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#Post#: 1288--------------------------------------------------
.. markets FAILED to provide what people need and created a
problem markets have been unable to solve.
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: September 6, 2023, 2:54 pm
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Commentaries are opinion pieces contributed by readers and
newsmakers. VTDigger strives to publish a variety of views from
a broad range of Vermonters. Commentaries give voice to
community members and do not represent VTDigger’s views. To
submit a commentary, follow the instructions here.
September 1, 2023, 6:30 am This commentary is by
[glow=green,2,300]George Longenecker[/glow]
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/>of Middlesex, who taught at Vermont Technical College.
[center]
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/>If this is the free market at work, where is the
freedom?[/center]
[move]The freedom of
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/>[glow=red,2,300]industry[/glow] to thwart emissions
regulations
and to argue that climate change is a myth got us into this
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/>disaster. [/move]
The week after the flood, I walked through downtown Montpelier.
On the lawn of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library was a 5-foot-high
pile of waterlogged books. Across Main Street were piles of
debris from Hugo’s Restaurant and other businesses. I had to
meander around head-high piles of debris in front of Bear Pond
Books and Capitol Stationers.
We met in offices above Walgreen’s Pharmacy, where a disaster
recovery team had ripped the store to its studs. The building
and the whole city smelled of mold.
In their book “The Big Myth,” Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
document how for the last century big business has lobbied
against any government regulation. They say: “Climate change is
a market failure, because markets, acting illegally, failed to
provide what people need and created a problem markets have been
unable to solve.”
In their earlier book, “Merchants of Doubt,” they documented how
think tanks and lobbyists, some funded by fossil fuel
corporations, cast doubt on the science of climate change. They
did so, especially in the case of Exxon-Mobil, knowing that the
scientific predictions of global warming were reasonably
accurate.
Any science operates within limits of reasonable accuracy, but
🐘🦕🦖🐍😈
[glow=red,2,300][glow=maroon,2,300]doubters[/glow][/glow]
[glow=red,2,300]twisted[/glow] the science to claim that global
warming was false.
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If fossil fuel emissions had been more strictly regulated
starting in the mid-20th century, we probably would not have had
the disastrous Vermont flood of July 10-12. The freedom of
industry to thwart emissions regulations and to argue that
climate change is a myth got us into this disaster.
A few powerful corporations have tried to convince us that there
should be no federal regulations on their activities and that
the free market will fix things. Yet freedom has always been a
delicate balance, weighing some rights against others.
With more than 4,000 homes and 800 businesses in Vermont
destroyed, we see close up the effects of climate change.
Vermont’s July flood was but one in series of summer climate
disasters that are coming more frequently and coming sooner than
predicted.
I recently drove through Montpelier at dusk; storefront after
storefront was dark. I realized that things will never be the
same. If this is the free market at work, where is the freedom?
It’s as though we’re driving a 1960 Edsel down the highway at
95, gas to the floor, 10 miles to the gallon, unwilling to hit
the brakes even when we see the flood ahead.
There is still time to put on the brakes and reverse course,
though we cannot easily undo the damage done and the warming
that’s begun. It will take federal and international
cooperation. Oreskes and Conway say in “The Big Myth”: “American
antagonism toward science and government regulations has
hindered action on global climate change.”
The bickering and blaming will have to stop. The Inflation
Reduction Act of 2022 was a good start. Congress needs to
continue to do more. Without government leading the way on
climate change, the weather we’ve seen this summer will
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/>[glow=maroon,2,300]continue[/glow].
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/>
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#Post#: 1393--------------------------------------------------
Inside the campaign that put an 🦖 oil boss in 😈
charge of a climate summit.
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 27, 2023, 12:20 pm
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October 27, 2023
[center]The [glow=red,2,300]Laptop-Throwing
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/>Oil Boss[/glow] Hosting Climate Negotiations Has Benefited
From
[glow=red,2,300]30 Years of PR[/glow][/center]
This year’s annual global climate negotiations, the 28th
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or just COP28 for short,
will be hosted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Sultan Ahmed
Al Jaber, who heads the petrostate's oil and renewables
companies. As we and others have noted, the UAE's been on quite
a public relations (PR) kick, making use of bots on Twitter and
accounts effusively praising the country on Reddit.
The latest insights into the petrostate’s PR efforts come from
Ben Stockton and Amy Westervelt, who provide The Intercept with
a look "inside the campaign that put an oil boss in charge of a
climate summit." There's a lot of great history in the article,
but here are excerpts of our favorite parts to entice you to go
read the story in full!
HTML https://theintercept.com/2023/10/25/cop28-uae-oil-climate-sultan-al-jaber/<br
/>
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It seems that [glow=red,2,300]years of PR contracts with major
American agencies[/glow] have been important not just to the
[glow=red,2,300]UAE[/glow] as a whole but also to
[glow=red,2,300]🦍 Al Jaber on a personal level, as
"behind closed doors,[/glow] Al Jaber is said to be an exacting
boss with a domineering approach.” “Two former COP28 team
members claimed Al Jaber once threw a laptop at a wall in a fit
of anger; one of them said he had a reputation as a
'[glow=red,2,300]bully[/glow].'"
Yikes! And the bigger climate picture isn't any better. Stockton
and Westervelt explain, "Al Jaber has rebuffed calls to step
down from Adnoc, insisting there is no conflict of interest. But
the line between the oil company and COP28 has 'blurred,' one
former summit staffer said. At one point, the COP team was
working out of Adnoc headquarters." What's more, when the UNFCCC
questioned the UAE team about whether the national oil company
Adnoc "had access to COP28 strategic documents," it turned out
that "Adnoc employees were still being consulted on how to
respond to media inquiries about the summit" months later.
In fact, "One of Al Jaber’s advisers at Adnoc was signing off on
communications leaving the COP28 team while still employed at
the oil company, according to people who worked with him. While
attending a U.N. conference in June, Oliver Phillips registered
as a representative of Adnoc. But according to two sources who
worked on COP28 communications, Phillips had already played a
key role in steering PR efforts for the summit."
Despite multiple sources confirming that Phillips had been an
employee of the oil company until recently, he doesn’t even
declare any affiliation with Adnoc on his LinkedIn page.
The line between Al Jaber's roles as an oil boss and as the
climate negotiations overseer have even been blurred for the
high-power American public relations firms long tapped by the
UAE to burnish its image, which include APCO, Burson Cohn &
Wolfe, Edelman, and Teneo. "Some agencies acting on behalf of
COP28 were engaged by Adnoc and Masdar rather than the COP team,
according to sources with direct knowledge and filings with the
U.S. Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration
Act, or FARA, which requires U.S. companies to report their
dealings with foreign governments."
Edelman in particular has apparently tasked "Lindsay Clifton,
former spokesperson for the Republican National Committee and
deputy press secretary for
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-250422163150-10512004.png<br
/>[glow=red,2,300]President Donald Trump[/glow]" to work for the
UAE's COP team. This adds someone to the climate negotiation
organizing crew whose White House position entailed defending
"Trump’s stance on climate change as his administration rolled
back policies intended to help abate global heating." Clifton
was "listed as Al Jaber’s direct 'media support' during the U.N.
General Assembly in September," according to a "strategy
document." Despite being a PR person hired for media support,
"Clifton did not respond to requests for comment."
Fortunately, someone actually worth hearing from did respond to
the reporters’ inquiries: "[glow=teal,2,300]Melissa
Aronczyk[/glow]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110422180554-644315.gif,<br
/>media studies professor at Rutgers University and co-author of
‘A Strategic Nature,’ a book about the history of environmental
PR". She told Stockton and Westervelt that the
[glow=red,2,300]fossil fuel industry[/glow] has been working for
decades to prevent climate action: “Working with U.S.
[glow=maroon,2,300]🐍 PR firms[/glow],
[glow=red,2,300]oil and gas companies[/glow],
[glow=maroon,2,300]car companies[/glow], and
[glow=red,2,300]petrochemical companies[/glow] all conspired 30
years ago to create campaigns and programs around
‘sustainability’ with the goal of telling the world that the
fossil fuel industry was helping to ‘solve’ the problem of
environmental degradation and climate change."
And, according to Aronczyk, "when
[glow=red,2,300]companies[/glow] want a seat at the table where
climate policy is at stake, it’s primarily so they can
[glow=red,2,300]control[/glow] what happens.” “Having the head
of an [glow=red,2,300]oil company[/glow] presiding over COP28
represents the culmination of 30-plus years of capitulation to
the power and money of the[glow=red,2,300] fossil fuel
industry[/glow].”
