Climate Change Protestors 'Shut Down' D.C. Streets, Increase Carbon Emissions

Climate change protestors from "Shut Down DC" blocked intersections in the district on Monday morning, causing gridlock in the city and increasing carbon emissions.

The protestors held signs that read "Capitalism is Killing The Planet," "Green New Deal" and "Bezos Earns Our Planet Burns."

Twitter users pointed out that the protestors are actually raising emissions by blocking traffic. "This is only creating more traffic, more idling card, more emissions into the air. this is extremely ironic"

Some supporters of the protest did not agree with the approach.

This whole #ShutDownDC is just backwards thinking at its finest. Agree with the message, completely disagree with the execution! The disruptions will increase emissions and the focus will be on street blockages, not climate change.

I commute by Metro, but let me just say that the theory of change behind #ShutDownDC - blocking major intersections while punishing neither lawmakers, many of whom aren't in Washington this morning, nor fossil-fuel dependent corporations, which mostly aren't based here - is dumb.

Another user @sasquasages wrote, "Everyone at #ShutDownDC... get a job."

"Thanks #ShutDownDC for all the doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals who couldn't make it to their a.m. appointments," wrote Twitter user @kristinleigh_93.

SOURCE 





Modi visit to Houston backdrop for one of the largest LNG deals in U.S. history

A visit to Houston by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the backdrop for one of the largest liquefied natural gas supply deals in U.S. history.

Executives with Houston liquefied natural gas company Tellurian and India's Petronet LNG signed a $2.5 billion deal in Modi's presence during a private Saturday evening ceremony at the Post Oak Hotel at Uptown in Houston's Galleria district.

Under the deal, Petronet pledged to invest $2.5 billion in Tellurian's proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal in Lake Charles, La., in exchange for the rights to 5 million metric tons of LNG per year over the lifespan of the project.

In an exclusive interview with the Houston Chronicle, Tellurian board Chairman Charif Souki called the deal a "win-win-win" for the United States, India and the company.

"It's a win for the United States because it creates an outlet for our surplus gas," Souki said. "It's a win for India because they have secured cheap gas for a long period of time. And it's a win for Tellurian because we have provided a bridge between a nation with too much gas and a nation that needs as much gas as it can get as an affordable price."

The signing ceremony took place a day before the Indian prime minister was set to appear at a rally with President Donald Trump at NRG Stadium. The two leaders are expected to speak about wider cooperation between the two nations. Tellurian is one of three corporate sponsors of the event.

With India getting more than half of its electricity from coal, Modi set a goal to have natural gas make up 15 percent of India's power generation energy mix by 2030. As a result, Petronet and other companies are building new LNG import terminals and expanding the number of natural gas pipelines to encourage wider use of the cleaner-burning fuel.

"Increasing natural gas use will enable India to fuel its impressive economic growth to achieve Prime Minister Modi's goal of a $5 trillion economy while contributing to a cleaner environment," Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle said in a statement.

Souki described the deal with Petronet as one of the largest investments made by a foreign company into a U.S. infrastructure project. It tied for the largest LNG supply deal in U.S. history in terms of volume.

Horizontal drilling paired with hydraulic fracturing has transformed the United States from a natural gas importer into an export powerhouse.

Over the next two years, projects capable of producing up to nearly 90 million metric tons of LNG per year are expected to reach final investment decisions that will require more than $200 billion of construction work through 2025, global research firm Wood Mackenzie estimates.

SOURCE 




UK: Solar panels: Thousands of customers complain

Thousands of people who bought solar panels have complained to a financial watchdog that they are not bringing them the returns they were promised. Many people took out loans to pay for panels on the promise they would save thousands of pounds in electricity costs and make money generating power.

They say they have not had the expected savings, and the Financial Services Ombudsman has had 2,000 complaints.

Barclays Bank has put aside œ38m to deal with potential claims.

Brian Thompson from Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, told BBC Inside Out he was contacted by a salesman for PV Solar UK but told him he did not want to take a loan on as he was preparing for retirement.

He said he was told the move would provide money towards his pension, which persuaded him, and he took out a loan with Barclays of more than œ10,000 over 10 years.

Mr Thompson said the payments he was getting back from the power his solar panels sent to the National Grid did not correspond with what he was told.

"I had to dip into my savings which I was putting away for retirement to pay the loan off. To me it was lies," he said.

The Financial Services Ombudsman said it had received 2,000 complaints about solar panels

An independent survey of Mr Thompson's system showed even after 20 years the income from the panels would not cover the cost of the loan.

Barclays offered him some compensation but Mr Thompson said it was not enough.

PV Solar UK went into liquidation in 2017.

Robert Skillen, who was the director of the firm when Mr Thompson bought his system, said Mr Thompson's panels would make him money.

Mr Skillen is now in business claiming to help people who have been missold solar panels. He did not want to be interviewed.

