Liberal publications hype 'carbon passports'; cite changing weather patterns as cause to limit movement of free peoples



Academics, woke organizations, and liberal publications are promoting a social engineering scheme aimed at inhibiting travel and limiting freedom in the name of fighting the specter of anthropogenic climate change.

CNN was among the latest outfits to recycle the claim that so-called carbon passports have become a necessity.

From COVID to climate

Over the course of the pandemic, numerous Western nations introduced or considered introducing vaccine passports — supposedly secure digital immunity certifications required for travel and admission to various events, businesses, and facilities.

Critics warned that besides invading citizens' privacy, trampling their mobility rights, and serving to maximize the number of veins opened to profitable vaccines, there would also be "function creep" with the medical passports.

Financial Post columnist Terence Corcoran noted in September 2021, "Somewhere deep in the cranium of the climate intelligentsia a seed was planted to produce the florid idea that the global COVID-19 virus could serve as inspiration for humankind to once and for all tackle the looming climate crisis."

Corcoran highlighted how Bloomberg chairman and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney wrote in his then-new book "Value(s): Building a Better World for All," that "if we come together to meet the biggest challenges in medical biology, so too can we come together to meet the challenges of climate physics and the forces driving inequality."

Carney was evidently not alone in his thinking.

220 medical journals uniformly published the same editorial titled, "Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health."

The editorial stated, "Many governments met the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic with unprecedented funding. The environmental crisis demands a similar emergency response."

"Governments must intervene to support the redesign of transport systems, cities, production and distribution of food, markets for financial investments, health systems, and much more," continued the cabal of health professionals. "Global co-ordination is needed to ensure that the rush for cleaner technologies does not come at the cost of more environmental destruction and human exploitation."

A "perspective" paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability made explicit what various climate alarmists flying back and forth from the U.N.'s yearly Climate Change Conference had in mind.

"Personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could play a role in achieving ambitious climate mitigation targets," wrote a team comprising British, European and Israeli activists. "We argue that recent advances in AI for sustainable development, together with the need for a low-carbon recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, open a new window of opportunity for PCAs."

The multinational team concluded, "PCAs could be trialed in selected climate-conscious technologically advanced countries."

Carbon passports

Now, years later, there appears to be a concerted effort under way with predictions and excuses to prime Westerners for carbon passports.

CNN, for instance, recently recycled an article from the Conversation titled, "It's time to limit how often we can travel abroad — 'carbon passports' may be the answer."

The article, penned by a pronoun-providing Ph.D .candidate at Leeds Beckett University, begins with criticism of the tourism industry's apparent return to normal in the wake of the pandemic, suggesting that "there's concern that a return to the status quo is already showing dire environmental and social consequences."

Despite evidence that human error and arson are often to blame, the article cited recent wildfires as evidence climate change is a growing problem, then suggested tourism is partly to blame.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 came from transportation, including planes, trains, and automobiles. The year prior to the pandemic, the figure was 33%.

The article highlights a possible remedy detailed in a 2023 report from Intrepid, a travel company that claims to be ethical.

The report, which has been taken up by various travel zines, claims that a "personal carbon emissions limit will become the new normal as policy and people's values drive an era of great change."

Martin Raymond, co-founder of the Future Laboratory, a consultancy outfit, said, "On our current trajectory, we can expect a pushback against the frequency with which individuals can travel, with carbon passports set to change the tourism landscape."

The report claims that unnamed experts "suggest that individuals should currently limit their carbon emissions to 2.3 tonnes each year – the equivalent of taking a round-trip from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, the average carbon footprint in the US is 16 tonnes per person per year."

As a point of comparison, Biden climate czar John Kerry's flights around the world promoting a green future reportedly generated 9.54 million pounds or 4,329 tonnes of carbon just between March 2021 and July 2022.

A personal carbon emissions limit would apparently ensure that those without the blessing of the government or the ability to pay off a substantial fine would be prohibited from travel deemed excessive or unnecessary.

"By 2040, it will be unusual to see members of Generation Alpha without a carbon-footprint tracker on their smartphones. Every Uber ride, plane journey, and trip to the supermarket will be logged in their devices, noting their carbon footprint in real time," said the report.

While the Intrepid report predicted that carbon passports might be enforced by 2040, the Conversation article recycled by CNN appeared more hopeful, noting that "our travel habits may already be on the verge of change."

This optimism over the imminence of vaccine passport rollouts was informed by recent European initiatives, such as the move to axe short-haul flights and impose taxes dissuading the working and middle classes from flying.

The author of the article threatened, "Holidaymakers should prepare to change their travel habits now, before this change is forced upon them."

While such threats issued by junior scholars in leftist publications may be idle, there has been statist interst in such schemes. For instance, the British government has previously considered implementing personal carbon trading and placing a "ceiling on the carbon available for consumption, rather than seeking to reduce demand."

The Biden administration has not proposed climate passports but recently noted in an EPA report that "achieving a sustainable transportation future will require implementing bold changes and different sets of solutions to address unique challenges in different locations and across all travel modes and applications."

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Hawaiian Electric accused of focusing on meeting Democrats' renewable energy mandate rather than addressing known wildfire risks



A number of Democrats and other leftists have blamed the deadly wildfires in Hawaii on the specter of anthropogenic climate change. They may be right, but only in a perverted sense.

Like the Biden administration, Hawaii's Gov. Josh Green (D) and both the state's 88%-Democratic House and 92%-Democratic state Senate are ostensibly keen to "lead the globe on clean energy and climate issues."

It appears that the efforts by Hawaii's largest energy provider to follow suit and satisfy a Democrat-mandated transition to renewable energy took priority over alternatively pragmatic efforts to maintain its equipment and deal with the known and documented threat of fuel buildup in the form of flammable vegetation.

Hawaiian Electric, which serves 95% of the state's 1.4 million residents, was slapped with a lawsuit Wednesday, which alleged the "negligent and reckless operation" of its infrastructure "necessarily cause the Lahaina fire," reported Forbes.

The utility company, which also owns one of Hawaii's biggest banks, issued a statement on Aug. 8, noting there were scores of downed electric poles in various parts of Maui and warning Hawaiians to assume they were energized.

The New York Times indicated that Hawaiian Electric had not preemptively shut down the lines ahead of high wind warnings, with the company's chief executive Shelee Kimura admitting as much in recent days.

The negligence lawsuit claimed that extra to Hawaiian Electric providing an "ignition source" — having allegedly failed to "deenergize power lines during a High Wind Watch or Red Flag Warning, and ... shut off the power during those conditions" — the company had also neglected to adequately clear flammable vegetation and maintain its equipment.

Mikal Watts, a lead attorney on the case, told NBC Wednesday, "Hawaiian Electric is not just responsible and they weren’t just negligent. ... They were grossly negligent by making conscious decisions to delay grid modernization projects that would have prevented this very tragedy."

In the aftermath of the ruinous blazes, at least three other lawsuits have reportedly been filed that advance similar allegations.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Hawaiian Electric has known about the pressing need to take preventive measures concerning wildfire threats for years, concluding during the 2019 wildfire season that it needed to ensure its power lines would not spit sparks.

This preventive measure would have been especially important, not because of so-called climate change, but because flammable, invasive plants have overgrown derelict farms and taken over one-quarter of state land, leaving Hawaii crowded with potential fuel.

Despite recognizing the need to act, the Journal indicated that Hawaiian Electric spent less than $245,000 on wildfire-specific projects on Maui between 2019 and 2022, according to regulatory filings. It didn't press the state for approval to raise rates to pay for such improvements until June 2022 and still has yet to receive it.

While Hawaiian Electric has made various commitments to take precautionary measures to "minimize the risk of sparks when winds picked up," the Journal reported that former regulators and energy company officials said the utility was preoccupied "at that time procuring renewable energy."

This focus was largely resultant of the state's 2015 mandate to totally transition to renewable energy.

According to the Democrat-authored 2015 law, Hawaii is required to meet interim renewable portfolio standards of 40% by 2030, 70% by 2040, and 100% by 2045.

Mina Morita, former chair of Hawaii's utility commission, told the Journal, "You have to look at the scope and scale of the transformation within [Hawaiian Electric] that was occurring throughout the system. ... While there was concern for wildfire risk, politically the focus was on electricity generation."

In addition to allegedly prioritizing the green transition sought by Democrats over wildfire prevention measures, the utility also reportedly put off investing in mitigation until its coffers could be filled.

While Hawaiian Electric reportedly talked about spending roughly $190 million on power line maintenance and repair, removing flammable vegetative material, and taking other measures to mitigate wildfire risks, the Journal indicated that the company declined to "start on the work until it ha[d] state approval to recoup costs from customers — a common occurrence when utilities seek to make large investments."

Bloomberg reported that power lines have sparked numerous deadly fires across the United States in recent years. In California, the state's largest utility, PG&E Corp., went bankrupt in 2019 after its equipment was deemed responsible for blazes, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which claimed the lives of 85 people.

As of Thursday morning, authorities had confirmed at least 111 people have died in the Hawaii wildfires.

The Journal indicated the utility had not yet responded with comment.

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges climate alarmists planning on blocking American highways and vandalizing art to be 'much more aggressive'



Democrat Michigan Rep. Tashida Tlaib's enmity is not reserved for Israel alone. The so-called "Squad" member apparently does not trust the American people and their democratic process to produce her desired outcomes. As a result, she has reportedly instructed climate alarmists to achieve her objectives by other means.

Tlaib recently joined multimillionaire socialist and screenwriter Adam McKay in addressing around 125 extremists from Climate Defiance, Declare Emergency, and other leftist outfits on a private call to which the Daily Mail gained access.

"Nothing cuts through the BS and rigmarole more than straight-up disruptive activism. I’m talking about the power of the people," said McKay. "I’m talking about the people that created democracy, that threw the kings out of power."

According to the Daily Mail, Tlaib stressed, "If we don't get the policies we need, if our legislative process is failing us, then direct action gets the goods."

"We have to be much more aggressive in regard to fossil fuel expansions," said the 46-year-old Palestinian-American.

Tlaib reportedly noted that neither Congress nor the White House would cut pollution to the activists' satisfaction unless "the streets demanded it."

Declare Emergency's Seattle-based mobilizer Donald Zepeda discussed plans to mount disruptions on federal properties in New York City and Washington in August.

"We aim for whatever causes the most kerfuffle. Everyone has to see it. Everyone is impacted," said Zepeda. "Doing massively disruptive, nonviolent civil disobedience, it's a necessary and important part of getting us to where we need to be."

The groups whose past criminality Tlaib lauded on the call have been responsible for recent blockades, iconoclasm, and other efforts to extort concessions from American officials.

Declare Emergency, for instance, demands that President Joe Biden "declare a formal state of climate emergency." To that end, the group routinely disrupts traffic "similar to the way a hurricane, flood, or wildfire might," even if that means threatening lives and livelihoods.

The iconoclasts charged last month with defacing an art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Timothy Martin of North Carolina and Joanna Smith of New York, both belong to Declare Emergency. According to ABC News, the duo allegedly inflicted $2,400 in damage, which resulted in the exhibit's removal for repairs.

\u201cAround 11 am today two parents who are terrified about their children\u2019s\u2019 futures (as well as all children) made a statement at the National Gallery in DC. Climate change will cause famine, floods, droughts and destruction unless we act now. #DecEmergency #ActOnClimate\u201d
— Declare Emergency (@Declare Emergency) 1682615659

Days prior to the extremists' attack on the Edgar Degas sculpture, Declare Emergency shut down a section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, resulting in heavy traffic jams.

Climate Defiance, whose leaders were on the call with Tlaib, similarly does not trust the American electorate to legally advance its grand designs, opting instead to "compel politicians to act" on the basis of the group's fears by way of strikes, blockades, or "mass occupation."

Earlier this month, Climate Defiance temporarily shut down a keynote address by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), accusing him of being "an ecocidal millionaire."

Extinction Rebellion's British co-founder Roger Hallam also joined Tlaib on the call.

Hallam's outfit is a decentralized group of radical leftists keen on ridding Western nations of affordable energy, antipathetic to fossil fuels and nuclear energy alike. The Daily Caller reported that Hallam's group caused millions of dollars worth of losses during a 2019 series of extremist outbursts that shut down London.

While these groups together seek an end to inexpensive, stable energy, it appears they are also committed to identitarian and socialist programs. For instance, Climate Defiance indicates on its site that it stands "in solidarity with our sister-struggles for racial and economic justice."

Should Tlaib, McKay, and their climate alarmist allies get their way, the fallout could prove catastrophic.

