Climate Change is Normal and Welcome in My Opinion

Global average absolute temperature was about 13c, now it’s 14c

the maximum daily temperature on one day in one location is not that important, that said, it’s going to be surpassed sooner rather than later, will you admit Climate change is real when this happens?

Even if you thought the whole lot of climate change was a load of nonsense, in the Irish context,the goal of energy independence is an extremely worthy one. Corrib gas hasn't long left and kinsale is almost gone so we'd find ourselves at the end of some very long gas pipes.

I remember having a discussion about this with a friend. They weren't convinced about the merits of any of this so I put it to them asking how much they enjoyed paying €100 to fill their car with oil and knowing that at least half that money leaves the State. I put it to them would it not be better if it all stayed here...

No answer.

There are lots and lots of ways to lubricate machines

But even if oil based lubricants were required, how many minutes would those 60 gallons of oil last in an oil fired power station? And even if a sustainable lubricant was a hundred times more expensive, it would be a pittance over the operating lifetime of a wind turbine generating terawatts of useful electricity

And crude oil doesn’t have to be outlawed, we just need to stop using it for fuel, and we need regulations to make refining more sustainable

also, the long term solution is to not use diesel trucks to service those turbines. The trucks can be EV or hydrogen powered

this is why governments need to be involved in transforming the infrastructure and we can’t just call for individuals to change their consumption

you can but an EV and shop locally, and be vegan, but if you vote against action on climate change, you’re doing way more harm than good

I cycle every day I notice it doesn't seem to rain as much as it did 2 years ago and we can go 10 days or more with no rain. Ireland seems to be getting warmer in the summer

Also see mega fires in Australia California , some American towns are running out of water droughts are more frequent and longer fires are lasting longer whole towns are being destroyed by fires

Google rising sea levels Miami many coastal areas are threatened by rising sea levels and flooding

Some parts of America are becoming close to unliveable due to rising heat levels

Most people find it hard to work in 100 degrees and you can't go outside for more than a few minutes if you are rich and live in a mansion you can afford to ignore the world at least until you go outside

There's probably some drug company's who might welcome covid as it means billions in profits from selling a vaccine

If there was no wars no one would buy tanks or military guns

Every crisis can benefit someone we see more extreme weather effects in most country's droughts floods fires Iran is running short of water there's fires in many parts of Turkey we live in an open economy global warming will effect Ireland it will cause wars and some areas of the world becoming impossible to live in

Every human needs a reliable supply of water to drink and to cook and clean no matter where they live

Why would tourists come to Ireland if you can't even swim at the beach

But a lot of it is pure rubbish planning, take that pearl in RTE's Climate Change Department the town of Salthill in Galway for example, this is how it was originally, it was always going to flood building seaward from this unless the oceans started to drain of water...

Is the climate changing, yes, but it always has. Do we need to be mindful of how we proceed, yes. Does it warrant the level of hysteria in the media at present, no.

There is a similar posting style to those that are jumping on this latest bandwagon as those in covid threads in Mar/Apr 2020, god forbid you question something in the media or what an 'expert' is telling us, you're obviously thick if you don't hang off their every word.

I also find it amazing that its only the 'climate denying' experts that are accused of being bought!

Australia are saying they are doing all they can and are not happy with the report

And who is going to enforce and monitor the industry on a global level to get them to do that and force them to take on the expense of finding and sealing leaks etc?

The problem being they release a report, everyone makes the right noises for a few days or weeks but then we'll all just go back to our normal lives looking up cheap flights on Ryanair for next year and buying the latest iPhone etc. Industry will also make the right noises but ultimately being in it for a profit will offer little beyond tokenism. Governments have no intention of doing very much again beyond tokenism.

Cue the cycle goes on and in another 5 years time another IPCC report will be published with even more dire warnings and we'll do the same merry dance again.

I admire your optimism. Sanctions against the oil/gas industry? No chance.

Australian government already coming to say they don't intend doing anything more due to this report and they are one of the biggest producers of emissions in the developed world per capita (double what we produce per capita).

I am more of an optimist than a fatalist when it comes to solving this problem.

Yes, Australia has dismissed the report, but that's hardly a surprise. It's 30 year run of economic growth has been on the back of natural resource extraction. What will be more interesting is the other great powers response to the Australian position, it looks like carbon sanctions may be on the table as a weapon.

Given that consumers consume what is produced for them, the only way to solve this is to go after the producers.

As an example, when I look at my bin as it goes out, the vast majority of stuff in it I never wanted in the first place - its just packaging, and it's mostly for the convenience of the seller.

This is why it’s important for people to vote for representatives who are serious about climate change and sustainable development . Your vote matters, and your voice matters.

Politicians should not be re-elected if they are weak on these issues and we shouldn’t let climate change denial go unchallenged on any form of media. We have only a small number of election cycles to stop this from getting existential. There is no time to waste pandering to people who are completely out of touch with reality

Carbon sanctions will effectively be trade tariffs by another (possibly more acceptable) name, and given the more protectionist nature of the world today I can't see why they wouldn't be both likely and successful.

Also, I agree, those city trees are an expensive gimmick

It isn't entirely rubbish. The budget in October is going to have an increase in the Carbon Tax almost certainly. How many other genuine climate action initiatives will be in the budget? Very few and any that are mooted usually require the average punter to put their hand in their own pocket. I mean anything to do with sustainability costs money and people just won't pay for something like that.

You want to get insulation done? Great but you have to cough up the money first and then go through a convoluted applications process to get a modest portion of it back.

Put some solar panels on your roof - sorry that's going to cost you €5k plus even after any available grants and all the various form filling and chasing you have to do.

Something simple like a water butt? That's €50 whereas I can just turn on the tap at home for no extra charge.

There's very little appetite from people to change when it costs them money and the only plan is to tax or charge people. We have no public transport project of any significance under construction in Ireland since the Luas Cross city opened in 2017 - 4 years ago. If our own government aren't showing a whole lot of urgency why should the average punter?

I don't know the details of what they are doing, but they had serious wildfires not long ago? Plus the size and scale (and environmental impact) of their mining operations are insane. Quick Google.

Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal (35% of international trade), iron ore, lead, diamonds, rutile, zinc and zirconium, second largest of gold and uranium, and third largest of aluminium.

Your view on Australia's contribution to global emissions:

My view on Australia's contribution to global emissions:

2018 Rank in Global emissions: 16th

SOURCE: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/each-countrys-share-co2-emissions

Note: these are from 2018. My point is its easy to use stats to justify a position.

So what is more important:

Output per capita or total emissions output.

Im in the latter camp.

If you are in the latter then I'm sure you'll agree there's no need for us in Ireland to do a whole pile. We contribute a tiny negligible amount on a global scale - even if we all disappeared in the morning and emitted not one more gram of CO2 or Methane it would have precisely zero global impact. So we're either all in this together or we just site back and finger wag at the US and China?

Population of England in the 11th century approx 1.7m

Population of England today approx 56m

Just saying....

According to your chart the EU has a much smaller emissions contribution than the US, China, Russia, India etc. In any case what we do in Ireland is absolutely irrelevant on a global scale. I have not seen any concrete ideas of what we need to do here anyway from anyone. Just an awful lot of finger wagging and hand wringing. Our government's ideas appear to be little more than raising the Carbon tax annually.