Years of Living Dangerously Series Debunked: Season 2, Episode 7

“Safe Passage”

We begin with West Wing actor Bradley Whitford looking at Republicans denying or negating climate change. What happened to you, Whitford? What happened to your youthful vitality? You’re old and gray and only 57. My…how the fates have been cruel to you.

Whitford says that climate change is the biggest political issue. No…racism, sexism, and inequality are the biggest issues. Climate change is just an ideological unfalsifiable theory. It’s just people interpreting observations through the lens of their unfalsifiable environmental ideologies.

We then move to actor Ty Burrell (who?) stuck on the freeway. He’s annoyed that all the cars beside him are carbon spewing vehicles. While I understand the appeal for electric cars, until we have a rock solid safe, clean, sustainable, and efficient electricity generation for the entire grid, electric vehicles won’t become the norm. Why not? Because you need to charge them constantly. That’s a massive amount of electricity. In the past, Elon Musk says that electricity for their cars will be free for life, only to end the program in 2016. [1]

Whitford then attends a meeting on how to talk to people about climate change. I didn’t know such a program exists prior to watching this. The role playing is quite fun to watch. The executive director of Citizens Climate Lobby Mark Reynolds guides them through the process.

Whitford then tries out his new skills on Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn and Republican Representative Dan Rohrabacher. Blackburn says the usual claims. The jury is still out. The science isn’t settled. In reality, the science will never be settled because it’s ideological unfalsifiable science. You can never prove unfalsifiable science wrong.

Burrell then meets with Dr. Jeffrey Greenblatt (a climate scientist). Greenblatt shows him his vision of autonomous electric cars. While that’s nice in theory, it doesn’t work in real life. Why not? Because the computers aren’t advanced enough to react to the reflex actions of humans. Of course, it would be a different story if all cars on the road are autonomous.

Personally, I find transportation to be a waste of time (aside from a nice drive in nature). I like to go from point A to point B as fast as possible. But there are many drivers that want control over the wheel and won’t give it up to a computer, no matter how advanced. And don’t forget about hackers. Hacking autonomous self-driving electric vehicles will soon become the norm for a 15-year-old in his bedroom.

Burrell says that all cars will be electric, charged by solar, communicate with each other via signals, and lead to less pollution. It all sounds great in theory, but that’s where it’ll stay for the most part. Back in the real world with thunderstorms, snowstorms, and blizzards, none of this will work. Some people tend to forget that reality exists outside of California.

Greenblatt says that his vision will become reality in the next few years. But I highly doubt it. Only time will tell. He says that only electric vehicles are the future. Try using an electric car in -20 celsius for an hour drive with heat and the radio on. You won’t make it. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

What I failed to realize, however, was that driving an electric vehicle was not like normal driving: It required thinking ahead about charging options, the distances we’d be traveling, and the cold, which can greatly reduce the battery’s range.

…Distracted by work one morning, he forgot to plug in the Focus until halfway through the day. The drive home, with the heat, seat warmer, radio and headlights on, ate up 53 percent of the battery’s charge and left him questioning the practicality of commuting by EV in winter.

Our week with the i-MiEV really drove home the importance of planning ahead, which I failed to do before heading out to the gym one night. I hadn’t calculated how far I’d be driving, and the heater was eating up mileage fast. By switching off all the accessories, I made it home with a nerve-racking five kilometers to spare.

Of course, there are ways to extend battery range, but first, you need to learn how it’s done: by avoiding harsh acceleration and braking. Dashboard monitors coach you along, awarding graphical tree branches or butterflies as your gentle braking regenerates energy to the battery.

…Overall, we enjoyed our EV experiment, especially the guilt-free sensation of driving without gas. Still, after three weeks and three cars, we haven’t gotten over our range anxiety. Those cold hands from Day 1 have turned into cold feet now that we’ve seen how battery range depletes in winter weather. [2]

Whitford then goes to Ten Thousand Islands National Refugee in Florida with climate scientists Michael Barry and Dr. Michael Savarese. I like how they’re all on a gas/diesel boat. Hilarious. They lament the fact that by the end of the century the islands will be underwater. And?…That’s how it works.

Sea level has been rising naturally since the end of the last ice age (11,700 years ago). Islands at sea level will eventually go under. This has been happening for thousands of years and will continue to do so. Unless of course, all cities in North America start using desalinated ocean water. If that happens, sea level won’t be the issue, seal level drop will become the new issue.