TheBlaze previously noted that in his 2022 New York Times best-selling book "How the World Really Works," scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil detailed how fossil fuels are absolutely critical when it comes to feeding, warming, and nurturing humanity.

Ending or abruptly curbing oil production, as the vandals demand, would have profound consequences, not the least on all those who may no longer be able to heat their homes in the winter or cool them in the summer.

Smil wrote, "Our food supply — be it staple grains, clucking birds, favorite vegetables, or seafood praised for its nutritious quality — has become increasingly dependent on fossil fuels."

Smil also indicated that "after adding the energy requirements of food processing and marketing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail services, household food storage and preparation, and away-from-home food and marketing services, the grand total in the US [of the direct energy use in food production] reached nearly 16 percent of the nation's energy supply in 2007 and now it is approaching 20 percent."

Extra to the diesel that powers tractors and the transports that move food from farm to market, natural gas plays a critical role in farming, as it is used as a feedstock to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers, essential for crops.

In a recent Mississippi Center for Public Policy speech, energy expert Alex Epstein highlighted how climate alarmists appear willing to overlook the benefits and essential uses of fossil fuels, even if their utopian alternatives have no basis in reality and are likely to jeopardize the well-being of billions of people if pursued.

While Declare Emergency warns that billions will starve if the alleged threat of climate change isn't dealt with, it does not appear the group has factored in the consequences or the unpopularity of its own proposals.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, only 31% of American respondents said the country should "completely phase out oil, coal and natural gas"; 67% of Americans disagree with climate alarmists, insisting on a mixed use of energy sources, including fossil fuels.

Whereas 78% of Democrats described climate change as a major threat to the country's well-being, only 23% Republicans agreed.

Tackling the specter of anthropogenic climate change is far from the top of Americans' priorities, ranking 17th out of 21 national issues in a January Pew survey.

The Daily Caller noted that Tlaib, Declare Emergency, and Extinction Rebellion had not responded to requests for comment.
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New York City's vegan mayor issues decree requiring city to eat less meat as a means of combating the specter of climate change



New York City's Democratic mayor reportedly went vegan in 2016 after temporarily losing his eyesight to Type 2 diabetes. With his restored vision, Eric Adams has focused on another reason to avoid meat: the specter of anthropogenic climate change.

However, this time around, Adams wants New Yorkers to suffer a vegetarian diet along with him.

Adams said in a statement Monday, "What we put on our plate doesn't just affect us. We now know food is the third largest source of emissions in New York City, so what we eat is impacting our entire planet. That's why today I'm announcing that by 2030, the City will reduce our food-related emissions by 33%."

In 2021, the city of New York spent $297.59 million on food, which allegedly resulted in the production of 123.72K tons of carbon dioxide emissions — emissions the plants Adams consumes happen to thrive on.

According to the city's food policy page, the "Carbon Footprint of the City's food purchases is equivalent to the annual emission of more than 70,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles."
While dairy and grain products account for the bulk of the total emissions according to the city's data, the Adams administration has instead targeted meat, just over a year after the vegan mayor suggested, "I've got to get New Yorkers to eat a plant-based centered life."

Noting that the New York City Health System defaulted to plant-based meals for patients and allegedly cut its food emissions by 36%, Adams said, "The rest of our government will do the same."

The following agencies will be impacted by this decree: the New York City Department of Education, the Department of Homeless Services, the Department for the Aging, the Department of Correction, the Human Resources Administration, Health and Hospitals, and the Administration for Children's Services.

Accordingly, schoolchildren, prisoners, hospital patients, and elderly dependents will be precluded from putting their canine teeth to work on protein and mineral-rich meats, at least on certain days.

Although scientists have long held that meat is a vital part of child's diet, New York City K-8 school children will instead have to throw back chickpeas on Mondays. While dairy is linked to the greatest emissions on the menu, they'll enjoy mozzarella sticks rather than meat on Wednesday. On Friday, April 21, they'll have to choke back potato gumbo or once again become complicit in dairy and grain emissions by snacking on grilled cheese sandwiches. After being spoiled with country chicken on April 27, students' palates will be mocked with a BBQ veggie burger and more dairy products the following day.

At all times, pork is verboten.

