Climate Change has become electoral poison
Too late, the socialists have realized they’ve lost the working class
Not only did the British Labour Party get humiliated in the last few days, but ten thousand miles away, so did the Australia conservatives where they suffered a catastrophic 30% swing to One Nation. The unthinkable is happening. unelectable Climate Deniers are romping home politically, and the workers are voting “far-right”.
Climate change and the core left-wing totems are not just failing to reach voters, they’re actively turning them away. It’s the same in the US where voters have already elected the antichrist of Climate Action (and three times already). It’s slowly dawning on the socialists that it is not a momentary blip.
Things are getting so bad, the New York Times warned Democrats to “Forget climate change, and talk about something else.”.
Hat tip to Climate Depot
The left took the working class for granted:
Forget climate change. Democrats need to talk about other issues.
Matthew T Huber, New York Times
For the past several months, Democratic elites have been debating how much to talk about climate change, if at all — in part because these new candidates have narrowed their focus to energy affordability to win back the working class.
But their plan to win back the working class won’t work — they picked the wrong topic, then stuck to it like glue, then left it too late to say “sorry” and they aren’t saying sorry anyway. They’re not even admitting they were wrong. “To be clear, this does not mean an abandonment of climate goals.” They say. Instead they make excuses about how good leaders will do things that reduce emissions anyhow, like offering free buses, or redesigning building codes, but they won’t call it “climate change”. Because, shh, we don’t want the voters to know what we are doing, or what we believe. We just want to win, right? Yay, democracy?
In one survey 59% of voters were bothered that climate change had become political. That’s a huge slab of the population that doesn’t believe “climate science” is scientific anymore, it’s just political — 59%!
The Pew Research Center routinely asks Americans to rank their top concerns, and climate change is consistently near the bottom. The Searchlight Institute found that 59 percent of voters in battleground states are “bothered that climate change has become such a political issue,” while only 42 percent are “motivated to do more and support policies to address climate change.” Rather than building a broad coalition necessary to enact something like a Green New Deal, climate change has become yet another issue fueling polarization.
The core problem is that being in power is their only goal, which leaves them lost when when it fails (and when it succeeds too). The solutions they come up with are only about “how to fool the voters into voting for us” — not something constructive like finding out what the people want, or solving some problem, or changing stupid policies in the first place.
The Democratic Party remains deeply unpopular. The way out is to stop elevating a litany of single-issue policies that appeal to the already converted. When it comes to climate change, for now, it might be better to say nothing at all.
Their big plan failed
They thought the Green New Deal would win over the working voters. They didn’t know (and still don’t realize) that for every green job invented, expensive energy would destroy two to five real jobs. Obviously, the workers live the reality.
Later, they must have decided that telling Democrats to “forget climate change” was too close to the truth, so they went back and edited the headline to hide that. Notice how the real meaning got obscured in the rewrite.
It’s what they do. They lie about everything.
The Politics of Climate Change have slammed into Reality like a bug on a windscreen.
Propaganda may only deny Reality up to the point where the Rubes and Gullible masses are overcome by the real impacts.
Then, it is “game over”. The solution? Change the Subject and move on to the next Con Game.
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Can they change the subject?
Wind turbines are every where. A embarrassing highly visible reminder of the folly and the waste of Climate change. Who put them there and why?
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Most people do not see a wind turbine unless they go for drive into rural areas.
Labor would have to find a scapegoat to change direction. Blackout comes to mind. Labor will be reliant on Snowy 2 having done something to boost “renewable” generation by the next election to keep the fantasy alive.
Snowy 2 at $42bn could enable another coal fired power station to retire. I wonder if anyone will realise the stupidity if that actually happens.
And never forget that Angus Taylor was energy minister when the Snowy 2 money sink hole commenced.
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Snowy 2 has a capacity of 2000 MWh but a coal fired power station generates 2000MW for as many hours as you need. Snowy has to be recharged with spare electricity; in a wind drought with overcast that will not happen. What idiots we have managing our energy system, what idiots we have that elected them.
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Snowy 2 has generating capacity of 2.2GW and storage capacity of 350GWh. So a duration of 160 hours.
Even with wind taking annual leave in June, there was no two consecutive weeks when wind was not curtailed last year.
Once the duration extends beyond a day, there is the opportunity to run remaining coal flat closer to out through the day and use that to pump back. At present time, the operating coal plants are swinging through 5GW on a daily basis as the solar kicks in. Their actual operating cost would drop quite a lot if they did not need to cycle as hard.
Mid May and solar is a long way from its best but it is still supplying more than half the demand at lunchtime most days. So lots of opportunity to recharge Snowy 2 for 6 hours every day.
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The [performance values I gave for Snowy 2 were design values of course. We are yet to see if it actually gets built.
Those watching the project closely are suggesting a completion date in the 2030s. Better than my 2040 but not 2028.
Snowy 2 will go down in history as the greatest money sink in Australia’s history.
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RickWill,
It had better lift its game then, ’cause NDIS is miles ahead. How much of its $50 billion *this*year* is pure rort?
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And every year, we donate the equivalent of current cost of Snowy2 (over 40b) to ‘solve’ the aboriginal ‘problem’. Another massive sinkhole which seems to only make things worse.
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If you put a coal-fired power station next to Snowy II, all of Snowy TT’s problems go away – any time it isn’t functioning the coal power can be used instead. Even better – if you put in a coal fired power station you don’t need Snowy II at all. Even better still – if Snowy II isn’t needed the coal fired power station can be wherever it works best.
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In 2015 there was a wind drought with 100% overcast over the entirety of south eastern NSW that lasted for 21 days.
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Larry, from the 21/05/24 to 29/05/24 there was a stationary high over the NEM and the wind O/P averaged 14.5% of maximum O/P. What are they going to do under such conditions. Solar O/P is zero over night!
John
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As shown from drone images many installations are not obvious from public roads when located in deforested areas with gravel access roads
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They put wind turbines on hilltops to catch the wind. The turbines are about as visible as it is possible for them to be. Everywhere you go where there are wind farms you get large ugly reminders that a huge amount of our money is being wasted.
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“Wasted”?
More like: “Creatively redistributed”.
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This is global climate madness.
Northern Europe is also full of these electricity grid and wind power madnesses.
And now it’s enough.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/sweden-pauses-plans-new-power-cable-denmark-2026-05-08/
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As bad as wind can be, at least the wind blows pretty regularly in the northern hemisphere.
The same can’t be said of the sun shining. I knew ‘renewables’ were scam when I saw them putting up solar farms in cloudy, rainy, chilly, land-limited Great Britain. I can understand solar in Australia (35% solar capacity factor) or on the Iberian Peninsula (25% capacity factor), but in England with it’s 10% capacity factor (or Scotland with it’s single-digit capacity factor)? It makes no damn sense other than as a crony-capitalist subsidy-farming operation.
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Grid solar nowhere near 35% CF in “sunny” Australia. The annual average is only 17%, not much better than UK or Europe. Given that the best monocrystalline solar cells can achieve in the lab is around 25%, I very much doubt that Spain can achieve 25%.
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And after heavily investing in solar infrastructure, the Brits then make plans to dim the sunlight that is supposed to charge their panels. The council election results last weekend may be a sign that the people are waking up to the lunacy of these schemes.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c5ygydeqq08o
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Wife and I are going back to Scotland for six weeks in mid July. I am keen (in a morbid way) to see what they have done to the country of my birth. I know that some lairds are making up to £5m a year from the wind turbines on their estates, much of it, so I am told, from payments for NOT making any electricity as the grid to England is already overloaded. I hope I can find someone who can bring me up to date with the current situation.
