Conservatives angry at Big Bird: a new level of insanity

[dismalist]

--Higher CO₂ concentration increases agricultural yields.
--More warmth, especially in high latitudes, at night, as expected, reduces deaths from the cold.
--There are not more weather catastrophes reaching the shore. The damage they do, as a share of stuff, is lower, even though there's more stuff.
--If the sea level rises, ask some Dutch engineers what to do. Pay them for their knowledge.

Best of all, Greenland will be green again. Note the name.

I welcome global warming. It will make us better off on average. We can pay people who are hurt.

There will be no apocalypse, in eight years or longer.

So you are in the planetary sciences then?

What happens to old people in heat waves?

Dangerous weather patterns?  How many flights did American cancel last week because of dangerous winds?

A new level of insanity affects some people these days.

Yes dangerous weather patterns in some places, but it's also true that fewer people in Minnesota (or Manitoba) are dying from the cold every winter now.

Dismalist is just pointing out that the whole history of humankind is some people making lives worse off for other people in order to make it better for themselves, and global warming is no different.

Personally, I think automation and climate change are both so disruptive that either by itself would lead to nuclear war.  Combined I think we are doomed to it, but do note that nuclear war isn't completely destructive; tens of millions will survive, and they will still mostly know about the iron plow and the germ theory of disease, which puts them ahead of the Romans in both respects.

Mercy, you're really quasi, quasi! No one planned extra global warming. We won't have nuclear war, on account anyone starting one will get nuked with high probability. Deterrence has kept and will keep the big peace.

Another apocalypse dethroned!

Christ, will you kids stop worrying, please?

[Wahoo Redux]

Okay.

Enjoy.

I personally believe the scientists being, you know, as they are all science-y and stuff.  I find the rationales like the ones above about as tortuous and as well-thought-out as people who get mad about, say, vaccines.

And I suspect some people are mad that the hippies were right about some things after all.

But if you ain't worried, don't be worried.

[mahagonny]

When is Big Bird going to tell the children about man-boy oral sex like they've been doing in Virginia?

ETA: I ask that as one who as a very young child was told in graphic detail about the sex act, and specifically that I would be doing it, by and elder, a person with authority over me. I'm here to tell you it's not a nice experience to have. And not just the information itself, but more the fact that someone in authority wants you to be thinking about it. Your first question is why? To which no answer is given, not that any would be comprehensible or warranted anyway.

Telling young children about pederasty is worse by far.

Liberals can make us listen to their concerns about what should be taught to the young children, but not until they get their house in order.

[nebo113]

Or we could just support a congressman murdering a congresswoman.....

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-gosar-aoc-biden-video_n_6189b9a1e4b0a518aca4a03c

[mahagonny]

Or we could just support a congressman murdering a congresswoman.....

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-gosar-aoc-biden-video_n_6189b9a1e4b0a518aca4a03c

That's terrible, Nebo. He shouldn't be doing that. Thanks for letting me know.

[Aster]

--Higher CO₂ concentration increases agricultural yields.
--More warmth, especially in high latitudes, at night, as expected, reduces deaths from the cold.
--There are not more weather catastrophes reaching the shore. The damage they do, as a share of stuff, is lower, even though there's more stuff.
--If the sea level rises, ask some Dutch engineers what to do. Pay them for their knowledge.

Best of all, Greenland will be green again. Note the name.

I welcome global warming. It will make us better off on average. We can pay people who are hurt.

That is some seriously deep sarcasm, even for a professional academic to catch. I salute you.

[marshwiggle]

Okay.

Enjoy.

I personally believe the scientists being, you know, as they are all science-y and stuff.  I find the rationales like the ones above about as tortuous and as well-thought-out as people who get mad about, say, vaccines.

And I suspect some people are mad that the hippies were right about some things after all.

But if you ain't worried, don't be worried.

I think the point is that the magical "8 year" (or 20 year, or whatever) timeline to apocalypse is ridiculous and not helpful.
(Climate change is real and needs to be addressed. I have voted for the Green party in several elections.)

Some facts:

• If we stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow, we'd be in the dark, and our transportation industry would collapse.
• If we had all electric cars on the road tomorrow, the grid couldn't handle the load, and would collapse.
• If we tried to produce all electric cars tomorrow, it would take centuries at the current extraction rate to get enough lithium for the batteries.

