The Weather Thread

[The Wengerbabies]

Bloody freezing, I wonder how many pensioners Keir Starmer has killed so far this week.

[Niall_Quinn]

I've seen a couple of interesting things recently.
One from Christopher Hitchens who noted that with countries like China and India around polluting heavily and with no sign of stopping anything we do won't make any real difference. Which is basically correct, even if we went net zero tomorrow it would barely make a dent. And another video from I can't remember who saying that because of the above we should be investing in technologies and ways of mitigating the consequences of climate change. Arguably a more realistic tactic and target than all the emissions targets which we clearly aren't going to meet.

Yeah but when I told you that 4 years ago you blanked. You really saying I don't have as much credibility as Christopher Hitchins? That hurts.

[Niall_Quinn]

Dude, the climate hoax is all about the corporations. And POLLUTION. The cunts are polluting everything, the soil, the water, the food, the air, you name it those motherfuckers have a pollution for it. Why do you think they are on-board with something so dumb as the climate hoax? Because it lets them pas the blame for their bullshit and destructive profiteering off on us, we have too many baths and drive too many miles, apparently. And the state has jumped in and said, fuck, that's a great idea. Lock the plebs up, to save the planet. Even better then wet markets and The Science. This is The Science on steroids, as far from science as you can get, with the perps calling the shots and the crowd paying the fees. Same as it ever was but just on a grander scale.

[Letters]

Yeah but when I told you that 4 years ago you blanked. You really saying I don't have as much credibility as Christopher Hitchins? That hurts.

I can't remember the exact exchange you're talking about. But I've been to India and China. I've seen the smog there. I know what the emissions figures are like per country. The idea that anything we do won't make any difference in the global context is not a revelation to me - I've been saying that for years on here too. I don't know if that means we shouldn't try though. It's like saying "well everyone else is littering, and more than me, so I might as well throw stuff on the floor too". I'd suggest that "every little helps", to coin a phrase so while I'm not convinced we can make much of a dent on our own I think doing our bit and leading by example is a good thing. We can't really try to put pressure on other countries to sort themselves out if we aren't doing it ourselves. If nothing else, reducing the amount of stuff we pump into the atmosphere has to be a good thing, I've seen a couple of articles on the BBC about the smog in India. I checked in with a colleague over there and it isn't good, she's having physical symptoms because of it. There is an argument that money would be better spent dealing with the consequences of climate change, but I still think working to stop polluting the planet is a good thing.

My issue with your stance is you seem to either claim that climate change isn't happening - anyone of a certain age and with a working memory knows how the climate has changed in the last few decades. Or you claim the effects of it are being over-stated, or that it isn't man's actions which is causing it - I remember one post you claimed it was "the sun" with no further explanation. And your definition of science as opposed to "The Science" always seems to be "stuff you believe". If it's science which isn't what you believe than you declare it propaganda. Pretty easy to convince yourself that you're right if you dismiss all the evidence to the contrary. I don't understand the argument that green polices are all about money - tell you what else there's money in: oil. Have you seen Dubai?

TL;DR - I think we are aligned on the pollution thing, so if nothing else burning fewer fossil fuels should help that. And even though I basically agree that we can't make much of a global difference on our own, leading by example will help us influence other countries.