Global warming, climate change, all these things are just a dream come true for politicians. I deal with evidence and not with frightening computer models because the seeker after truth does not put his faith in any consensus. The road to the truth is long and hard, but this is the road we must follow. People who describe the unprecedented comfort and ease of modern life as a climate disaster, in my opinion have no idea what a real problem is.
Ed Miliband has ordered an immediate ban on new drilling in the North Sea – overruling his own officials and risking triggering a wave of legal action.
Ed Miliband has ordered an immediate ban on new drilling in the North Sea – overruling his own officials and risking triggering a wave of legal action. The Telegraph has more.
In an unusual intervention into what is typically an apolitical process, the Energy Secretary has told regulators not to approve a new round of drilling that was slated for confirmation in the coming weeks.
The decision followed crisis meetings yesterday between Mr. Miliband and his aides after the Telegraph asked for updates on outstanding drilling licence applications.
The applications, from companies seeking to exploit up to 35 new North Sea areas, were submitted as part of the 33rd offshore oil and gas licensing round initiated by the last Government in autumn 2023.
It saw 76 oil and gas companies submitting 115 bids to drill for oil and gas across 257 “blocks” of the North Sea, Irish Sea and East Atlantic. The NSTA said these would boost U.K. oil output by 600 million barrels.
Bids for up to 35 areas were still awaiting a decision from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the regulator, when the election was called.
On Wednesday afternoon the NSTA said that applications were still being considered, despite the change in Government. A spokesman reiterated the NSTA’s pre-election statement that: “Further consideration is being given to a small number of remaining applications and a few more may be offered at a later date.”
However, Mr. Miliband subsequently instructed the NSTA to block them all.
In a terse statement issued late on Wednesday, his spokesman said: “We will not issue new licences to explore new fields, and will not revoke existing oil and gas licences. We will manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan.”
Completely insane. The world – and the U.K. – is going to need oil and gas for a long while yet, even under our crazy Net Zero plans. But it appears the U.K. is going to miss out on producing it. Because who needs industry? Who needs income? Who needs affordable energy, for that matter? Not Britain it seems, at least according to Labour. Though somehow I don’t think the public is going to agree.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz clashed with a group of climate activists who interrupted his remarks at a Thursday night event.
Protesters sat themselves on the stage next to Cruz and began chanting slogans, ostensibly to bring attention to the issue of climate change and protest against Cruz’s positions on energy, during Cruz’s remarks at a Thursday evening event hosted by a conservative organization in Washington, D.C. Cruz did not back down, instead using the microphone to question the activists about their knowledge of basic climate and energy facts, grainy footage of the incident posted to social media shows.
Climate protesters disrupted Sen. Cruz's speech tonight. He flipped the script and put them on the spot. "Which country is the biggest climate polluter on Planet Earth? You have no idea!"
The obvious well-known answer is Communist China. They wouldn't say or they don't know.… pic.twitter.com/PGrLPkrplO
“OK, so you have none,” Cruz said a few seconds later. “He’s literally protesting about climate, and he can’t tell you who the biggest polluter on planet Earth is. And he won’t.”
One of the activists barked back at Cruz with a response that is mostly inaudible in the footage.
“What country is the largest polluter on planet Earth today?” Cruz said, before one of the protesters said it is the U.S.
“OK, so this young lady has no clue, she said ‘the United States of America,” Cruz said. “She is protesting, and she has literally no idea. By the way, the answer is Communist China. Which country leads the world in reduction of carbon emissions? Are you gonna know the answer to that? I’ll give you a hint, it was the wrong answer you gave before: it’s the United States of America.”
“Do you know why?” Cruz continued. “The reason is because of the thing you’re protesting against: fossil fuels. No, no, you’re so ignorant, you don’t know. So if you’re going to protest, confront some facts.”
China is by far the world’s leading carbon polluter, according to The Carbon Brief, and the country permitted an average of two new coal plants per week in 2022, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The U.S., meanwhile, reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by about 17.5% between 2005 and 2022, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data. Many energy sector experts have credited the natural gas boom of the late 2000s as the primary driver of this reduction, as a boom in affordable, cleaner gas allowed the country to reduce its reliance on coal.
Between 2005 and 2022, U.S. energy production from natural gas approximately doubled while coal use decreased, and U.S. natural gas consumption increased by about 46% over the same time period, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
Cruz “will not be intimidated by climate protesters who ignore basic realities,” a spokesperson for the senator told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Back in 1992 the Australian Navy was called in to rescue 90,000 giant clams. Well, that was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald back then – 32 years ago.
Back in 1992 the Australian Navy was called in to rescue 90,000 giant clams. Well, that was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald back then – 32 years ago.
In fact, the clams were still small, the offspring of a successful artificial breeding program at Orpheus Island. The species, Tridacna gigas, is considered endangered. How to get all these baby giant clams into the wild.
