This is some very painfully chilling Denial warfare with far reaching consequences for more than merely our climate and way of life:


Punishment without trial: Britain’s latest weapon in the war against dissent
wrote:

Companies are taking out devastating ‘civil injunctions’ against climate activists – and making [those victims] pay the costs...

Apparently, it’s not enough for the police to be given powers to shut down any protest they choose. It’s not enough for peaceful protesters to face 10 years in prison for seeking to defend the living planet, or to be deprived of the right to explain their actions to a jury. Now they are also being pursued through another means altogether: the civil courts. And the penalties imposed in these cases, with or without trial, legal aid or presumption of innocence, can be much greater...

... In any case, there is no legal aid, so people without knowledge of the law must defend themselves against companies using the best lawyers money can buy...

... Once a company has obtained a costs order from the court, it can force the people it names to pay the fees charged by its lawyers. Yes, even if you have adhered to the terms of the injunction, you are charged simply for being named. If you cannot pay, bailiffs might come to your home and confiscate your property...

... If companies decide they want to take you out, there is nothing to stop them from bombarding you with injunctions. Either you drown in paperwork as you apply to the courts to have your name removed, or you face the impossible and ever-growing costs of financing their lawyers...

... injunctions against “persons unknown”, meaning everyone. No one can contest such orders without having themselves named as a defendant and facing massive potential costs. Oil companies, among others, are using these injunctions to stop all protests at their premises...

... These measures are a blatant injustice, a parallel legal system operating without the defences available in criminal law, that can inflict ruinous and open-ended costs. They amount to a system of private fines, to be levied at will and out of the blue...

Chilling.

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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Profitable denial?...


Fossil fuels received £20bn more UK support than renewables since 2015
wrote:

... In 2020, renewable energy support was greater than fossil fuel support for the first time. However, fossil fuels have been receiving greater additional investment recently. From 2020 to 2021 they received an extra £1bn support from the government compared with 2020, a 10.7% increase. For renewable energy in the same year, total support for projects increased by just £1m, or 0.01%...

... Fossil fuel companies have been criticised for not investing sufficiently in renewables, despite getting tax breaks and funding from government. Shell and BP made £32bn and £23bn in profit last year respectively while energy bills rose. Shell invested nearly £10bn into oil and gas projects over the year, compared with just £3bn in its renewable energy division...

Vast fossil fuel and farming subsidies causing ‘environmental havoc’
wrote:

Trillions of dollars of subsidies for fossil fuels, farming and fishing are causing “environmental havoc”, according to the World Bank, severely harming people and the planet.

Many countries spend more on the harmful subsidies than they do on health, education or poverty reduction...

... subsidies are entrenched and hard to reform as the greatest beneficiaries tend to be rich and powerful...

... In total, the subsidies supporting environmental destruction could amount to $23m a minute...

... Fossil fuels are “vastly underpriced”, the report says, while subsidy reforms “save lives”. Pollution from fossil fuels causes 8.7m deaths a year, according to a 2021 study, one in five of all deaths globally...

Or political ineptitude?...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

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When corruption runs rampant...

See in disbelief:


China is Throwing Away Fields of Electric Cars - Letting them Rot!
wrote:

This needs more attention, these are EV's, not Gas cars (see below). China keeps telling lies and no one ever calls them out...

China is planting Fields of Stones stuck to Metal Bars - No, Really
wrote:

Why would Anyone plant fields of Stones attached to Rebar?...

Implausible denial?...

A global leader in greedy investment scams, and perpetrator of the worst of environmental and climate devastation?...


All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Winter hasn't worked.

Antarctic sea ice levels dive in 'five-sigma event', as experts flag worsening consequences for planet.

This winter has confirmed what scientists had feared — the sea ice around Antarctica is in sharp decline, with experts now concerned it may not recover.

Earlier this year, scientists observed an all-time low in the amount of sea ice around the icy continent, following all-time lows in 2016, 2017 and 2022.

Usually, the ice has been able to recover in winter, when Antarctica is reliably dark and cold.