The Democratic mayor also challenged private sector partners to cut their food emissions by 25%, prompting them to take part in the so-called "Plant Powered Carbon Challenge," in hopes of satisfying Paris climate agreement goals.
\u201cLast year, @NYCHealthSystem defaulted to plant-based meals for patients and cut their food emissions by 36%. The rest of our government will do the same.\n\nWe're also challenging private sector partners to cut their food emissions 25% by 2030: https://t.co/hcDlH41LWy\u201d
— Mayor Eric Adams (@Mayor Eric Adams) 1681753307

The New York Times reported that when issuing his decree, the vegan mayor said, "It is easy to talk about emissions that are coming from vehicles and how it impacts our carbon footprint, it is easy to talk about the emissions that’s coming from buildings and how it impacts our environment. ... But we now have to talk about beef. And I don’t know if people are really ready for this conversation."

Richard Larrick, a professor of management at Duke University, told the Times, "If you really want to make a difference, there are two main things you do for food, one of which is you try to reduce the amount of beef."

"To have 20 grams of protein from beef — that’s kind of a meal’s serving of protein — is like burning a gallon of gasoline,” added Larrick. “Everything else is less than a fifth of a gallon, essentially."

While seeking to go light on gasoline, Adams is apparently happy to waste water on his allegedly green diet.

Adams' cookbook "Healthy at Last" details how to make "Forest Bowls with Earthy Vegetables and Turmeric Cashew Sauce." While nary a cow is slaughtered to make this particular dish, clean water is sacrificed by the barrelful.

It takes roughly 1,704 gallons of water to produce one pound of the cashews needed for the vegan mayor's recipe at a time when so-called "climate crisis" is creating water shortages around the world — caused, according to the city of New York, disproportionately by the dairy and grains still on the menu.

In his announcement, Adams claimed, "We have two mothers: One gave birth to us, the other sustains us, and we have been destroying the one that sustains us based on the food that we have been consuming."

Adams' clampdown on meat consumption may ultimately mean real mothers will get less protein and figurative mothers will be spared the lesser of several emitters among the food groups on offer in New York City facilities.

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Bank of Canada admits Trudeau's climate-alarmist policies are worsening inflation



Americans have long understood that President Joe Biden's so-called green agenda has exacerbated inflation, making it harder for families to fill their gas tanks and grocery baskets.

Now, central Canadian institutions are coming around to the fact that the Trudeau government's climate-alarmist policies have similarly dealt their nation and its citizens an inflationary blow.

A troubling solution

Although somewhat buried in its Jan. 26 report entitled "The 2021-22 Surge in Inflation," the Bank of Canada, the country's central bank, admitted that the "ongoing transition from fossil fuels to green energy ... requires an immense reallocation of investments, which raises costs due to higher demand for new investments and lack of investment supply into fossil fuel production."

"These cost pressures are exacerbated by the long time required to build green energy infrastructure, further boosting prices for fossil fuels," continues the report. "This shift to relatively higher energy prices will also contribute to challenges for monetary policy to keep inflation on target over the long term."

According to the report's authors, this transition — largely away from stable and ethical North American oil to purported alternatives frequently reliant on instable foreign supplies of rare minerals — is "perhaps the most persistent trend" adding to inflationary pressures in Canada.

The report references a March 2022 speech by Isabel Schnabel, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, in which the Greek economist underscored that "there is a price to be paid for going green at a pace that reflects the dual objective of safeguarding both our planet and our right to self-determination."

Schnabel reckons it's a price worth other people paying.

She further suggested that the "fight against climate change is one factor that is contributing to making fossil fuels more expensive."

Oil and its byproducts do not just fuel transportation and keep the economy moving but are used in plastics, protective equipment, chemicals, fertilizers, drugs, clothing, and even in the construction of the materials needed for the means of their planned substitution, such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Schnabel suggests that in this transition, countries like Canada will also have to contend with "greenflation."

"Many companies are adapting their production processes in an effort to reduce carbon emissions," she said. "But most green technologies require significant amounts of metals and minerals, such as copper, lithium and cobalt, especially during the transition period."

