Blow the Truth

  The young climate activist was accused of posting an anti-Jewish image Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was accused of spreading anti-Semitic messages online after she voiced support for the Palestinians on X (formerly Twitter). She deleted her original post after taking flak on social media.  On Friday, Thunberg shared a photo of herself and three other women holding posters with pro-Palestinian slogans.  “Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza,”  she wrote, calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East, as well as  “justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.” However, some quickly spotted that one of the women had a small blue stuffed octopus perched on her knee and drew parallels with anti-Semitic cartoons depicting Jews as menacing octopuses with long and far-reaching tentacles. Such images have been used in Nazi Germany and elsewhere to promote myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the Jewish people and Judaism. The activist soon dele

  Liddell coal-fired power station After more than five decades, the last operating units of the Liddell coal-fired power station will close this month. The station’s owner, AGL, is Australia’s largest carbon polluter . Liddell’s closure will reduce the company’s emissions by 17% . Liddell, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, is Australia’s oldest coal station . It started operations in the early 1970s – about the same time the Datsun 180B was released, and before the Sydney Opera House officially opened! In the same way a Datsun 180B was a great car in its day, Liddell was the cheapest and most reliable electricity generation technology in the 1970s and 1980s (at least if you ignore the long-term costs of carbon). But like all coal-fired power stations in Australia, Liddell’s performance declined as it aged. It became unreliable and inefficient. One unit of the station closed last year, leaving three operating. Governments must act to make sure our electricity grid doesn

  Greta Thunberg deletes ‘end of the world’  The climate campaigner claimed in 2018 that humanity had until this year to prevent its doom Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has deleted a 2018 tweet in which she shared a warning that climate change  “will wipe out all of humanity”  unless fossil fuels were abolished by 2023.  In the tweet, Thunberg quoted a  “top climate scientist”  as saying that  “climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” It is unclear when the self-described  “autistic climate justice activist”  deleted the tweet, but its removal was first noticed by US conservative pundit Jack Posobiec on Saturday. The website her tweet linked to no longer exists. Hi @GretaThunberg ! Why did you delete this? pic.twitter.com/YRyrCje0L1 — No Bailouts Poso 🚫💰 (@JackPosobiec) March 11, 2023 Thunberg herself did not reply to Posobiec, and a host of right-wing commentators chimed in to remind her that the world, in fac

  Italy Windfarm The so-called Superbonus 110 program for climate-friendly renovations has been threatening public finances, officials say The Italian government has scrapped a climate-friendly tax credit program, claiming it had cost more than €110 billion ($117 billion) and led to widespread fraud. According to Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, the “reckless policy” was a threat to public finances. “We have decided to stop the effects of a wicked policy that has benefited a few citizens but has placed a burden on each of us from the cradle onwards of €2,000 ($2,132) per head,” Giorgetti told reporters on Thursday. The so-called Superbonus 110 initiative, which was one of several programs aimed at reducing the environmental impact of properties, entitled homeowners to a tax credit of up to 110% on the cost of upgrading their home. Introduced after the Covid-19 lockdowns ended, the program has led to a surge in home renovations, boosting Italy’s economic activity. However, the init

Gold Coast Hinterland Image by  dougkpga  from  Pixabay   Two of Queensland’s most popular national parks have expanded thanks to a partnership worth more than $600,000 between the Department of Environment and Science (DES) and the Foundation of National Parks and Wildlife (FNPW). More than 185 hectares of undisturbed forest habitat has been added to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage-listed Lamington and Main Range National Parks. Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030  supports the expansion of our national parks and other protected areas. $600,000 deal adds 185 hectares of pristine habitat to much-loved national parks More than 14 million hectares in Queensland now protected Quotes attributable to Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon: “I’d like to thank our new partners at FNPW for contributing $340,000 towards expanding these extraordinary national parks, which hold a special place in the hearts so many Queenslanders,” Minister Scanlon said. “The Lamingto

The Andrews Labor Government is empowering Victorian communities across the state to prepare and adapt to the impacts of climate change with the development of six new community-led action plans. The Regional Adaptation Strategies provide practical ways for communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change through on-ground action. Communities across six regions − Barwon South West, Gippsland, Grampians, Hume, Loddon Mallee and Port Phillip – have developed and will lead the implementation of the five-year strategies. The strategies include preparing for and recovering from emergencies, caring for the natural environment, improving health and wellbeing, strengthening the economy and workforce, improving the resilience of our built environment, and embracing renewable energy. As part of the implementation of the strategies, $1.5 million will be invested in 54 on-the-ground community-led projects that will commence this financial year to help local communities prepare and adapt to th

CLINTEL has produced a very interesting trio of open letters, with one each to heads of government, young people and climate scientists. Most open letters that challenge alarmism are focused on their content, so are written for a general audience. Others are to a specific person, regarding a specific issue.   In contrast, these CLINTEL letters speak to specific groups that play important roles in the climate debate. Nominally each letter is to members of these groups that attended COP 26, where each group was prominent, but each message is valid for the entire group, worldwide. Each calls out for action.   How to address the members of these key groups is something we need to think more about. These letters are in that sense important precedents.   In particular I do not think I have ever seen a letter like this to young people. Have heard a great many complaints about how alarmism is terrorizing children, making them hate the past and afraid of their future. But actually speaking to t

COP26 T he  radical alarmists proposed a fistful of bad stuff during COP 26. A lot was in the surprise COP President’s proposed decision document on the last Wednesday, with just three days to go.  Other ridiculous stuff was proposed by various country groups. None of it make it whole into the final decision. Most just disappeared and what was left was rendered harmless. Among the crazy proposals that happily went missing in action: 1. Halving emissions by 2030. Developing countries rightly called this carbon colonialism. 2. Developed countries paying reparations for developing countries’ bad weather losses and damages. 3. Aid payments to developing countries of $1.3 trillion a year beginning in 2025. This is up from the already promised $100 billion a year beginning 2020, which gas yet to appear. 4. Net zero emissions by mid-century. 5. A tax on the sale of emission indulgences, the proceeds to go to (no surprise) developing countries. Most of the issues are about transferring much mo

  Victoria’s emissions are continuing to fall with an emissions report clearly demonstrating the state’s transition to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 is on track. Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio released the Victorian Greenhouse Gas Emissions report for 2019 showing the state’s emissions continued to fall to 24.8 per cent below 2005 levels. The result means the Andrews Labor Government’s ambitious 2020 target − to reduce emissions by 15 to 20 per cent below 2005 levels − was exceeded ahead of schedule. The report also shows that in 2019, Victoria contributed 17.3 per cent of Australia’s total net emissions − less than Queensland (31.1 per cent); NSW (25.8 per cent) and WA (17.4 per cent). Victoria is decarbonising at the most rapid rate of any major jurisdiction in Australia and is doing so while its population and economy continues to grow. The report shows that while cutting emissions the economy has continued to grow. The Government has set

Senator Sarah Hanson Young Senator Hanson-Young (The Senate): I move: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The fact that the Government is failing to do its fair share of limiting global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures by continuing to approve new coal mines and gas fields and refusing to adopt strong 2030 emissions targets of 75% below 2005 levels.  I rise to contribute to this debate today, and it is an important debate because, in less than two weeks time, the Prime Minister of this country is going to be travelling to Glasgow to meet with world leaders in relation to the biggest threat that humanity has seen, and that, of course, is climate change and the climate crisis, a crisis that has been brought about by the enormous amounts of pollution that are pumped into our atmosphere because of the burning of fossil fuels.  Of course, one of the key elements that world leaders like the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Scott Morrison,