Tony Walch, from Bolton, was told he would be better off by œ30,000 over 20 years when he bought solar panels from MyPlanet.

He said: "They were very, very persuasive. Everything they said was plausible. It was a no-brainer."

Tony Walch said everything he was told was plausible
He took out a loan of œ15,000 but he said the panels did not generate the amount of electricity he was promised. They also overheated, damaging the equipment, and he believed they had cost him more than œ500 a year.

MyPlanet went into liquidation in 2016.

Former director Mark Bonifacio said all calculations had been made using strict methodology, and the performance of the systems was impossible to predict because of different factors affecting performance.

He said MyPlanet installed more than 15,000 systems, and customers would be getting free electricity.

Debbie Enever, from the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: "We have got about 2,000 complaints about solar panels at the moment and more coming through every week."

Loans for solar panels were taken out through Barclays Bank, which said: "We always seek to ensure customers are satisfied with our financial products. Where customers have cause to complain we will review each case individually."

SOURCE 






The Passion of Zealots
 
A young person concerned about climate change joined 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a congressional hearing this past week. Jamie Margolin is 17 and part of a lawsuit filed by children against the federal government over climate change. Not content to work their way through democratic processes, they hope federal courts will force resolution on their behalf.

Margolin spoke out about her fears. She told Congress that she was not sure she would have a future. She said in her testimony: "I want the entirety of Congress - in fact, the whole U.S. government - to remember the fear and despair that my generation lives with every day, and I want you to hold on to it. How do I even begin to convey to you what it feels like to know that within my lifetime the destruction that we have already seen from the climate crisis will only get worse. What adds insult to injury is the fact that we keep getting promised what isn't there. On college applications, I keep getting asked what I want to be when I grow up . Everyone who will walk up to me after this testimony saying I have such a bright future ahead of me will be lying to my face." She went on to say the planet is collapsing. She believes there are only 18 months left to get it right - a far shorter period than most activists claim.

Some will applaud her for the painful truths she is telling the grown-ups around her. In fact, progressive activists increasingly rely on children to speak for them, believing it provides a shield to criticism. But it also provides some great dangers.

Just listen to these children and the adults around them. They believe, with the passion and faith of zealots, time is running out. They believe the democratic processes are failing them. They believe the planet is collapsing and we will all die. They believe this as a matter of faith, not science. The science does not suggest we will all die. The science does not suggest the planet is collapsing. But they believe it and will not be dissuaded from it.

In Great Britain, police arrested a group of environmental activists who planned to fly drones over Heathrow Airport to shut down air traffic. In Europe, "travel shaming" has become a trend in which people shame those who decide to get on airplanes. It has actually impacted Europe's aviation industry.

The problem is that these zealots get massive, positive media coverage. As in other situations, media coverage tends to provoke more of the same behavior. Though the left might cheer that on, they should be cautious because of where this will likely lead.

Already, the United States has had to deal with ecoterrorists in the Northwest. It is only a matter of time before those who believe the world is going to end without radical action decide to take radical action. They will, as all zealots do, decide they are doing it for the good of everyone - even those who do not realize it. Zealots convinced of their own righteousness are dangerous people. When they conclude the courts have failed them, the democratic processes have failed them and the government itself has failed them, violence will be their only recourse. They will have plenty of supporters in the media willing to justify it. After all, they are all convinced the world will end in a decade if they sit idly by.

Listen to the environmental zealots, and hear for yourselves how salvation is obtained. It is not pretty. The United States has done more than most countries to cut its emissions, but the zealots always demand more. They do so because, as long as sinners still sin, those who should be saved cannot be. In Christianity, the unrepentant sinner will not find salvation. For the saved, however, access to heaven is not dependent on the unrepentant. In environmentalism, the penitent environmentalist will not find salvation as long as the polluters pollute. If the government won't stop the sin, the zealots will have to.

SOURCE 





Australia: 'It doesn't feel justifiable': The couples not having children because of climate change

I really enjoy reports like this.  It would  be great if all Greenie fools took themselves out of the gene pool that way

Morgan and Adam have always wanted children but fears over climate change are making them reconsider.

The committed pair, aged 36 and 35, are part of a growing trend for young couples to abandon plans for a family because of the climate crisis.

Millions of people around the world rallied for climate action over the past two days, including 300,000 in Australia on Friday, ahead of a United Nations climate action summit on Monday.

"I feel so sad, it's such a hard thing to let go of," says Morgan, who works in logistics. "My conscience says, 'I can't give this child what I've enjoyed, I can't give them the certainty of a future where they can be all that they can be ... or have the things they should have, like breathable air and drinkable water'."

Morgan is feeling "pretty damn certain" a baby is off the cards, even though she fears she might regret it. She has at least two close friends in their early 30s, with good partners, who have made the same decision.