So next time you come across articles trying awfully hard to
prop up public opinion of the UAE, remember just how much money
and time powerful actors are investing in laundering the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>[glow=red,2,300]petrostate’s oil-stained reputation[/glow].
HTML https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/evs-hit-bumpy-phase-u.s.-makes-it-easy-to-launder-dirty-money-more
#Post#: 1531--------------------------------------------------
Proposed Final COP28 Statement Eliminates Any Mention Of Fossil
Fuel Phase Out
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 12, 2023, 1:51 pm
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CleanTechnica
December 11, 2023 by Steve Hanley 30 Comments
[center]Proposed Final
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/>💰🦀🐘🦕🦖🐍🦍🐉😈
COP28 Statement [glow=red,2,300]Eliminates Any Mention[/glow] Of
Fossil Fuel Phase Out[/center]
e proposed final draft of the COP28 climate conference is pretty
much exactly what any informed observer might have predicted
when the decision was made for Dubai to host the event and
Sultan Al Jaber was selected to be its president. Al Jaber is
the chief executive of ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company. Although Al Jaber talked a good game, in the end it was
same old same old in Dubai.
A draft of the text of a statement made public by COP28
officials on Friday included several options for final language,
ranging from a call to phase-out fossil fuels “in line with the
best available science,” to no mention at all of the future of
oil, gas and coal. The possibilities also included a phase-out
of “unabated” fossil fuels, a vague term that suggests that oil,
gas and coal could continue to be used as long there was
technology to capture and store the resulting carbon emissions.
No such technology currently exists at the scale that scientists
say is required, the New York Times noted.
The COP28 End Game
Now it is December 11. The conference is supposed to end with
rousing speeches and much glad handing, back slapping, ans
bonhomie all around as the attendees celebrate a significant
step forward in the campaign to limit global heating to 1.5ºC.
The final draft was finally trotted out six hours behind
schedule.
According to CNN, the proposed final statement calls on
countries to take actions to reduce planet-warming pollution,
which “could” include reducing the consumption and production of
oil, coal and gas. Many climate experts and observers have
blasted the draft for its vague language — especially the use of
the permissive “could” rather than a mandatory “shall” — and a
lack of concrete timelines. Earlier drafts had included several
options that called on countries to phase out climate-polluting
oil, gas and coal, which observers said was an encouraging sign
that this year’s summit agreement would be stronger than
previous years.
Climate advocate and former US vice president Al Gore said in a
post on X the summit “is now on the verge of complete failure.
The world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly
as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC dictated
it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared.”
[glow=red,2,300]Big Oil Puts Its Thumb On The Scale[/glow] At
COP28
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The secretary-general of the oil-producing group 🦖 OPEC,
😈Haitham Al Ghais, called on members and allies last
week to “proactively reject” any language that targeted fossil
fuels rather than emissions. That letter, written before the
latest draft was posted, noted the previous option for a “fossil
fuels phase out” and said it would be “unacceptable
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/>that politically motivated campaigns put our people’s
prosperity
and future
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/>at risk.”
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The new draft calls for countries to take action to reduce
planet warming emissions, with a menu of choices that could
include “reducing both consumption and production of fossil
fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve
net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the
science.” It also includes an option for “tripling renewable
energy capacity globally.”
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“We have made progress. But we still have a lot to do,” COP28
President Sultan Al Jaber said Monday in a summit session. “You
know what remains to be agreed. And you know that I want you to
deliver the highest ambition on all items, including on fossil
fuel language.”
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Monday’s draft came after marathon negotiations and was
published more than six hours later than expected. The
conference is due to end on Tuesday, but the new draft — which
departs substantially from what many nations taking part in the
COP28 conference had called for — could prolong one of the most
contentious and high stakes conferences in its nearly three
decade history.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), an
intergovernmental organization, has already indicated its
members will not approve the agreement in its current form and
has criticized the negotiations as lacking transparency and
inclusivity. “We will not sign our death certificate,” Cedric
Schuster, a Samoan politician and chair of AOSIS, said in a
statement. “We cannot sign on to text that does not have strong
commitments on phasing out fossil fuels.”
A
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/>US State Department spokesperson said in a statement the draft
“seeks to balance a variety of interests,” but still “needs to
be substantially strengthened.”
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Lead negotiators for the European Union described the draft as
“insufficient.” EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra
told reporters, “I cannot hide the fact from you that the text,
as it now stands, is disappointing. There are a couple of good
things in there, but overall, it is clearly insufficient and not
adequate to addressing the problem we are here to address.”
Hoekstra added that the EU was sticking to its stance, calling
for the phase-out of coal, oil and gas, allowing only for fossil
fuel use in sectors where renewables are difficult to employ.
Heavy industries like steelmaking, for example, can’t use wind
and solar power.
Alok Sharma, a British MP and the president of COP26 in Glasgow
two years ago, said it’s “difficult to see how this text will
help to achieve the deep and rapid cut in emissions we need by
2030. With so many countries backing clear language on fossil
fuel phase-out, who does this text actually serve?” Sharma said.
Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate
Action Network International, said the latest draft at COP28 was
“a significant regression” from previous versions.
“Astonishingly, it has dropped explicit language on phasing out
fossil fuels, opting instead for a vague commitment to ‘reduce
both consumption and production’ by 2050,” he told CNN. “This is
a clear indication of the fossil fuel industry’s lobbying power,
influencing global policies to favor
[glow=red,2,300]prolonged[/glow] fossil fuel use.”
Rachel Cleetus, the policy director and a lead economist for the
Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists,
said the draft agreement was “extremely disappointing,
concerning, and nowhere close to the level of ambition people
around the world deserve. This draft comes with a huge qualifier
of ‘could’ at the top that makes all the listed actions optional
for nations. It has a laundry list of actions filled with
glaring loopholes, including a lack of meaningful timelines” she
said in a statement.
Some experts were more optimistic. “We are cooking a fossil free
meal here in Dubai,” said Mohamed Adow, director of climate
think tank Power Shift Africa. “People will argue if it’s the
correct recipe, but the main thing is that all the right
ingredients are there.”
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Russia Blocks Next COP Summit Location
As if to underscore the extent to which politics play a dominant
role in these climate talk charades, Russia has blocked most of
the countries that are in line to host COP29. Under UN rules,
the location of the summit rotates among regions and countries
within those regions must agree on the host. Next year it is
scheduled to take place in Eastern Europe or the Caucasus — both
of which have been battered by war. Russia has blocked nearly
every viable candidate in the region, effectively holding next
year’s event hostage, according to the New York Times.
The latest impasse came on Friday when Azerbaijan won the
blessing of its neighbor and longtime foe, Armenia, to host the
summit, only to be blocked by Russia hours later, according to
European diplomats. Observers called the inability of nations to
select a host for next year a troubling sign for efforts to find
global consensus on the far more serious issue of tackling
climate change.
“Russia just wants to be a troublemaker on everything in the
international setting,” said Jake Schmidt, the senior strategic
director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an
environmental group. “I can’t ever remember us not being able to
find a location for the next meeting.” Julian Popov, Bulgaria’s
environment minister, called the situation “absurd. You can’t
have a position in which one member can block the entire
process.”
If countries cannot agree on a host for 2024, the summit will
default to Germany under the rules of the U.N. climate body.
“This is a unique situation,” said Alden Meyer, a strategic
adviser at E3G, an environmental research group, adding, “It’s
amazing we can make any progress on climate.”
What is really amazing is that the world continues to look upon
these annual events as vital to the effort to keep the Earth
habitable for humans and other species. They are not. They are
political theater that is reminiscent of the scenes in the
Peanuts cartoon when Lucy always pulls the football away from
Charlie Brown at the last second. We continuously hold out hope
that this time Charlie Brown will get to kick the football, but
he never does.
The only logical conclusion is that
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/>[glow=maroon,2,300]people[/glow] will keep doing what they
have
always done until one day they look around and notice all the
other people are gone, along with the birds, whales, fish, and
other creatures who could not survive on a hotter planet. By
then, of course, it will be too late.
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HTML https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/proposed-final-cop-28-statement-eliminates-any-mention-of-fossil-fuel-phase-out/
AGelbert
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/>
It's the [glow=red,2,300]Social Darwinism[/glow], stupid!
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg1119/#msg1119
AGelbert:
To anybody who is surprised at the morally bankrupt "😈
real 🦖 world" the Biosphere Destroying Hydrocarbon
Hellspawn have, once again, successfully defended with their
endless legerdemain, I have only this to say:
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[center]
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[center]
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The 😒 Hydrocarbon Fuel Based Corporations are not
concerned with the future of life on planet Earth 👀.