And so on.

The changes that need to happen, and are happening, will realistically take decades, no matter how many time Greta Thunberg says "HOW DARE YOU!"

THAT is also science.

[marshwiggle]

Sorry for the double post, but here's an example of the kinds of choices that have to be made. From CBC.

Premier Doug Ford's government is touting Ontario as a future electric vehicle manufacturing hub, and linking that to a fresh push for a huge mining development in the northern part of the province.

Ford's Progressive Conservatives want to lure the big automakers to produce electric vehicles in southern Ontario. A key part of that strategy involves opening up the so-called Ring of Fire mineral deposit, located more than 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay in an area home to Indigenous people.

The Ring of Fire was originally promoted as a source of chromite, an important component in steel. Now the hype centres on its supply of minerals used in EV batteries and energy storage systems, including cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel, graphite and copper.

Accelerating changes to "green" the planet will raise more issues like this.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Conservatives can't actually defend this idiotic anti-vaccine stuff, so instead they change the subject to "global warming is a moral panic" and Big Bird is encouraging "man-boy oral sex." You guys are really living in loony town these days.

[mamselle]

Or we could just support a congressman murdering a congresswoman.....

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-gosar-aoc-biden-video_n_6189b9a1e4b0a518aca4a03c

I'm torn between being glad Twitter attached a PSA to it and limited its re-publication, and wishing they'd shut down his account entirely.

The will to kill another is what defines hatred, and the will to imagine, depict, and represent oneself as following through on such hatred prompts dangerous responses in other unstable individuals.

I may not like everything about AOC, but she definitely doesn't deserve this. I hope she's getting added Secret Service protections as a result.

Such idiocy prompts action in very sick, misguided individuals.

M.

[Anselm]

I am bombarded daily with stories in the mass media about climate change but I seem to never hear any discussions about urban planning and mass transit.  Why are people living so far from work?  Why can't they walk to a grocery store?  Why is mass transit not available or inconvenient?  We can cut out lots of carbon emissions with maglev trains replacing airplane flights.

I do tend to read gloom and doom stories and maybe that is a cognitive bias.  I just think others are too optimistic.   

Sesame Street has never been the same without Morgan Freeman, the voice of God, on the show.

[marshwiggle]

I am bombarded daily with stories in the mass media about climate change but I seem to never hear any discussions about urban planning and mass transit.  Why are people living so far from work?  Why can't they walk to a grocery store?  Why is mass transit not available or inconvenient? 

Here's a great Bill Maher clip that pretty much sums it up. (The same principle applies to all age groups in fact.)

[dismalist]

...

Some facts:

• If we stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow, we'd be in the dark, and our transportation industry would collapse.
• If we had all electric cars on the road tomorrow, the grid couldn't handle the load, and would collapse.
• If we tried to produce all electric cars tomorrow, it would take centuries at the current extraction rate to get enough lithium for the batteries.

[/b]

And so on.

The changes that need to happen, and are happening, will realistically take decades, no matter how many time Greta Thunberg says "HOW DARE YOU!"

THAT is also science.

I am bombarded daily with stories in the mass media about climate change but I seem to never hear any discussions about urban planning and mass transit.  Why are people living so far from work?  Why can't they walk to a grocery store?  Why is mass transit not available or inconvenient?  We can cut out lots of carbon emissions with maglev trains replacing airplane flights.

...

All this could solve itself spontaneously if we had a sufficiently high carbon tax. People would move closer together to drive less and fly less. Nuclear power would become really popular. And on and on.

Until political parties and Greta demand a high carbon tax, I call bullshit.

While I do not worry about global warming, a carbon tax would also alleviate the parking problem.

[marshwiggle]

All this could solve itself spontaneously if we had a sufficiently high carbon tax. People would move closer together to drive less and fly less. Nuclear power would become really popular. And on and on.

Until political parties and Greta demand a high carbon tax, I call bullshit.

While I do not worry about global warming, a carbon tax would also alleviate the parking problem.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE CARBON TAX ON AN IPHONE WOULD BE???

Next you'll be wanting it to apply to all the server farms for social media.

Monster.

[jimbogumbo]

Alexandra Petri's take: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/09/big-bird-vaccine-communist-propaganda-satire/