The directors show images of dead zones in the islands. Yes, that happens as well. That which is from nature eventually returns to it. Everything old eventually dies (even rich people from Silicon Valley), and that includes natural land habitats at sea level.

The directors show video images of Jay Butera (a climate change activist) and supposedly 42,000 supporters of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby pushing for a carbon tax. I can’t help but notice that almost all of them are white and most likely from a mid-high income bracket (see Part 6 of 8: Season 2, Episode 6 – Priceless).

Butera says that the Republicans who come on board to climate change are climate heroes. Yah…no. They’re just going along with the popular ideological climate change cult and the disingenuous environmental movement.

Remember, sea level has been rising since the end of the last ice age. That means that in ancient times, in the middle ages, in medieval times, in the renaissance…sea level has been rising naturally. Whole land masses are already submerged (all due to natural sea level rise). Claiming that this is due to man-made climate change is completely false.

While man-made climate change can influence that sea level rise, you can’t put a percentage on how much the influence is. Why not? Because the climate models are not based on a falsifiable theory of climate change. As the observations change, new justifications are created to explain it. That’s not objective science. That’s ideological junk science.

Butera and Whitford meet with Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo lamenting the idiocy of the Republican Party.

Burrell meets with President of Lyft (a ride-sharing service) John Zimmer. I love how Burrell and other celebrities start the conversation off with the I have kids and I’m concerned for their future argument. This is garbage emotional manipulation. Try living in Syria and then come talk to me about your worries for the future.

During the era of scientific racism and sexism, I’m sure that white families say I’m concerned for my children’s future if visible minorities water down the purity of the white race. I’m sure that white men and their sons say I’m concerned that women’s rights will destroy the family.

All of this is nonsense of course. But at the time, millions of racist and sexist people lament their concerns of the future. It’s similar today with climate change believers lamenting their concerns of the future and using this emotional manipulation to bring people on board to the man-made climate change cult.

Zimmer says that having one car per person is horrible. Sorry, but cars today serve more than a means of transportation. It serves as a safe space. A person can vent all their frustrations and go into their zone, all without other people judging them (depending on tinted windows). This is something that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft don’t understand. Yes, there’s definitely a market for ride-sharing services. But it will never replace people using cars as a judgment free safe space zone.

Burrell meets with Pat Cadam (an auto shop owner). They argue the less maintenance argument for electric cars. And yes, it’s correct. But the less maintenance argument doesn’t matter when electric cars fail in extreme weather. And yes, they do fail, more so than regular gas/diesel ones do.

And then, there’s the electricity generation argument. While many provinces in Canada have flat electricity rates, the most populous one, Ontario has three different rates during a 24 hour period with peak period (early morning and evening rush) at 18 cents/kWh in the fall, winter, and spring (15.7 cents for summer rates). [3] That’s way too much.

If electric car manufacturers can solve the low battery charge, charging station infrastructure, extreme weather failure, the cost of electricity, and the high retail price…then I’ll consider an electric car. Until then, it’s unreliable, inefficient, and potentially dangerous in regards to hacking.

Whitford meets with Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Whitehouse has presented the same climate change presentation in the Senate every week for years. While I’m against the climate change cult I respect the character. And Whitehouse is a genuine character.

Whitehouse puts the blame squarely on Big Energy and their lobbying efforts. I like how he doesn’t mention animal farming and deforestation due to animal farming.

Push the efficiency rate of solar and wind to at least 70% and then we’ll talk. Create super efficient batteries that can hold a charge longer than the current lithium ion batteries and then we’ll talk. Get all liberal representatives, senators, media outlets, and the climate change movement as a whole to adopt a strictly vegan diet and then we’ll talk. Until then, it’s just disingenuous actions by ideological liberals wrapped up in their ideological bubbles.

While bipartisan support for a climate change bill sounds feasible, in the Trump administration it’s all bedlam.

Burrell researches the history of electric cars and finds that in the mid-’90s General Motors (GM) tests out and mothballs their EV-1 electric cars. And yes, it’s unethical for GM to crush the cars relative to the free market. Burrell meets with Chelsea Sexton (an electric car advocate). Burrell mentions Tesla cop cars. Electric cars for the police? That’s hilarious enough to be the graphic for this article.

If people want to buy electric cars they’re more than welcome to do so. But do it without the taxpayer subsidies. My tax dollars shouldn’t be subsidizing your $50,000 electric car.