[center]
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[center]
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[center]
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[center]
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If that seems like an irrational position for reality based
human beings, who certainly do love their children, to take
(even if they, being members in good standing of the
[glow=maroon,2,300]Social Darwinists 'R' US[/glow]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg1119/#msg1119,<br
/>care nothing for anybody else's children), then please read
this
article, and my comments on it.
SNIPPET:
Theresa Morris said, "Ethical considerations aside for a
moment, the people in these powerful corporations are not
stupid. They love their own children."
So, if they knew, because over 40 years ago ExxonMobil
scientists laid out the facts to oil executives, who then
secretly joined with several other corporations to fund denial
of climate change and obstruct climate change legislation, why
did they, with malice and aforethought, engage in disguising the
fact that they were, and are, getting an F in viable biosphere
math?
Some will say that it's a no brainer that they did it for
profit. While that is partially true, it ignores the fact that
big oil corporations DO believe their own scientists. It also
ignores the fact that fossil fuel corporations DO NOT believe
the happy talk propaganda that they fund.
They plan ahead. They plan to take advantage of the
'Fragmentation of Agency' mentioned by Stephen Gardiner. The
corporations did not get limited liability laws passed because
they wanted to be socially responsible. I believe they will use
the 'Fragmentation of Agency', in regard to biosphere damage
claims, to unjustly limit their liability in a typically
unethical "damage control" exercise.
One of the themes about human history that I have tried to
communicate to readers over and over is that predatory
capitalist corporations, while deliberately profiting from
knowingly doing something that causes pollution damage to the
populace, always plan AHEAD to socialize the costs of that
damage when they can no longer deny SOME liability for it. Their
conscience free lackey lawyers will always work the system to
limit even PROVEN 100% liability.
[center]
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Read more: 🕯️
"The central problem with an argument that considers the effects
of present actions on the future world lies in the fact that
those acting today will not exist in the world they are
affecting with their actions." -- Theresa Morris
[center]
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What it Means to be Responsible - Reflections on Our
Responsibility for the Future by Theresa Morris, State
University of New York at New Paltz
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/catastrophic-climate-change/future-earth/msg27/#msg27
Assaf
Thank you Steve for being on the beat for this, and on the very
precise description of COP as mostly-useless political theater.
Please do report on the final version though, and I'm definitely
looking forward to reading your analysis of it.
Outside of the Paris agreement, these summits have mostly wasted
time, efforts, and CO2.
It seems that progress is happening by single nations or
coalitions of nations banding together for action - rather than
by the impossible task of having a text that is both unanimously
signed by all political leaderships of 200+ nations, *and still
somehow useful.
Essentially, it's the structural failure of the UN Security
Council, multiplied 40x.
Steve_S
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So for the 28th Time, people puffing on their Hopium Cigar came
to realize they've been suckling the limp syphilis ridden dick
of Oilygarchs.... Twas a perfect opportunity to cleanse the
earth of the most Vile Filth on the rock, just one nice small
nuke could have solved a lot and sent a clear message that the
game is over. What a message that would send to Oilygarch Hell.
It is THEM or US as a species !
Hopefully, next year the Default will be used and COP29 is held
in Germany and may the 10's of thousands descend upon them in
RIOT over the inaction.
Will there ever be a COP30 ?
Depends on how much the [glow=red,2,300]F u c k[/glow] Humanity
@ 29... Tolerance Level globally after THIS Fiasco has got to be
at an all time low.
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AGelbert > Steve_S
Yep.
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I know you have been paying attention and know the score,, but I
post the following graphics for those who labor under the
irrational belief that incremental measures can solve this
[glow=maroon,2,300]Hydrocarbon Hellspawn PLAGUE[/glow] dooming
humanity AND most other high level mammalian vertebrate species.
[center]
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Electricity Electricity > Steve_S
Who is going to nuke an oil summit?
The U.S. is happy with it's current campaign against Palestine.
And Lebanon where it is reportedly using white phosphorous.
Russia is proceeding with its Ukraine campaign which may be over
soon as the U.S. switches sides.
France, UK, India and Pakistan aren't likely to use nukes. And
the U.S. State of Israel is already busy (see above).
Electricity Electricity
In other oil-related news, the #1 and #3 oil producers are busy
with their military campaigns against Palestinians and
Ukrainians.
AGelbert > Electricity Electricity
Yep.
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It's the [glow=red,2,300]Social Darwinism[/glow], stupid!
