A temper tantrum by mostly middle-class protesters to bring London to a halt will do nothing to help the climate and a lot to ruin ordinary people’s lives.
They want net zero carbon dioxide emissions from the UK economy by 2025 to avoid “extinction.”
I am not sure they have thought this through. That target would mean scrapping more than 60 million gas boilers and car engines.
Because there is not time to build a fleet of nuclear plants by then, replacing all that combustion with emission-free electricity would require carpeting the entire country and most of another country somewhere with wind turbines (made using 150 tonnes of coal each) or solar panels (made with mined metals) to the detriment of birds, forests and landscapes.
They protest that Britain is doing nothing about climate change. Not true. No country has enacted a more draconian set of emissions targets, but try protesting in Russia or China — it would not be such a walk in the park.
So far, analysis has shown, our policies have resulted in higher energy costs, borne disproportionately by the poor, and no greater emissions reduction than if we had gone for gas instead.
If it is extinction the protesters are worried about, they are aiming at the wrong target. Most species extinctions are the result of invasive alien species and habitat loss, itself encouraged by misguided climate policies to turn forests into fuel.
If it is human life they are concerned about, they should know that deaths from storms, droughts, and floods have fallen by 98 percent in a century, but about three million people a year die from the effect of indoor smoke caused by cooking over wood fires (harvested from wild forests) because of lack of access to gas or electricity.
Far from prosperity being the problem, it is the answer. It weans people off habitat-destroying dependence on burning wood, and it leads to reforestation, the creation of nature reserves and the return of wildlife.
Why are wolves increasing, lions decreasing and tigers now holding their own? Because wolves live in rich countries, lions in poor countries and tigers in middle-income countries.
The protesters have been duped into old fashioned anti-capitalism. The campaigner George Monbiot gave the game away this week when he said the point of these protests was “to go straight to the heart of capitalism to overthrow it”.
Read more via The GWPF
It only takes about 10 years to build a nuclear plant… So still plenty of time if they start in the near future. The c02 levels in 2005 were about 380 ppm and rose to over 410 ppm by approximately 2020. So extrapolating the data if we go another 15 years the c02 levels would rise to about 440 at the same pace? This is still below the toxicity levels of c02 for humans and most other life. We would also need to beef up the electric grid and we already have a good start on electric car technology. With converting the power generation to nuclear (thorium?) and changing most of the transportation to electric we should see quite a large reduction in c02 output.
John Doe, no need whatsoever to reduce CO2 levels because the climate is not controlled by that gas. Get the facts, make the right decisions: http://tech-know-group.com/papers/Role_of_CO2-EaE.pdf and http://tech-know-group.com/papers/Role_of_GHE-EaE.pdf Both papers have been peer reviewed and published.
There is a rule in the sciences that states “all systems tend toward zero”, or cool off, or go downhill, or decay, shed potential, whatever.
If humans harvest the energy from fossil fuels, the Earth will follow that rule and radiate the heat every way available. Carbon dioxide does not trap heat. Physics doesn’t allow it to do that.
It may take 10 years to build a nuclear power plant. What about all of the government paper work? What about the endless law suits by environmentalist to block construction? It may take 10 years to build such power plants, but many years before construction can be started.
If these idiots want zero carbon then perhaps they need to stop breathing after all every time these Nit-Wits breath they take on Oxigen and produce carbon and so dose every living thing on earth
It takes money to pay for a pink hair do . Fossil fuel too .
Thousands of fuel poverty deaths per year in the UK but apparently not in this entitled crowd of visionaries .
Can’t wait to see this group take over the reins of power . Mind you the current clowns aren’t much better are they ?
France has had enough of virtue signaling globalists and it’s happening everywhere .Let’s see the protesters go completely without fossil fuels for a year . You know walk the talk .
What was it they said about Stupid People in large numbers? Like the ones in the picture above these idiots think the Earth is their Mother and just how did they get there and how will they return? Not on Flying Carpets that’s for sure
Any time there is a demand that even those making know can not be achieved, there are other motives. The demand for zero emissions by 2025 is more ridiculous than the impossible goal of doing so by 2030. The article pointed out the real goals are just old fashioned anti-capitalism. Other articles have revealed that motives include being against different classes in society and that being a homosexual isn’t considered to be normal. It appears the real motive is trying to punish society for what the leaders are up set about.
It is amazing that people with such extreme views can recruit so many pawns to support their agendas. One thing it shows is how stupid these people are. I’m sure that in the future there will be master and doctoral thesis written about how any why these radicals were able to gather so many supports.