California Senator Kevin de Leon says that oil lobbyists are pouring too much money into them. Umm…there are many liberal billionaires to counter that money:

• Tom Steyer
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Jeff Bezos
• Richard Branson
• Jack Ma
• Steven Spielberg
• Oprah Winfrey
• George Lucas
• James Cameron
• Warren Buffet
• Mark Cuban
• Michael Bloomberg
• George Soros
• Sheryl Sandberg
• Marc Benioff
• Reid Hoffman
• Mark Zuckerberg.

Contrary to what you may believe, there’s no shortage of liberal money lobbying for climate change. If liberal billionaires refuse to match the dollars of Big Energy, the climate change movement should be asking them some hard questions.

Butera talks with Senator Curbelo and Love and starts off by saying that as parents, what’s your thought process on climate change? Sorry, but that’s manipulative emotional priming. Butera is priming the issue of climate change through the lens of emotional parenting. And liberals bitch about conservatives preying on people’s feelings.

Butera says that the clock is ticking for the planet. Queue the suspense background music. Sorry, but that’s false. Even in the event of nuclear war, the planet will slowly heal itself. Humans are too egotistical and arrogant to think that they know what’s best for the Earth. The Earth will continue to exist long after humanity’s demise.

Burrell goes to Georgia and talks with Executive Director for Clean Cities Georgia Don Francis about electric car subsidies being taken away. Francis says that at the time, the incentives for electric cars make it financially viable. But when the incentives end they experience a 90% drop.

Of course, it drops. The electric car market is artificial. WE economies or at least the US and Canada are supposed to have a free capitalist market. Not a garbage heavily subsidized market. And yes, I believe that all subsidies from Big energy should be taken away in order for everyone to compete on an equal playing field.

The exception for subsidies is the manufacturing industry in North America. Sadly, the entire North American manufacturing sector slowly moves to Mexico, India, or China. And the ones that don’t move go out of business because they can’t compete with slave labor wages and products being made and sold almost at cost in mass quantities.

Hence, a subsidy is a strong incentive to support domestic manufacturing again. The climate movement can decry the domestic manufacturing sector all they want. They can go live in Mexico, India, or China and experience their beautiful slave labor free trade agreements for themselves.

Burrell says that it’s frustrating when lawmakers block climate change solutions. But the current climate change solutions are just green energy subsidies and carbon taxes. Of course, people will be against them. The fact is that most current climate change solutions can’t exist without subsidies and taxes. This should tell you that the climate change movement is asking for a handout, also known as corporate welfare.

Back in DC, Whitford talks to Republican Representative Lee Zeldin. I like how they keep using the term market driven solutions. Thank you. Anytime I hear a climate change believer using the term I’ll remember that they’re trying to manipulate me (more so than normal). But Whitford and the others succeed in getting Zeldin to join the climate solutions caucus. Good for you. Good luck dealing with the Trump administration.

Butera says that the fate of the planet rests on the American people. Usual grandiose manipulation. It’s a norm that most movements use. Your actions are necessary to change the world. Yah…no.

I hate to be the person to bursts someone’s ideological bubble, but achieving a goal through unethical actions, manipulation, and taxes is not a genuine success. The ends will never justify the means.

Burrell talks to Sexton about the plummeting sales of electric cars due to a lack of incentives. He asks her what impact it will have on climate change. She says that it’s huge because carbon emissions make up a huge part of the transportation sector. In reality, they only make up a small portion. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

And burning a fossil fuel to power an electric car is nowhere near as efficient as burning that fuel to power the car directly.

…According to Environment Canada, cars and light vehicles – our personal transportation fleet – are responsible for only 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. As older cars get phased out and newer cars get ever cleaner, that percentage is likely dropping.

So, even if tomorrow morning, all cars in our fleet were magically powered by the sheer force of Elon Musk’s ambition, 88 percent of the problem would still be here. [4]

And this is coming from the Toronto Star. A mainstream liberal print media outlet in Canada.

Yes, electric vehicle costs have significantly lower maintenance. But they’re only as good as their batteries, which have a limited lifespan and cost a pretty penny to replace.

We end with Butera saying that there’s still hope and that they’ll eventually win the day for climate change. I don’t think he knows President Trump very well. Hope vs. Donald J. Trump…that’s a tough call.

References:

[1] Stewart, Jack. As Tesla grows up, it gives up on free charging. Wired. November 7, 2016.

[2] Nice, Dianne. Why my family pulled the plug on owning an electric vehicle. Globe and Mail. December 11, 2014.

[3] Residential Electricity rates. Toronto Hydro.

[4] Kenzie, Jim. Electric cars are a short circuit. Toronto Star. January 21, 2017.