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg1119/#msg1119
#Post#: 1533--------------------------------------------------
"Ethical considerations aside for a moment, the people in
these powerful corporations are not stupid. ...
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 13, 2023, 2:56 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thread Source
HTML https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/proposed-final-cop-28-statement-eliminates-any-mention-of-fossil-fuel-phase-out/<br
/>
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AGelbert truncated post (full post with several images at Thread
link):
The 😒 Hydrocarbon Fuel Based Corporations are not
concerned with the future of life on planet Earth 👀.
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If that seems like an irrational position for reality based
human beings, who certainly do love their children, to take
(even if 🦖 [glow=maroon,2,300]they[/glow], being members
in good standing of the [glow=maroon,2,300]Social Darwinists 'R'
US[/glow]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg1119/#msg1119,<br
/>care nothing for anybody else's children), then please read
this
article, and my comments on it.
SNIPPET:
Theresa Morris said, "Ethical considerations aside for a
moment, the people in these powerful corporations are not
stupid. They love their own children."
So, if they knew, because over 40 years ago ExxonMobil
scientists laid out the facts to oil executives, who then
secretly joined with several other corporations to fund denial
of climate change and obstruct climate change legislation, why
did they, with malice and aforethought, engage in disguising the
fact that they were, and are, getting an F in viable biosphere
math?
Some will say that it's a no brainer that they did it for
profit. While that is partially true, it ignores the fact that
big oil corporations DO believe their own scientists. It also
ignores the fact that fossil fuel corporations DO NOT believe
the happy talk propaganda that they fund.
They plan ahead. They plan to take advantage of the
'Fragmentation of Agency' mentioned by Stephen Gardiner. The
corporations did not get limited liability laws passed because
they wanted to be socially responsible. I believe they will use
the 'Fragmentation of Agency', in regard to biosphere damage
claims, to unjustly limit their liability in a typically
unethical "damage control" exercise.
One of the themes about human history that I have tried to
communicate to readers over and over is that predatory
capitalist corporations, while deliberately profiting from
knowingly doing something that causes pollution damage to the
populace, always plan AHEAD to socialize the costs of that
damage when they can no longer deny SOME liability for it. Their
conscience free lackey lawyers will always work the system to
limit even PROVEN 100% liability.
[center]
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Read more: 🕯️
"The central problem with an argument that considers the effects
of present actions on the future world lies in the fact that
those acting today will not exist in the world they are
affecting with their actions." -- Theresa Morris
[center]
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What it Means to be Responsible - Reflections on Our
Responsibility for the Future by Theresa Morris, State
University of New York at New Paltz
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/catastrophic-climate-change/future-earth/msg27/#msg27
fcfcfc
First, WOW! That's what I call a reply.
Second: "Some will say that it's a no brainer that they did it
for profit. While that is partially true, it ignores the fact
that big oil corporations DO believe their own scientists. It
also ignores the fact that fossil fuel corporations DO NOT
believe the happy talk propaganda that they fund. "Ah NO.
As the altered saying goes, "ITS THE PROFIT STUPID"!! 100%
IT'S CALLED WEALTH IMMUNIZATION.
AGelbert > fcfcfc
Your reply is precisely why I wrote the snippet of my comments
to the linked article by Theresa Morris. I would be honored if
you would read the full article and my comments. Then,
hopefully, you would revise your, "ITS THE PROFIT STUPID"!! 100%
IT'S CALLED WEALTH IMMUNIZATION." assumption. Yeah, you probably
will just ignore what I just wrote, which is your prerogative,
but going FULL CAPS does not provide any evidence that your
position on said issue is accurate.
I get it that you just do not want to go there, but the morally
bankrupt ideology I keep being so "redundant" about is the
problem. These depraved wealthy polluter greedballs actually
believe that "empathy is a weakness". They didn't get that
stupid, socially destructive idea from makin' money, bro.
So, castigate me until the cows come home, but we-the-people
will not be able to put a stop to this celebration of
sociopathic biosphere destruction until the Social Darwinist
Ideology at the root of this evil is exposed as an aggressive
behavioral cancer threatening us with extinction and rejected by
our entire civilization, in general, and the wealthy in
particular. Human civilization goes the righteous route or it
really is game over. Have a nice day.
[move]The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall
not inhabit the earth. -- Proverbs 10:30[/move]
fcfcfc > AGelbert
People make society's, true and bio and family can fire the clay
in positions that are produced by exposed behavior in lieu of
DNA (Family).