Her partner Adam, who works in web development, agrees. "I have a lot of love to give and would love to raise a child . but it doesn't feel justifiable. The world is heading blindfolded towards catastrophe."

Prince Harry made headlines when he revealed in an interview in British Vogue, in the September issue guest-edited by his wife Meghan, that the couple would have two children "maximum" for the sake of the planet.

The idea of limiting family size to two children to represent net zero population growth has been around for decades. But is no children the new two children?

Dr Bronwyn Harman, a lecturer at Edith Cowan University in Perth who studies people without children, says it is a progression of the same theme. She says some people are avoiding parenthood because they are worried for their unborn children, while others are motivated not to make things worse.

"They're saying things like `we don't want to add children into the mix and put more strain on the planet'," Harman says. "It's started coming up [in my research] in the past six months but it's not very common."

The phenomenon is growing. The Age and Sun-Herald have spoken to 20 and 30-somethings all over Australia wrestling with the dilemma. Most asked to use first names only to avoid online harassment.

"I'm terrified that in another 50 years, if my hypothetical child was all grown up, what would our world look like?" says Jessica Ivers, 29. The digital specialist and yoga teacher from Northcote in Melbourne says she is "100 per cent certain" about her choice.

In Mackay in Queensland,  community organiser Emma, 32, says she and her partner Mick, 33, were planning to start trying for a family next year but changed their minds after the federal election.

"After the LNP won - with no climate plan - we cried and agreed that the dream of a family wouldn't be for us," Emma says. "It's a terrifying thought for us that the world will be uninhabitable in a few decades if we continue charging ahead with fossil fuels and approving coal mines like Adani."

Melanie, 24, from Highgate Hill in Brisbane terminated an unplanned pregnancy last year and says the climate crisis was the "ultimate deciding factor". She read scientific articles about the best and worst-case scenarios and decided she would never have children.

"It's been a hard year coming to terms with the reality of the situation," says Melanie. "I cannot justify bringing children into a world in the midst of a mass extinction event and facing total ecological collapse. "

Shalini, 33, and David, 35, from Summer Hill in Sydney have decided not to have biological children but would like to adopt or foster in the future.

"It makes more sense for us to look after a child that is here and needs someone rather than make more children," says David, a 3D animation artist.

Shalini, a public servant, says climate change is a big reason, along with her focus on career.

"I don't eat meat and I'm really conscious about consuming goods and services that that are more sustainably produced and in the same vein, I don't want to produce more people," Shalini says. She finds it hard to discuss with friends because she doesn't want them to feel judged.

Maddie, 32, from the lower north shore, sought counselling to deal with her grief and anxiety over climate change and her dilemma over having children.

"My psychologist is having more and more couples coming to her about this," she says. "The first thing she said to me was, `this is not a manifestation of normal anxiety, this is a real threat and real grief that you're carrying'."

Maddie would love children but feels an obligation to fight for her newborn niece and friends' children instead.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures suggest one in four women aged 15 to 35 will never have children. Harman says roughly two-thirds of those women make an active choice to be "child-free" while one-third are "childless" because of circumstances, including fears over the state of the world.

A global trend

In Britain musician and activist Blythe Pepino, 33, kicked off the "BirthStrike" - a movement of people pledging not to have children "due to the severity of the ecological crisis and the current inaction of governing forces in the face of this existential threat".

In February, US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commented on the grim scientific outlook and political inaction: "It does lead young people to have a legitimate question: is it OK still to have children?"

American singer and actress Miley Cyrus, 26, told Elle magazine's August 2019 US issue that Millennials didn't want to reproduce because they knew the Earth could not handle it.

"We're getting handed a piece-of-shit planet, and I refuse to hand that down to my child," Cyrus says. "Until I feel like my kid would live on an Earth with fish in the water, I'm not bringing in another person to deal with that."

Yet even at the coalface of climate change research, some see this as extreme. Earlier this month, Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organisation (parent body of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), weighed into the debate.

"The latest idea is that children are a negative thing," Taalas told a Finnish magazine. "I am worried for young mothers, who are already under much pressure. This will only add to their burden."

He warned facts could be hijacked to justify "extreme measures" in the name of climate action.

Taalas told The Sun-Herald  in a statement he supports strong climate action and a science-based approach offers hope.

"We must not be driven to despair, given that reasonable solutions are available to the international community, governments and civil society," he says.

SOURCE 

***************************************

For more postings from me, see  DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. Home Pages are   here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  

Preserving the graphics:  Most graphics on this site are hotlinked from elsewhere.  But hotlinked graphics sometimes have only a short life -- as little as a week in some cases.  After that they no longer come up.  From January 2011 on, therefore, I have posted a monthly copy of everything on this blog to a separate site where I can host text and graphics together -- which should make the graphics available even if they are no longer coming up on this site.  See  here or here

*****************************************