’s TOO BIG TO HANDLE. It’s worth a read but I think it’s letting news directors off the hook. The real reasons they aren’t talking about the new data is due to corporate agendas. Yes, the story is huge. Of course it is. But that’s only MORE reason to give it the coverage it deserves.

Where’s Will McAvoy when you need him?

CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson, in an on-the-record speech to the Council of Foreign Relations that is publicly available online, has now said that it is clear that burning fossil fuels warms the planet.

What Is Fracking?

This video posted today by Get Up! got me thinking about “fracking”.

What is this “fracking” that I’ve been hearing so much about lately? It’s something I’ve been meaning to pay more attention to.

According to this excellent site put together by the ABC, “fracking” is short for “hydraulic fracturing”. It’s all about “coal seam gas” (CSG) or “coalbed methane” as it’s known outside of Australia. CSG is methane gas that’s trapped deep down in the earth under layers of coal. The objective is to drill down into the layers that contain the CSG and bring it up to the surface. Mining CSG is a fairly recent phenomenon and there are lots of environmental concerns about how it is extracted, the amount of water the process requires and what happens to the water afterwards. It is estimated there will be 40,000 coal seam gas wells in Australia – mostly in QLD.

So what is “fracking”? According to the ABC:

In the process known as ‘fracking’, a mix of water and chemicals is pumped at high pressure down the well and into the coal seam. This process creates a network of cracks in the coal, releasing the gas and water trapped inside it. Not all wells need to be fractured. In some places, the coal is permeable, meaning it already has lots of natural cracks. In others, gas companies drill horizontally into the coal seam as an alternative to fracturing.

So is that a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is – we don’t know. There is a lot of debate between the various interested parties. The CSG industry claims the water that is extracted during the process will be available for irrigation but first it will have to be decontaminated and that’s a costly process. The environmentalists and farmers (nice to see them on the same side for once) are worried about the effect this entrance of this water will have on our water ecology. The bottom line is that this is a new industry that the mining companies are rushing into and I’m betting the majority of Australians have given little thought about what the long-term effect is likely to be on the country. A lot of money is likely to be made by a relatively small number of companies in the next couple of decades – but what will the long-term cost be to the country? To the farming industry? To the health of the people? As water is already a precious commodity in Australia, it’s something that needs serious debate and discussion before the government just hands out CSG licenses.