But more to the point is that Societies (Based on profit and
currency) can make people as well. Read about the Famous
Stanford Prison Experiment instead of the Bible and you might
learn something. People do not come to the "way they are"
independent of the societies they live in. You reap what you
sow.
AGelbert > fcfcfc
You strike me as someone who genuinely wants a better world and
a viable biosphere. For that, I am grateful.
That said, if you think my exclusive source of reality based
information is the Bible, you are mistaken. All the other
university stuff aside, I have 27 credit hours of biological
science courses in a pre-med program of studies.
The Stanford Experiment was child's play compared with the
"successes" the NAZIs had in "proving" how depraved humans can
become under certain circumstances. That proves nothing but that
we do have a baser nature that, if not controlled by community,
as well as personal, ethical guard rails, leads to moral
bankruptcy and social decay. We are there.
Your entire "that's just the way humans are" argument is based
on the assumption that, underneath the thin veneer of polite
civilization, we are apex predators evolved to view ethics as a
feel good mirage we invented to sugar coat our predatory
behavior. And, that "ignorant Bible thumpers" like yours truly
do not live in the "greed is good real world". I disagree based
on historical facts ( Ancient Societies Collapsed When Leaders
Ignored the Social Contract
HTML https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ancient_societies_collapsed_when_leaders_ignored_the_social_contract_999.html<br
/>), not on ideology or Faith.
Like using FULL CAPS, demeaning discourse is a fallacious
debating technique. It does nothing to substantiate your
argument and/or your assumption, in pedantic opposition to what
I claim, that a Matthew 7:12 Based Civilization is certainly NOT
(reference to your use of caps to make your point) sine qua non
to our survival as a species.
I maintain that the ideology of the Social Darwinist is
indistinguishable from the despicable ideology of NAZI Germany,
clearly exemplified in their brutally enforced morally bankrupt
concentration camp law: [glow=red,2,300]“Eat your own bread, and
if you can, that of your neighbor.”[/glow]
What all the entrenched insiders among the parasitic, predatory
elites and institutions don't dare admit publicly, though they
celebrate that privately, is that to protect themselves from
consequence, making the rest of us sacrifice everything else is
what they-the-Apex-Predators have a Darwinain duty to do. After
all, since Homo sapiens is just the result of random undirected
processes, the more you can "enlightened self interest" do to
get more power by causing, directly or indirectly, the death of
human competitors for the species gene pool high ground, the
better. Surely, you cannot, in your heart, believe that is "just
how it is".
I certainly agree that you reap what you sow; there is no
shortcut.
fcfcfc > AGelbert
"Your entire "that's just the way humans are" argument is based
on the assumption that, underneath the thin veneer of polite
civilization, we are apex predators evolved to view ethics as a
feel good mirage we invented to sugar coat our predatory
behavior."
Ironically, you have completely 180 degrees misinterpreted what
I am saying.
It is not, at this point with our knowledge and engineering
eliminating scarcity for basic needs (If we chose to), some part
our base instincts driving our societal behavior. It is
currency. My whole POINT of mentioning "Stanford" WAS TO SHOW
YOU that it IS NOT SOME BASE drive making them what they became,
but the environment of the "society" (The experiment) that
forged their behavioral output. Currency FORCES a Hierarchical
structure rather than a lateral one. And that is where it all
starts to fall apart. Currency at this point in time is to keep
those in power, with power and control. George Orwell back when
he published, "1984" in 1949, realized this with clarity when he
wrote the following, "The war is not meant to be won, it is
meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on
the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past
and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the
war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of
starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own
subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia
or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact".
War is waged today for profit (GMIC) to keep feeding the profit,
power and control to those that possess it.
You need to improve your reading comprehension.
And I suppose to be nice and help you out, the massive
significance of what George is saying about Hierarchical society
is NOT that poverty and ignorance are needed for it, but what is
he SAYING ABOUT THE DESIRABILITY OF A HEIRACHIEAL SOCIETY in the
first place!?
AGelbert > fcfcfc
Irony?
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422132459.gif
More ad hom 🤦‍♂️? More "strenuous
efforts on your 👨‍🔬 erudite self to
patiently educate the Bible 🐵 thumper"? 😁 You
need to polish your legerdemain, bro.
If your purpose is to "shame" me into abandoning this discussion
by your continued display of "wisdom", you will succeed, not
because of that, but because you have convinced me that you are
not interested in reasonable debate.
