“Welcome to the neo-medieval world of Britain’s energy policy. It is a world in which Highland glens are buzzing with bulldozers damming streams for miniature hydro plants, in which the Dogger Bank is to be dotted with windmills at Brobdingnagian expense, in which Heathrow is to burn wood trucked in from Surrey, and Yorkshire wheat is being turned into motor fuel. We are going back to using the landscape to generate our energy. Bad news for the landscape.
“The industrial revolution, when Britain turned to coal for its energy, not only catapulted us into prosperity (because coal proved cheaper and more reliable than wood, wind, water and horse as a means of turning machines), but saved our landscape too. Forests grew back and rivers returned to their natural beds when their energy was no longer needed. Land that had once grown hay for millions of horses could grow food for human beings instead — or become parks and gardens.”
The first industries of Australia were farming and mining and these two have been the backbone of the nation ever since. Both are threatened by the taxaholics in Canberra.
Shorthorn and Brahman cattle arrived with the first fleet and coal was discovered by convicts at Newcastle in 1791, just three years after the First Fleet arrived. The first Merino sheep arrived in 1797 and coal mining started in 1798. Since then mining and farming have earned the majority of Australia’s income.
Wool and wheat, gold and silver, butter and cheese, copper and lead-zinc, leather and tallow, iron and steel, sugar and wine, coal and hydro-carbons, meat and mutton, aluminium and uranium, timber and fish, nickel and titanium – these comprise Australia’s Magic Pudding.
But the Gillard/Green/Garnaut Carbon Tax Coalition hate our primary industries because they all depend on carbon fuels and produce the carbon dioxide that feeds our crops. Our backbone industries are seen as dreaded “polluters” and treated like noxious weeds and serpents to be removed from the green Garden of Eden.
“The heating effect of carbon dioxide is minuscule. It is lost in the noise of the climate system. That is why the temperature of the planet today is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. On top of all that, the carbon dioxide level of the atmosphere is dangerously low. All living things would be better off if we had more of it in the atmosphere.”
“In a few short years, Sydney will start having blackouts because nobody will build a new power station while the carbon tax stalks the land.”
“It was 400,000 emails, letters and phone calls which stopped the carbon tax in late 2009. We need to resend those 400,000 emails, letters and phone calls, but this time with a sharper edge.”
“Finally, the world has entered a sharp cooling phase. I expect growing conditions to shrink 300 kilometres towards the equator by the end of the decade. There will be a major reduction in agricultural productivity in the mid-latitudes.”
The Global Warming Policy Foundation has published (May 2011) a detailed report about the shale gas revolution and its likely implications for climate policy.
The report , written by Matt Ridley and with a foreword by Professor Freeman Dyson, finds that shale gas:
is not only abundant but relatively cheap and therefore promises to take market share from nuclear, coal and renewable energy and to replace oil in some transport and industrial uses, over coming decades.
will help to keep the price of nitrogen fertiliser low and hence keep food prices down, other things being equal.
is unlikely to be a major source of pollution or methane emissions, but in contrast promises to reduce pollution and accelerate the decarbonisation of the world economy.
Naturally, after causing a boom in demand for gas, and promoting it, greens are now trying to prevent exploration and exploitation of this massive new energy source. And just as naturally they are being supported by competitive energy sources threatened by this gas bonanza – French nuclear, Russian gas, the coal geo-sequestration crowd and the whole wind/solar lobby.
Some of these shales will also produce significant oil. Nick Grealy looks here at the coming impact of oil and gas from “Wet Shale”:
The political way of the Greens
Is not what you’d think the word means,
For they want to control every body and soul,
And tax those who fart on baked beans.
Anti-climate change laws will soon start,
When we’re back to the draft-horse and cart.
And they’ll put cows in cages and test them with gauges
And tax them whenever they fart.
But for ever they’ll be on the run,
And they never will get the job done,
For in India’s land the cow numbers stand
At four hundred million and one.
“Having said that – one thing is pretty certain, wherever you live, don’t vote ‘Green’ because the Green Party does not any longer deserve its name, which implies a love of the natural environment. Let us hope that they do not pick up too many protest votes in council elections, mainly from people who do not realise this.”
We’re told we need a carbon tax to combat dangerous carbon pollution.
The public therefore surely needs health warnings on products contaminated by this dangerous “pollutant”?
The bubbles from beer, champagne and soda water are carbon dioxide which contains 27% carbon. If carbon pollution is as bad as we are told, maybe there should be a law banning consumption of such polluting drinks in enclosed areas or public places?
Cane sugar contains a dangerously high 40% carbon, barbeque steak contains 53% carbon and fats and oils contain over 70% carbon. These products should display health warnings:
“This product contains carbon, a declared dangerous pollutant. Use of this product will cause floods and droughts, frosts and heatwaves. Exercise caution when using.”
In fact, as every food product contains carbon, there should be a health warning at the entrance of every grocery store and restaurant:
“Polluted Products Warning: All foods sold in this outlet contain carbon.”
To emphasise the danger, the health warning should be printed in green and all food products should be sold in plain wrappers.
There could also be a “Green Tick” system for safe products free of carbon pollution. The only grocery item that has earned a green tick so far is pure water.
Diligent public protectors have also discovered that exhaled human breath contains 40,000 parts per million of carbon dioxide or about 1% carbon, one hundred times higher than fresh air. This could explain the hysterical legislative proposals coming from carbon polluted debating chambers in Canberra. Therefore, in the interests of good government, all future debates on the carbon tax should be held outdoors and no carbon polluted food or drinks should be served in government cafeterias.
We are constantly bombarded with information – much of it inaccurate, misleading, even deliberately so.
We are frequently told we must reduce carbon emissions, support “carbon disclosure” and invest in “carbon trusts” – to prevent catastrophic global warming, global climate change or global climate “disruption.” News stories, advocacy and lobbying activities, and corporate “ethics” promotions frequently use “carbon” and “carbon dioxide” almost interchangeably; some occasionally talk about “dangerous carbon monoxide emissions.”
Torn by misplaced hydrocarbon guilt, wanting to do right ecologically, and often scientifically challenged, people are naturally confused. Because so much is at stake – for our energy supplies and prices, jobs, economies, living standards, budget deficits and environment – clearing up that confusion is a high priority. (more…)
RSS