But this year is different. For the first time, the sea ice extent has been unable to substantially recover this winter, leaving scientists baffled......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66289494
For those of us sitting on the edge of the Atlantic this is a big worry. The Gulf Stream (one this current's many names) is a main driver in our weather. Crudely, it gives the UK a fairly mild (if wet) climate and places like New York their huge temperature range between raging hot summer and freezing cold winter (despite New York being further south than the UK).
I've heard two, contradicting, theories of how the climates of the two places will change if this current stops. One is that the climates in both places will drift towards each other, while the other is that there will be a gross re-arrangement in the climates, with NY getting a somewhat narrower temperature band (a bit cooler in summer, and warmer in winter); while UK gets a more extreme temperature range with hot summers, and winters being a lot colder (possibly a bit like Newfoundland).
Which ever is true it will be a case of "hold on to your hats boys, it's going to get rough" as both models suggest higher wind speeds.....

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66289494
For those of us sitting on the edge of the Atlantic this is a big worry. The Gulf Stream ...

Which ever is true it will be a case of "hold on to your hats boys, it's going to get rough" as both models suggest higher wind speeds.....

That article is horribly vague and confused and gives a befuddled message that somehow Scientists "don't know"...


For something somewhat more accurately described, see:

Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, study suggests
wrote:

A collapse would bring catastrophic climate impacts...

... The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc) by scientists, would bring catastrophic climate impacts.

Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years owing to global heating and researchers spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021.

The new analysis estimates a timescale for the collapse of between 2025 and 2095, with a central estimate of 2050, if global carbon emissions are not reduced...

... Other scientists said the assumptions about how a tipping point would play out and uncertainties in the underlying data are too large for a reliable estimate of the timing of the tipping point. But all said the prospect of an Amoc collapse was extremely concerning and should spur rapid cuts in carbon emissions...

... “I think we should be very worried,” said Prof Peter Ditlevsen, at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and who led the new study. “This would be a very, very large change. The Amoc has not been shut off for 12,000 years.”...

Research in 2022 showed five dangerous tipping points may already have been passed due to the 1.1C of global heating to date, including the shutdown of Amoc, the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap and an abrupt melting of carbon-rich permafrost.

The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, used sea surface temperature data stretching back to 1870 as a proxy for the change in strength of Amoc currents over time. The researchers then mapped this data on to the path seen in systems that are approaching a particular type of tipping point ... The data fitted “surprisingly well” ... then able to extrapolate the data to estimate when the tipping point was likely to occur...

... The analysis is based on greenhouse gas emissions rising as they have done to date. If emissions do start to fall, as intended by current climate policies, then the world would have more time to try to keep global temperature below the Amoc tipping point...

... The potential collapse of Amoc is intensely debated by scientists, who have previously said it must be avoided “at all costs”...

... “There is still large uncertainty where the Amoc tipping point is, but the new study adds to the evidence that it is much closer than we thought. A single study provides limited evidence, but when multiple approaches have led to similar conclusions this must be taken very seriously, especially when we’re talking about a risk that we really want to rule out..."...

Truly a deadly inconvenient truth...

And our response?...

• If it's not real, and we do nothing, then no worries;
  
  
• If it's not real, and we go clean and green, we benefit from that clean and green;
  
  
• If it is real, and we do nothing, then we create our own apocalypse;
  
  
• If it is real, and we go clean and green, we benefit from that clean and green and avert an apocalypse.
  

How can we not go clean and green?

And sooner and soonest!


All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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And for some background, see:


Just Have a Think - Is the Gulf Stream collapsing?

Just Have a Think - Arctic System Collapse? Devastating new research.

Just Have a Think - Abrupt global ocean circulation collapse. Time to start prepping?



We are seeing and feeling the effects, right now.

All on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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Painfully inconvenient:


"Damian Carrington, Guardian 27/07/2023"
wrote:

Extreme weather events, supercharged by global heating, have rampaged across every continent on the planet in the last few weeks, destroying lives and livelihoods. The climate emergency is right here, right now, and getting ever worse as carbon emissions continue to pour into the atmosphere.

In the face of this onslaught, the big question is why are we still so tragically off track in fighting this crisis? It’s not the science. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was chillingly clear in March: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”

It’s not the technology either. The IPCC also showed we have virtually everything we need already. And it’s not the economics. We’ve known for years that climate carnage is far more costly than climate action.