Also, one more gratuitous snipe from you and you can count on
being permanently free from suffering my "lack of reading
comprehension", as I will no longer trouble you with responses
to your posts.
Sir, please read carefully and slowly what you just quoted from
George Orwell. Now, without having any blood pressure issues,
please find some difference, in fundamental ideology, worldview,
attitude, moral bankruptcy (and so on -you get the idea) between
that Orwellian modus operandi and David Harvey's quote below
about Neoliberal Ideology (hint: there is not a dime's worth of
difference between them).
The celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey
explains that neoliberal ideology serves the following
principle:
"There shall be no serious challenge to the absolute power of
money to rule absolutely. And that power is to be exercised with
one objective: Those possessed of money shall not only be
privileged to accumulate wealth endlessly at will, but they
shall have the right to inherit the earth, taking either direct
or indirect dominion, not only of the land and all the resources
and productive capacities that reside therein, but also assume
absolute command, directly or indirectly, over the labor and
creative capacities of all those others it needs. The rest of
humanity shall be deemed disposable."
You are allergic to going there, but anyone with two brain cells
to rub together can see that the ROOT of BOTH of these "Might
Equals Right" socially destructive approaches to human "bidness"
is Social Darwinism. However, you cannot accept the hard TRUTH
that 🦍 Social Darwinism is a clear and present
☠️ DANGER TO SOCIETY because you are obssessed with
the role of 💰 currency in human affairs. Consequently
you have unreasonably blinded yourself to the fact that
💵🎩🍌 control of the currency is just ONE
of MANY 🦍 AUTHORITARIAN 🔨 TOOLS the Social
Darwinists tyrannically wield, NOT the REASON they DO what they
DO.
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/>
😁 You will, no doubt, vigorously disagree, but Thomas
Paine had your number.
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As to LACK OF READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS...
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#Post#: 2391--------------------------------------------------
Fossil Fuels Profit Over Planet = Catastrophic Climate Change
Pollution
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: September 20, 2024, 4:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
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[center]A Look INSIDE
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122505-6702373.gif<br
/>an Amazing Six-storey $1 💰 Billion Offshore
Platform[/center]
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/ytvBhLGLMrA[/center]
Science
190K subscribers 3,906,645 👀 views Nov 5, 2023
The offshore drilling platform Berkut is one of the largest in
the world. This is a huge fully autonomous plant on giant
reinforced concrete piles, which not only drills new wells, but
also extracts several thousand tons of oil every day from a huge
depth. The platform is able to withstand 18-meter waves,
withstand temperatures down to -44 C° and the pressure of ice
fields up to 2 meters thick.
►All Documentaries: • All Videos
►Subscribe and hit the bell: / @science-channel
►Other "Engineering": • Engineering
AGelbert NOTE: This giant drilling platform is, without a doubt,
a technological marvel. Although a maximum of about 240 workers
live on and run it, it has FOUR 15 MW gas turbine powered
electricity ⚡ generating power plants to run all systems,
but mostly the drilling and on-site crude oil refining
machinery. So, all this power is used to produce hydrocarbon
based fuel(s), which is the eventual doom, not just of our
☠️ species, but thousands of other species of
complex fauna and flora life forms that inhabit, and make
habitable, the relatively tiny portions of planet Earth's
atmosphere and crust that scientists call the Biosphere.
🤦‍♂️
In theory, humanity can (and actaully has, but not on the scale
needed) come up with technology that is genuinely
[glow=green,2,300]RENEWABLE[/glow]
[glow=green,2,300][color=blue]in perpetuity[/glow][/color].
However, the type of "technofix"
HTML https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1780/632/original.jpg<br
/>that, unfortunately, continues to prevail in businesses and
governments is based on short term profits from hydrocarbon
based energy products. Said businesses and Governments give, at
best, only (SEE: 😈 Perception Management
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622153114-13822364.jpeg<br
/>Legerdemain) lip service to the [glow=red,2,300]massive
existential threat[/glow] to the [color=green]biosphere[/color]
that the burning of those hydrocarbon fuels, which said
businesses and Governments profit short term from,
[glow=red,2,300]CAUSES[/glow]. The [glow=red,2,300]TREND[/glow]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg1119/#msg1119<br
/>(see below
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-070223170821-21832348.png)<br
/>is NOT our [glow=green,2,300]friend[/glow].
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