Here is a cobalt mine in the Congo where the mineral is extracted to help achieve the vision of climate alarmists like Trudeau and Biden:

\u201cCongo supplies\u00a070% of the world\u2019s cobalt via industrial mining (mostly Chinese-owned). Cobalt is used in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used in smartphones, tablets & electric cars. Children in Congo are among those risking their lives to mine cobalt.\n\nhttps://t.co/lL6E0ZAAhs\u201d
— James Melville (@James Melville) 1674810960

"Electric vehicles, for example, use over six times more minerals than their conventional counterparts. An offshore wind plant requires over seven times the amount of copper compared with a gas-fired plant," added the Greek economist.

The heightened demand for these minerals and the constrained supply accounts for the spike in prices, contributing to the problem of the so-called green solution.

Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute wrote in apparent concurrence in the Wall Street Journal last April, stating, "Just as inflated prices for oil and natural gas rip through the economy, so do the costs of basic minerals, which are needed to build every class of product from appliances and houses to computers and cars. And while materials have for most of recent history constituted a minor share of the final cost of products, that share becomes major if mineral prices balloon."

Schnabel of the European Central Bank distilled the trouble in the climate alarmists' remedies down to: "The faster and more urgent the shift to a greener economy becomes, the more expensive it may get in the short run."

Acceptable pain

Trudeau's liberal government is keenly aware of the impact this will and has had on citizens.

Liberal member of parliament Ryan Turnbull stated on June 6, "Achieving net-zero is not going to be easy, that's for sure. ... We are going to have to switch our lifestyles and that is going to be painful at times."

Liberal millionaire Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau's deputy prime minister, confronted that pain, telling working- and middle-class Canadian families overwhelmed by inflation that they could improve the situation her government's policies worsened by dropping their Disney+ subscriptions.

Under the Trudeau government, federal carbon taxes imposed on Canadians have gone up drastically and are set to rise even more.

Global News reported that the price of the carbon tax hit $50 per ton of emissions on April 1, 2022, working out to approximately 11 cents CDN per 0.2 gallons, which is in addition to various municipal and provincial climate taxes.

The Trudeau liberals announced that by 2030, the price would be $170 CDN a ton, or nearly 40 cents a liter.

Adding insult to injury, Liberal natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently announced that he will introduce green-transition legislation to move the oil and gas workers Ottawa has or soon will put out of work into so-called green energy jobs.

CTV News reported that to meet the Liberal government's emissions targets, millions of Canadians would be put out of work, including 300,000 agriculture workers; 35,000 forestry workers; 202,000 energy workers; 193,000 manufacturing workers; 1.4 million buildings workers; and 642,000 transportation workers.

Danielle Smith, the conservative premier of Alberta, noted that her province, which boasts the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, would be severely impacted by the liberals' fanciful vision.

"He has no business dictating to us," said Smith. "'Just Transition' is extreme environmental language."

Smith added, "It was coined by extreme environmental groups who want to completely phase out the oil and gas and fossil fuel sector. They [Ottawa] use that knowing that was going to be the way it was interpreted."

If liberal politicians' efforts to decarbonize will not be held up by the will of carbon-based workers, scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil suggested reality will do the trick.

"Annual global demand for fossil carbon is now just above 10 billion tons a year — a mass nearly five times more than the recent annual harvest of all staple grains feeding humanity, and more than twice the total mass of water drunk annually by the world's nearly 8 billion inhabitants — and it should be obvious that displacing and replacing such a mass is not something best handled by government targets for years ending in zero or five," he wrote in "How the World Really Works."

Smil emphasized that "both the high relative share and the scale of our dependence on fossil carbon make any rapid substitutions impossible: this is not a biased personal impression stemming from a poor understanding of the global energy system — but a realistic conclusion based on engineering and economic realities."

Until the time the transition supposedly under way meets with reality or significant opposition, inflation and joblessness will likely continue to be problems. However, per Freeland's suggestion, it may not be so intolerable for the financially overwhelmed and the unemployed who drop a streaming subscription.

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Climate alarmist Greta Thunberg's 'arrest' at anti-labor protest exposed as media stunt, widely ridiculed



Images of climate alarmist Greta Thunberg's supposed arrest by German police circulated widely after the Tuesday incident, prompting some to contemplate her apparent bravery in the face of statist force.

Raw footage of the incident and additional scrutiny have together revealed that the 20-year-old Swedish activist, like her actor father, has a knack for the theatrical. Not only was Thunberg's arrest reportedly staged, it wasn't an arrest at all.