It’s the politics. A wise person, who’d spent his life on the policy frontline, once told me: “If politics was about evidence, it would be easy.”...

Oh what to do?

All very much on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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All ongoing consequences:


US heatwave: Scorching heat strains US air conditioning capacity
wrote:

Energy providers are warning Americans to be frugal with air-conditioning this weekend, as intense heat and increased demand could lead to blackouts.

Nearly 200 million Americans are under "dangerously hot conditions" alerts...

Extraordinary photos of July's extreme weather
wrote:

It is a summer of extremes. Burning temperatures followed by raging fires. Wild storms and torrential rain. And a run of broken climate records.

The impact on millions has been clear...

[All around the world...]

Oh what to do?...

All very much on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Meanwhile, we have:


Rishi Sunak confirms carbon capture plans in Scotland
wrote:

The prime minister has announced support for a carbon capture project in the north east of Scotland.

Rishi Sunak also confirmed the granting of 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences...

... Mr Sunak confirmed funding for the Acorn Project in St Fergus, Aberdeenshire ... It is one of four carbon capture projects which will share up to £20bn of funding.

Mr Sunak said the announcement would support thousands of jobs...

... The St Fergus project is a joint venture between Shell UK and other companies. It would become Scotland's first carbon capture and storage facility, which would see harmful greenhouse gas emissions piped under the North Sea. This would prevent the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by capturing it at the point where the fossil fuel is being burnt...

... "hypocritical and dangerously inconsistent climate policy". She added: "Extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea will send a wrecking ball through the UK's climate commitments at a time when we should be investing in a just transition to a low carbon economy and our own abundant renewables."...

... "These new licenses will do nothing to cut households' energy bills and ignore the best way to boost our energy security - reducing demand for fossil fuels in the first place by insulating homes and replacing oil and gas boilers and vehicles with clean alternatives that run on cheap, homegrown renewables."

That is some very expansive "carbon capture" that only captures a silly small fraction of the extra pollution from all that extra oil and gas...

How much cleaner and greener and more quickly can we go with the dirty £20,000 MILLION spent instead more usefully to save our planet for ourselves?



Political greedy greenwash all the way...?

Oh what to do?...

All very much on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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... That is some very expansive "carbon capture" that only captures a silly small fraction of the extra pollution from all that extra oil and gas...

How much cleaner and greener and more quickly can we go with the dirty £20,000 MILLION spent instead more usefully to save our planet for ourselves?



Political greedy greenwash all the way...?

Oh what to do?...

Is this a 'comparatively small' storm in a teacup to buy Scottish votes?

Or is this a complete betrayal of our climate and our well being that threatens our very future?


Compare:

Rishi Sunak 'has made a grave mistake,' says conservationist Chris Packham

Energy Security: How carbon-intensive is drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea?

Climate change: Anger as PM issues new licences for oil extraction in North Sea


Regardless, our Government is advertising completely the wrong message...

Supposedly as the old Roman Emperor Nero is claimed to have done, our politicians play political games whilst they burn our only one planet?

The time for positive action is indeed NOW. In the real world here and now...


All very much on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

... Regardless, our Government is advertising completely the wrong message...

Supposedly as the old Roman Emperor Nero is claimed to have done, our politicians play political games whilst they burn our only one planet?

The time for positive action is indeed NOW. In the real world here and now...

The very shallow dirty game of politics at play?...


Billionaire investor threatens to pull out of UK amid global outcry at new oil rush
wrote:

Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest criticises ‘clickbait’ fossil fuel plans as others say Britain has lost credibility

... led international condemnation of the UK’s new oil rush, saying he would pull his major investment from the country if the prime minister pursued “clickbait” fossil fuel policies...

... threatened to move his investments out of the UK over Rishi Sunak’s swivel towards new oil and gas drilling...

... The push for oil and gas is in direct conflict with international experts including those at the International Energy Agency and the International Institute for Sustainable Development who say oil and gas exploration must stop if the world is to stay within safe limits ... The return to fossil fuel drilling puts the UK at odds with a string of European countries including Ireland, Denmark and Spain, who have already announced bans on new oil and gas exploration in order to tackle climate breakdown ... The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that there must not be new fossil fuel exploration...

