Archives par mot-clé : Activists

Is this the week that Net Zero died?

by R. Schoellhammer, Aug 3, 2023 in UnHerd


A wave of climate realism is sweeping through Europe

NetZero is turning into a pipe dream. Credit: Getty

It has been a tough week for climate activists. First, the new head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jim Skea, said we should not overstate the 1.5 degrees celsius warning, and that humanity will not end if we miss it. At the same time, wind projects are hitting new obstacles, with Vattenfall cancelling a new offshore project in the North Sea due to high costs, while also having a project in Sweden rejected because Stockholm sees potential “negative effects on the environment” from offshore wind installations.

Elsewhere in the world of renewables, a new report has shown that the production of solar panels is causing more emissions than previously thought, and the once much celebrated solar-powered mini-grids in India are falling apart. But it does not end there: the British Government has decided to cut costs of polluting and approve hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licenses. This announcement may have upset Just Stop Oil activists, but the reality is that the world is using more oil than ever and Britain needs to be prepared.

 

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Shellenberger: Climactivists Turn To Temper Tantrums As Primary Tactic

by M. Schellenberger, Oct 25, 2022 in ClimateChangeDispatch


Dumping milk onto floors. Hurling food onto walls. Refusing to eat. Gluing body parts. Throwing paint. Refusing to leave. Threatening to pee and poop in your pants. Screaming accusations.

Are those the behaviors of a toddler’s temper tantrum? Yes. But they’re also the dominant tactics of today’s climate activists. [bold, links added]

Consider the case of Gianluca Grimalda. On October 19, Grimalda, along with 15 other members of a climate activist group called Scientist Rebellion, glued himself to the floor of the visitors center next to a Volkswagon factory in Germany.

The VW security guards brought pizza to Grimalda and the other activist scientists, but Grimalda felt disrespected and so he declared a hunger strike in retaliation.

Grimalda immediately expressed outrage at his treatment. “VW told us that they supported our right to protest,” he complained on Twitter, “but they refused our request to provide us with a bowl to urinate and defecate in a decent manner while we are glued, and have turned off the heating.”

Many were quick to point out the childish nature of the protest. “I’m a serious scientist protesting against fossil fuels,” wrote one user. “Now turn the gas heating on and bring me my potty.”

The activists say that such childish tactics were necessary. Grimalda tweeted that he and his colleagues are protesting “until our demands to decarbonize the German transport sector are met.

Climate Activism: How Democracy Dies

by Donna Laframboise, Dec 6, 2020 in BigPicturesNews


Tomorrow night, Friends of Science will broadcast my speech, Climate Activism: Undermining Free Speech, Free Thought & Free Choice. Click here for details. (If you aren’t able to tune in then, purchasing a ticket will permit you to stream the event later, at your convenience.)

40 minutes in length, this talk explores how prominent members of the establishment have worked to shut down climate-related dialogue and debate. Those who express minority opinions have been cast as defective, depraved individuals on a par with Holocaust deniers.

The people fueling this incredible intolerance are prime ministers, vice presidents, UN officials, Nobel laureates, and Pulitzer Prize winners. There’s nothing admirable about silencing non-conformist perspectives. That’s how democracy dies.

The cancel culture now on full display on social media, in newsrooms, and on university campuses took root early in the climate world. Perhaps if more people had objected – loudly and on principal – to that improper behaviour, we’d be in a healthier, more tolerant place today.

Here’s a quote from my speech: