Climate Change

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Till

But then who helps the insurance companies ? (typically closely related to the financial sector)

They help themselves; their rates go up...

It's all about arbitrage. Much like gambling, "the house" always has an edge.

[VictordeHolland]

Future CO2, climate warming potentially unprecedented in 420 million years

Over the next 100 to 200 years, carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere will head towards values not seen since the Triassic period, 200 million years ago.
Furthermore, by the 23rd century, the climate could reach a warmth not seen in 420 million years, say researchers.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0404124402.htm

[VictordeHolland]

North Sea Wind Power Hub artificial island

Ambitious ideas of transmission system operators in Netherlands-Germany-Denmark for an artificial island in the North Sea.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017...ore-wind-farm/

[kladner]

Originally Posted by VictordeHolland

North Sea Wind Power Hub artificial island

Ambitious ideas of transmission system operators in Netherlands-Germany-Denmark for an artificial island in the North Sea.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017...ore-wind-farm/

That is truly a grand scheme. I hope it sets a standard for more benighted places like the States.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

That is truly a grand scheme. I hope it sets a standard for more benighted places like the States.

I can see it now (wavy lines, fade to imaginary Presidential announcement...)

"We're gonna have a golf course and resort on an artificial island! It's gonna be fantastic, believe me! BeeeYOUtiful marble statues of My Gloriousness everywhere! Early Married to the Mob decor in all rooms! It's gonna be a great, great thing, I promise! And best of all, we'll stiff all the contractors, so it won't cost the taxpayers a dime!

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

I can see it now (wavy lines, fade to imaginary Presidential announcement...)

Or bristling with weapons, like China's artificial reefs in oil-rich international waters half a world away. Gotta keep those Viking marauders and invasive Belgians at bay!

The May 14th Dilbert strip may induce cognitive dissonance - while many will (or at least should) enjoy the dig at 'economic science', I expect the one at climate modeling will be rather more divisive. Don't shoot me, I'm merely the instigator messenger!

[kladner]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Or bristling with weapons, like China's artificial reefs in oil-rich international waters half a world away. Gotta keep those Viking marauders and invasive Belgians at bay!

The May 14th Dilbert strip may induce cognitive dissonance - while many will (or at least should) enjoy the dig at 'economic science', I expect the one at climate modeling will be rather more divisive. Don't shoot me, I'm merely the instigator messenger!

Heh.

[ewmayer]

Al Gore’s Pivot to Idiocy | The Baffler

Gore’s financial ties to corporate America do more than hollow out the claim he makes during the film’s finale that he’s leading a moral movement on the scale of women’s suffrage or the abolition of slavery. The pathology runs deeper: Gore is constitutionally incapable of telling a story that is resonant with Americans who have had houses foreclosed on, wages slashed, wealth eradicated, and futures set to flame by Wall Street traders and fossil fuel executives. To do so would require him to point fingers. But Gore cannot indict the filthy rich—who emit more carbon dioxide than anyone else, who buy off politicians to stall climate action, who are the sole villains of the climate crisis—because he cannot indict himself.

A few more inconvenient truths for Mr. Gore omitted by the above article can be found in this piece:

Fact Check: Is Al Gore's mansion a lot less green than George Bush's ranch house?

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Al Gore’s Pivot to Idiocy | The Baffler

A few more inconvenient truths for Mr. Gore omitted by the above article can be found in this piece:

Fact Check: Is Al Gore's mansion a lot less green than George Bush's ranch house?

The ranch is a nice retreat. But what about the house in Dallas -- where he actually lives?

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The ranch is a nice retreat. But what about the house in Dallas -- where he actually lives?

That would depend on the energy footprint, though of course merely having a yuuuuuge property (not to mention multiple properties) is instantly suspect. But of course with someone like GWB, ex-oilman, ex-president, one expects little in the way of green living, hence the somewhat-pleasant surprise to hear about the ranch. OTOH Gore won a frickin' Nobel prize for his conspicuous climate change politics. Gore is thus a prototypical exemplar of today's corporate Democrat - lots of noisy virtue signaling about being progressive and still being the party of the working class and the environmental movement, but it's all just that, noise, to distract hoi polloi from the slavish fellating of the Big Donor class.

Perhaps I'm different than most on this, but I find such hypocrisy more galling than in-one's-face-deplorableness. With the latter one knows precisely what one is dealing with and can hold it up as an example-to-be-execrated in a debate about policy, whereas charming well-spoken snake-oil salesmen like Gore (and ex-president Obama, and her-turn Hillary) are in many ways more dangerous because they attract support of many wannabe-progressives and thus end up as an obstacle to better policy, among the very parts of the public whose grassroots instincts, properly channeled toward genuinely progressive causes and political candidates, could lead to real change. Similar thing happening with respect to healthcare-for-all ... one doesn't expect the Repubs to do anything progressive there, so some surprise to see no-longer-miniscule percentages of GOP pols come out in support. Whereas the real obstacle - as vividly demonstrated early in the Obama presidency, when the Dems had the White House and majorities in both houses of congress, only to sell out to Big Pharma and BigMed - is the toxic fauxgressives leading the Dems, the Chuck Schumers and Nancy Pelosis and Ron Wydens, who are working hard to earn those Big Donor payoffs by keeping single-payer off the negotiating table.

[only_human]

Among the Obama administration's regulations soon being rolled back is one that:

requires most public projects be built at least 2 feet above the 100-year flood elevation, with critical buildings like hospitals and evacuation centers built 3 feet above that level.

Trump to roll back Obama-era rule on rising sea levels

“Rescinding this executive order would roll back the most significant action taken in a generation to protect our infrastructure from the most common and costly damage we see in America,” said Rafael Lemaitre, the public affairs director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under Obama.

“Eliminating this requirement is self-defeating - we can either build smarter now, or put taxpayers on the hook to pay exponentially more when it floods. And it will."

Ironically this is supposedly infrastructure week or something like that.