... “When a country increases its domestic fossil fuel infrastructure, it can further embed the economic interests and political incentives of the fossil fuel industry,” said Hultman. “Instead, countries can invest in new economic activities that will also provide what the planet needs to rapidly phase down fossil fuels...

... “The largest source of UK oil and gas imports is Norway,” said Watson in a tweet. “Norwegian production has a lower carbon footprint than UK production. New UK licences contradict evidence that 1.5C requires no new oil and gas licensing, including from the IEA.”...

Here’s the truth about Sunak’s plans for the North Sea: he will sell out the planet to the dirtiest bidders
wrote:

To understand this moment, we have to recognise that there is an existential struggle on both sides. While environmental scientists and activists fight for the very survival of the habitable planet, the fossil fuel, meat and internal combustion industries are fighting for their economic survival. Either they are regulated out of existence or human society across much of the world will fail. We cannot all win: either these industries survive or we do...

... So, as the evidence of climate breakdown becomes undeniable to all but the most deluded, the pollutocrats must fight as never before...

... To buy himself a few more months of political survival, Rishi Sunak, representing a party that has recently taken £3.5m from major polluters and climate deniers, is threatening the welfare of the human species. He has switched, over the past fortnight, from doing a grand total of nothing to prevent climate chaos to actively sabotaging...

... How can you tell when a politician is doing the work of the oil and gas companies? When they start promoting carbon capture and storage (CCS) ... The sole purpose of CCS is to justify the granting of more oil and gas licences ... [CCS] works precisely as intended, even if it never materialises: it is a highly successful method of buying more time for the fossil fuel industry...

... Sunak’s government has quietly been flooding the UK market with pollution permits, triggering a collapse in the price of carbon. While the carbon price in the EU emissions trading scheme stands at €88 (£75m) a tonne, in the UK it has fallen to £47...

... Sunak, Trump and others know what they are doing. They cannot be unaware of the heat domes and fires, the sea surface temperature anomalies and the shocking news from Antarctica. Their economic and security advisers must have briefed them about the likely civilisational risks presented by the closing of the human climate niche. In response, they double down...

... People seem mystified by this apparent perversity. But it’s a clear manifestation of the pollution paradox, which I see as essential to understanding modern politics. The most damaging companies have the greatest incentive to invest money in politics (by making donations to political parties, funding lobbyists and junktanks, hiring troll farms and microtargeters and all the other overt or covert techniques). So politics, in our money-driven system, comes to be dominated by the most damaging companies...

... They are representatives of the dirtiest, most destructive varieties of capital, the varieties engaged in a war against humanity...

BP’s £2bn profits cause anger amid climate crisis
wrote:

Oil and gas company to return another $1.5bn to investors through a share buyback...

... profits of $2.6bn (£2bn) for the second quarter of the year as the climate crisis triggers extreme heatwaves.

The company blamed falling oil and gas markets for the drop in profits from $8.5bn in the same period last year...

The Guardian view on new North Sea drilling: misreading the mood
wrote:

The hottest month in world history has just ended ... So what kind of leadership does Britain’s prime minister offer in response to this crisis? Answer: he announces an expansion in drilling for the oil and gas that are driving the emissions that are transforming the world’s climate. In other words, while the planet burns, Rishi Sunak stands accused of pouring fuel on the flames...

... It is a terrible look and it is a terrible approach – not least because it underestimates the public, whose attitudes on these issues are often wiser than those of politicians.

A very dirty game of dirty fossils sponsorship and buying votes and dirty politics?...

And our planet and ourselves be damned!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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What does it take to clean out all the dirty money of pollution?...


Five arrested as protest halts elite UCI cycling race
wrote:

Five people have been arrested after a protest halted the Men's Elite Road Race at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland.

The event was paused with just over 190km (118 miles) of the 271km (168 miles) remaining...

... Police said five people were arrested after the protesters were removed. Environmental group This Is Rigged claimed responsibility for the demonstration and said four of its activists were involved...

... The race was paused for about 50 minutes before restarting...

... This Is Rigged has recently targeted the Scottish Parliament and Grangemouth oil and gas petrochemical plant...