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I can’t bring you up to date but I’ll attempt to humour you by posting a video parodying an 80s TV advert. Insert the caption “That’s not how you make power!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W37wIzjXkSQ
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Thank you! 🤪
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Be prepared for visual pollution Peter. The last times we landed in Glasgow there were many, non-turning bird mincers in the landscape. Horrible. Many to be seen on the road back from Cumbria to Glasgow too. Saving the land by wrecking it.
Having said that, I really hope that you have a wonderful visit to your native land.
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And thank you too. I am sure we will, despite the bird mincers. Probably our last chance to catch up with siblings.
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It is, and has ALWAYS been, EXCLUSIVELY about the “spillage” of vast amounts of money and thus POWER, (political), to some VERY dodgy people.
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It’s just Common Sense, which sad to say is not all that common. A few of us have figured out early in Life that History is a good Teacher and can see from the behaviour of Acolytes and their High Priests that there’s something broken in their story. We’ve been yelled at, cancelled and called all sorts of names. But eventually the pain we’ve seen coming for years affects enough people, and they learn. Today. Not from a book sadly, but from lived experience. And so the movement toward Common Sense grows and true Conservatism gets in front again.
I don’t think things are bad enough yet.
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Voters complaining that climate science has become political is a realisation that politicians are not science-led and are saying things that are simply not true.
That is huge. Politicians ignore this voting bloc at their peril.
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Yeah, ignore the 59%. And the wording. The statement you’ve latched onto doesn’t add “instead of other issues…” The very argument you make ignores the fact that overwhelmingly most people see cloimate choinge as a low issue. When in context very few would actually “do more.” How will they behave when suddenly asked to trade off the shrinking bucket against other concerns?
Always the same with you. Cherry pick, then fingers in ears. I’ll bet you are no fun at parties.
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Methinks they doth protest too much! From
cloimate choinge to cloaca crisis –
a never-ending list of hobgoblins with a chance of making money on the side… for example Mike Smith, long-time indigenous Maori protester infamous for getting caught attempting to chainsaw the tree which made One Tree Hill famous (because it represented ‘colonialism’) who then discovered carbon pollution [sic] and decided to clog up the courts with his cloaca crisis mumbo-jumbo:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/594922/government-changes-climate-law-to-prevent-lawsuits
After a lifetime of appearing before judges and The Law™️ – and just as he got the OK to sue NZ’s largest industries, from dairy farms to transport to Fonterra to Bathurst Mining – Mr Smith today was upset that, in a surprise announcement, the govt & its bankers plan to rush through a law change / act whereby protesters cannot sue against the most aethereal of notions: deadly carbon in the air.
Lucky for Mike he’s on the pension (colonialism eh) so it’s not like he’s going to starve: just hope I’m not chipping in helping to make his lawyers even more wealthier. Tumeke bro, too much.
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Simon:
I’m sure you believe all Climate Change reports but this might have slipped your notice.
“Climate Change will make tea taste bitter”.
Apparently someone (needing money?) has discovered that weather isn’t the same everyday.
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That “huge” percentage has dropped significantly over the last few years from a much higher figure, and I believe that it will continue to drop over the next few years.
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People have always been willing to ‘do more’ and ‘support policies’. The catch is when you ask them to quantify how much they are willing to do with a monetary figure, they tend to pick a number that is within spitting distance of zero.
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‘ … politicians are not science-led and are saying things that are simply not true.’
Yep, we need to have a debate on the science.
https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/climate-change/
You believe a trace gas causes global warming and I strongly disagree, paleo climate history backs me up.
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There are 3 statements to sum up the POV of someone taking the survey- there should be a fourth: “l believe it’s all a load of carp”.
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The graph is telling, something happened in 2012 which convinced people that it wasn’t carp.
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Anomalous weather gave the MSM a chance to beat it up.
https://www.wri.org/insights/look-back-2012-year-extreme-weather-events
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“42 percent are motivated to do more and support policies to address climate change”.
Motivated to virtue signal or to actually wear a cost either financially, via lifestyle restrictions or otherwise are very different things.