What's the background?

Climate alarmists flocked to a condemned western German village Tuesday for an anti-labor protest, denouncing a job-creating coal mine expansion.

Hamstrung by domestic anti-oil policies and unable to count on renewables, Europe ended up overly reliant on Russian energy. As Russia began to cut off the continent during its war on Ukraine, countries like Germany — which previously obtained roughly 30% of its supply from Russia — were forced to return to using coal.

While climate alarmism had a hand in driving Germany's desperate need for coal, Thunberg and others nevertheless voiced their opposition to the demolition of the abandoned village of Luetzerath, required for the expansion of the Garzweiler 2 mine.

Though condemned and owned by the mine, Luetzerath has recently become an ecosocialist squat for leftist militants and climate extremists.

Leftist extremists from the condemned village can be seen here attacking journalists:

\u201cAt the autonomous zone in #Luetzerath, Germany by militant leftists, #Antifa & climate extremists, Antifa surrounded and attacked journalists. The violent occupation has been praised by leftists & Greta Thunberg for stopping a coal mine expansion.\u201d
— Andy Ng\u00f4 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Andy Ng\u00f4 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1673762169

Police, who had been trying to prevent protesters from getting injured in the open-pit mine, were reportedly pelted with incendiary devices. Over 70 officers were injured.

Climate alarmists and other anti-labor protesters also reportedly damaged police patrol cars.

Reuters initially reported that Greta Thunberg, who had trespassed to as far as the edge of the mine, had been arrested.

Police told Reuters that "Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge [of the mine]. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity."

After police rescued the dramatist's daughter, Thunberg was reportedly "held by one arm at a spot further away from the edge of the mine where she was previously sat with the group."

Thunberg, ostensibly wearing a jacket and bag made with petroleum products, told the Associated Press that "what everyone does matters. ... And if one of the largest polluters, like Germany, and one of the biggest historical emitters of CO2 is doing something like this, then of course it affects more or less everyone — especially those most bearing the brunt of the climate crisis."

Some of Thunberg's fans saw the initial images, apparently believing that she had been arrested doing something that mattered.

NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus tweeted, "Greta's first arrest. It's time for many more of us to stand up and risk arrest for the sake of a livable planet. It will turn the tide."

Climate activist Mike Hudema tweeted with similar urgency, "Greta Thunberg has been detained in Germany for protesting the expantion [sic] of a coal mine despite the government claiming it will exit coal by 2030. The coal expansion betrays 'present and future generations.' There is no time to wait."

\u201cGreta Thunberg has been detained in Germany for protesting the expantion of a coal mine despite the government claiming it will exit coal by 2030. \n\nThe coal expansion betrays "present and future generations."\n\nThere is no time to wait. #ActOnClimate \n#IStandwithGreta #L\u00fctzerath\u201d
— Mike Hudema (@Mike Hudema) 1673985657

Frown for the cameras

The Guardian reported that, contrary to previous claims, Thunberg was briefly detained, not arrested.

The Hill noted that Thunberg, who had been trespassing, was simply escorted along with other climate alarmists away from the coal mine site on private property.

Snopes all but conceded it was nothing more than a photo op, writing that "activists often plan such sit-ins and protests as media events to publicize their cause, in full knowledge that police and media will be present — which is to say that they are, in a sense, 'staged.'"

A video has emerged of Thunberg chuckling away with her supposed captors.

The footage shows Thunberg and her police escorts striking different poses for the cameramen and videographers in their orbit, laughing sporadically.

After the photo op, the police escorted the Swedish trespasser off the private property.

\u201cYes, the Greta Thunberg arrest was staged for the establishment media.\u201d
— Catch Up (@Catch Up) 1673993443

Sky News host Chris Kenny said the photo op was "Just farcical, isn’t it? Deceptive too – it’s theatre, climate theatre, and most media just goes along with the charade."

Townhall editor Guy Benson noted that Thunberg's photo op with German police had the "Same energy" as when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) pretended to be handcuffed when being escorted from a pro-abortion protest at the U.S. Capitol.

\u201cSame energy\u201d
— Guy Benson (@Guy Benson) 1673997674

At the time of the incident, Thunberg said, "Germany is really embarrassing itself right now. ... I think it’s absolutely absurd that this is happening the year 2023."

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