Rumour has it that the very largest of these clams can now be found only at Grub Reef.
Yes, the Australian Navy came to the rescue and the clams were dropped at various reefs across the Great Barrier Reef, including Grub Reef.
Ever in search of the truth – and an adventure, I’m going to Grub Reef in search of giant clams!
I’m planning to be diving Grub Reef on Tuesday 3rd September 2024 as part of a new underwater mega-fauna photographic competition.
I won’t be a competitor. I will be the host, and along with the skipper Paul Crocombe from Adrenalin Dive, we will be doing everything possible to give competitors the best chance to find and photograph the very largest clam.
The feature image is of me (Jennifer Marohasy) back in January 2020 with a giant clam at the Cod Hole, part of the Ribbon Reefs. This image is a clip from a short film I made back then entitled ‘Clowns on the Ribbons Edge’ with Clint Hempsall, to watch click here.
In France, the second largest news network let an economist go on air and declare he thought global warming was a lie and a scam used to justify State intervention. He even went on to say it is a form of totalitarianism. Shockingly (to the regulators Arcom), the CNEWS TV hosts did not contest this, and nor did anyone else in the studio. For this, 11 months later, the TV channel is being fined €20,000.
We know what secrets they fear the most, by how they overreact
In France, the second largest news network let an economist go on air and declare he thought global warming was a lie and a scam used to justify State intervention. He even went on to say it is a form of totalitarianism. Shockingly (to the regulators Arcom), the CNEWS TV hosts did not contest this, and nor did anyone else in the studio. For this, 11 months later, the TV channel is being fined €20,000.
During the programme, prominent economist Philippe Herlin shared personal climate scepticism – but was not contradicted by anybody else in the TV studio, including the hosts.
“Anthropogenic global warming is a lie, a scam… Explaining to us that it is because of Man, no, that is a conspiracy, and why does that have so much weight?”, Herlin said. “Because it justifies the intervention of the State in our lives, and it absolves the State from having to reduce its public spending… It is a form of totalitarianism.”
Apparently, the real crime here is not that he said the unthinkable, but that the TV crew didn’t correct him:
After investigation, Arcom found that CNews’ lack of reaction was a “failure” to meet the obligations of the channel …
Perhaps if they’d laughed at him, called him petty names, and treated him like a leper it would have been OK? (No, seriously, there is a razor point here. There are bound to be past examples where the only response to a skeptic was to call them a climate denier, and Arcom was apparently happy with that, since they’ve never used this fine before.) Does Arcom approve of namecalling or social opprobrium as a “balanced response”? Oh. Yes. They. Do.
The regulators go on to explain that the channel:
“…is required to ensure an honest presentation of controversial issues,in particular by ensuring the expression of different points of view”.
Which must be a new requirement since French TV has relentlessly hammered the establishment line in a one sided way for thirty years without needing any balance at all. And Arcom didn’t fine them for shamelessly promoting government propaganda. Perhaps a French skeptic could ask Arcon if controversial government opinions need to be balanced “in an honest presentation” or whether it’s only critics of the government who need to be held to account?
Arcom found that the views shared “contradicted or minimised” the scientific consensus on climate change “through a treatment lacking rigour and without contradiction”.
Since when was it the job of journalists to promote government approved “science”?
The regulator is going out on a limb and sawing off the branch…
Officially, the regulators are trying to pretend they are not punishing the TV channel for putting on a skeptic, which would be a free speech issue, but it’s clearly what they are doing. So they dress this up as a lack of balance, which accidentally exposes that they’ve never cared a jot about balancing opinions before. Immediately, this opens up all kinds of interesting doors: for one, skeptics can start asking where the balance is on controversial government propositions? In most countries about half the population doesn’t agree that mankind is solely responsible for “climate change”. Where is their voice? The government is suggesting that solar panels can stop storms, and EV’s will control floods, why isn’t this a failure of the obligations of a news channel?
Secondly, skeptics can ask when this rule started and why the regulator missed so many past examples. Why aren’t breaches the other way being fined too?
The overreaction IS the news story
Ponder how afraid the believers must be if the mere opinion of an economist is so dangerous. This man is a not a scientist and every person in France has heard the evidence is overwhelming, climate change is real, and 130% of all scientists who ever lived know that CO2 threatens life on Earth. For three decades children have been trained to say that skeptics are funded by Big Oil, and motivated by money, and yet here is one guy who used the word “totalitarian” and they all go off their rocker.
Why, perhaps because it suggests that believers are motivated by a bigger pot of money and power than skeptics ever could be.
BACKGROUND
Arcon stands for theRegulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication
CNews is controlled by billionaire business magnate Vincent Bolloré and has been compared to FOX in the US.
Edit: Approbration corrected to opprobrium. H/t Robert Swan.
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