GERALD FLEMING ON RTE LAST NIGHT

I follow with interest everytime a thread like this pops up (for its short lifetime it must be said) to see these arguments put out time and time again. The "climate change" revolution/rebellion/activism for me is nothing much more than a new religion. The Irish people have a unique mindset that is not far removed from Stockholm Syndrome. It took our forefathers 800 years to rid the majority of this isle of British rule, it took another 80 years to rid the majority of this isle of Rome rule, and right now we are entering another phase of foreign rule in the guise of a climate change church bargepolled in by the EU. I wonder when, if ever, we as a nation will actually see our own self-determination through peaceful means as our priority? Sadly, the generations of young Irish I see coming up are further away from this aspiration as ever. I despair.

There is nothing wrong in trying to be as environmentally and ecologically conscious as possible in order to keep our land, waterways and airmass as close to purity as possible. However, if the means to achieve this puts our people at risk of regular hunger in this time of plenty, risk of poverty from over-taxed energy, risk of disease from polluted drinking or overtaxed water then that is a red line crossed.

We do not have the capabilities of solving the largely imagined problems from Global Warming alone. We must rely, or contribute to, projects that offer REAL and cost-effective alternatives to our current system of living and consumption. When I see our government rise carbon taxes to "fight climate change" a part of me laughs, but the majority of me weeps because I know who gets "rode" the hardest with these measures - the ones who cannot afford to change, which is the majority of us. When I hear certain people "champion" carbon taxes and such punitive measures as being for the greater good, I would love to see them tried for treason.

I've seen first hand how these "green" politicians apply their savagery. In July 2008 as the country was spiralling into a deep recession the Government of the day gave a huge reduction to car tax based upon carbon emissions - nice on the face of it, if you could pony up north of €20,000 for a new car in a recession. They then raised fuel costs by 23c a litre (over the course of three or four years) which murdered anyone with an "older" car who was already being crucified with excessive car tax. Imagine trying to save for a new car when the government are actively reducing your ability to save for a new car which they want you to buy!!!

They are at the same again trying to get EVs in as the car of choice. Of course those with deep pockets who can afford a new EV (or those willing to go under the thumb of a bank/HP option) will get sweet deals and €5,000 off grants etc... whilst the poor gobshyte will have to wait to buy a hand-me-down EV in eight or nine years time - but will run the gauntlet of higher fuel prices in the mean time. They will also never get a grant to buy a hand-me-down car.

Next up, our electricity market. We were told that renewables would lead to "cheaper electricity prices" as we wouldn't have to import as much fossil fuels. In the early 1990s we had the third cheapest electricity prices in the EU. Today we have the third dearest! Thanks to the EU who said that we must "open the market up to competition". Hence an "energy regulator" quango was set up and they quickly discovered that we had to "raise prices" to entice new entrants into the market because the ESB was too damn good at what it did - stable and cheap supply of energy whilst being able to pay handsome wages to its employees. Basically higher prices were needed to encourage competition - what a joke, and yes thats you and me the gobshyte paying again.

Finally, it should be said to every climate "alarmist" to go take a long walk of a short plank and to come up with actual solutions and alternatives that are affordable to EVERYONE. Oh, and as for the current governments plan to accommodate 1mln extra people in Ireland by 2040 - are these extra people not going to contribute to carbon emissions??? Magic stuff.

Getting back to the religion of climate change, here is a non-exhaustive list of their prophecies, see how many you can recognise:



Sorry for the long-winded rant.

easypazz wrote: »

This is the CO2 chart going back 800000 years, a massive spike as the population went from 1 Billion to nearly 8 Billion over the last 200 years or so.

Was the industrial revolution playing much part in that spike? And what about gases released from below the ice as it melts?

Danno wrote: »

A blend of all of the above, but the first and last points are especially acute. Also, you find many of those squealing most about climate change would give their right arm to have a socialism/communism revolution and see this green agenda as a perfect barge-pole for achieving this.

You see I’m generally cynical enough to allow alternative information to be accepted but “we don’t know for sure what might happen with regards to mans impact on our world so they shouldn’t be making it sound so bad” is not really a stance I can endorse. I’m not a scientist but I can’t accept that the way we treat the earth (deforestation, building on everything, raping every resource possible, mass consumerism which brings huge waste, gases produced from our food and vehicles, population growth etc) is sustainable or not eventually going to have severe consequences for us as a species.

Now I gather people are not necessarily refuting this but it doesn’t look like mankind is particularly good at discussing these sort of issues like responsible adults. So in the absence of rational debate is it not at least better to have something, even if it is stupid headlines/propaganda that’s at least forcing discussion or potential change ?

Like, if we are changing our planet that could severely damage our environment does it really matter if all the facts are right or how we are forced to change ? Is this not like parents stretching the truth with a child so that the child does the right thing even when they don’t want to?

There are some posters in here whose views I respect but I’d love to know what they feel is most important and what we should do that’s realisticly feasible. I don’t like being bombarded with children giving lectures and climate change propaganda but I presume it’s the only way to communicate with the self absorbed masses who don’t respond to rational debates. We don’t have brexit and Trump because the majority of people generally like to make informed decisions , propaganda and hyperbole works....

Surprised I never see people mention agenda 21 as it seems to certainly play a role in our climate change agenda.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21