... "The fact that Ineos has been allowed to sponsor a team in the race around the Campsie Fells - which were engulfed in wildfires last month - is a disgrace and an insult to the both cycling community and the people of Scotland."We cannot continue with business as usual while our country burns and our futures are ruined. Time is of the essence and we need to act like it."

The group called on the Scottish government to "stand up to Westminster and oppose all new oil and gas, and implement a fair transition now".

It comes after he will back licences for 100 new oil and gas projects in the North Sea...

And yet we greedily burn our only planet...
Martin

---

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Very expensive Denial:


Rosebank: MPs and peers urge Grant Shapps to block new oil field
wrote:

Grant Shapps is being urged in the "strongest possible terms" to block drilling at Rosebank - the UK's largest undeveloped oil field.

Fifty MPs and peers, from all major parties, have written to the energy secretary to demand a rethink.

It comes after the government said it would issue hundreds of new licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea...

... 'Morally obscene'

They also set out their concerns over the cost to the taxpayer, who they say would shoulder more than 90% of the costs of Rosebank's developments ... could receive "£3.75bn in tax breaks" if the scheme is approved...

... It adds that Rosebank would do "nothing" to reduce household bills as "its reserves would be sold on the global market at global prices"...

All in our only one world...
Martin

---

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Totally expected pettiness and continued Denial:


Greenpeace: Government cuts ties with group after protest at PM's home
wrote:

Government departments should cut ties with Greenpeace in the wake of last week's protest at Rishi Sunak's house, No 10 has said [Rishi Sunak has dictated]...

... Greenpeace UK's co-executive director, Will McCallum, said: "Burying your head in the sand isn't going to make the climate crisis go away.

"It's precisely because the government has effectively shut the door to civil society groups, like Greenpeace, as well as ignoring warnings from the UN, its own advisors and the International Energy Agency, that we need to protest in the way that we do.

"The bunker mentality on display from this current government is deeply damaging - cutting ties with Greenpeace isn't going to help."

He claimed the public wanted to see "bold action" on climate and would make their views known at the next general election.

"We would like to invite any member of this government to discuss with us environmental policy and the need for urgent action," he added...

Does our present government actually look up to The Muppet Show of old? Or are they otherwise lost in their old school playgrounds?...

Totally pathetic!

And very much NOT what Politics should be...


All on our only one planet...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

At one point in my life Greenpeace looked like it was legitimate, it now looks exactly like the NRA or said another way a terrorist group. It doesn't matter if they are correct or not, their actions are criminal and they should be rounded up, put in cages and have the door welded shut.

Debate and discourse must be civil to have any effect. Their methods do more harm to their cause than doing nothing.

... Debate and discourse must be civil to have any effect. Their methods do more harm to their cause than doing nothing.

... Except when sane reasoned logical discourse has failed to have any reasoned logical effect?


Politics is very much a game where reality is damned and ignored.

Hence Greenpeace has moved over to playing the politics game of hitting the news.

Unfortunately, with the pathetic state of our supposedly free press and TV news, the only way to get mentioned is to jump headlong into the festering pit of sensationalist clickbait to get any airtime...


What do you suggest for better methods rather than the continuation of 50 YEARS of political blah blah blah and sometime never?

There is always one more political point to score first?


And our planet be damned...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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In discourse you must accept that you may lose. If you can not accept that you may lose then are you any different than a dictator or Rump?

In discourse you must accept that you may lose...

That only works when both sides of the discourse are accepting of change.

How can we deal with unchanging unflinching dictators, despots, and aloof politicians?

Meanwhile, we lose ever more of our planet. Everyone loses just the same...


Whatever else?
Martin

---

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Consequences:


South Korea: 1,000 buses evacuate scouts from disaster-hit World Jamboree
wrote:

More than 1,000 buses have begun ferrying scouts at an international event in South Korea out of a campsite due to an incoming tropical storm.

Helicopters and police cars were escorting the buses from the disaster-hit jamboree.

The threat of the storm comes just days after hundreds at the camp fell ill in temperatures of 35C (95F)...

... Attended by more than 40,000 young people from 155 countries...

... "very unlucky with the unprecedented heatwave" and the incoming storm...

And our planet is all we have...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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