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That’s nice.
I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon.
Or forgiving.
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Which is what they don’t understand. When you treat people who disagree with you in a disrespectful manner, they lose respect for you and you never get it back.
Our local Mayor (Redland City Qld) was a stone cold arrogant pos during the election campaign, as were many of her followers. Now she’s failing badly, she and her people keep blaming the “bullies” (anyone but themselves) who are just so damned angry they want to burn her down and salt her political grave. Suddenly she’s asking to “raise the bar” when she set it so low a snake couldn’t get under it.
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So Tim Whittle,
well haven’t you just had a bit of a win then overnight.
It seems that the Mayor of Redland has a health issue?? and has taken six weeks leave of absence.
Wasn’t this once a ploy in Communist Russia? (either that or wanting to spend more time with family!)
Mayor to take six weeks’ leave from council plagued by infighting
Tony.
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Yes Tony, I already knew about that. Wonderful news. She’s spent almost as much time on leave as she has in the chair. Never had the ticker for the job and was picked a mile away by those of us who have enough experience. Trouble is no one listened, and the Member for Redlands2030 (local faux gan green organisation) got up. Very sad for the City, but I must say I’m rather enjoying watching her stuff it up. She was in Council at Byron and was paid off after “stress leave.” Why such a person would run (much less be preferred by a political organisation) is anyone’s guess, given her History. But then as we know gan greens don’t learn from History, do they?
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Just another snout in the trough is Redlands mayor, Jos Mitchell. A couple of interesting takes from that article, firstly the picture, like with too many other Australian councils, the Australian flag is off to the side, in this case tangled amongst the palm tree fronds, while the QLD state, Aboriginal, Torres State islander and some other random flag fly proudly unhindered.
It also mentions the Council CEO wage of $500,000! Why is any council wage 500k? and what is the major’s wage if the CEO is on that?
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The answer is very simple and everyone should just spend 5 minutes online to look up the accurate data of your choice and don’t ever rely on the liars and con merchants.
If you want to know anything about the actual data just follow this blog or WUWT or co2 Coalition scientists or Dr Pielke jr, or the GWPF or Heartland etc or many other honest groups who’ll quickly direct you to the facts.
IOW it’s up to every individual to check the facts for yourself and eventually your more attuned BS meter will help you as well.
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oh dear lmao
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Just think if you follow this blog you’ll be able to easily pass the co2 Coalition’s quiz.
But does anyone think that B O Bowen or Albo or Labor or the Greens or Teals etc would have a clue or even understand the questions?
Again, why have the OECD countries wasted TRILLIONs of $ on these left wing parasites for decades?
https://co2coalition.org/quiz/us-air-quality-is-becoming-less-and-less-healthy/
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They’re not even admitting they were wrong. “To be clear, this does not mean an abandonment of climate goals.” They say.
Critical issue here. Important to remember that the political establishment is running into political reality, not physical reality.
The deep attraction to everything that goes with ‘climate goals’ is undimmed; the permanent call on government to save the world, the ultimate political flexibility, easy budget justifications, ideological enemies scattered. The issue is dull people wanting old fashioned scientific proofs and pointing to the wobbly scaffolding – and stupid, stupid little people who do that irritating voting thing, but are not at the table.
So, deflect baby, deflect.
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1971
I finished my 4 years of military service, went to college and got a degree in
Geography/Climatology at the #1 rated geography school at the time – The University of Wisconsin. The head meteorologist was Dr Reid Bryson.
His famous quote was, ” You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.”
To this date 50 some years later, I have never, ever run across a Leftist who knew a damn thing about climatology, but they all “knew” that Global Warming was an existential threat. Dunning Kruger Effect for sure.
Greta Thunberg has already switched to Jew hating from Global Warming.
The existence of Israel and its 8 million Jews seems to be the new “Great Worry.” Wonder what will replace that in another 20 years?
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You can quickly understand the facts about the climate etc by checking the co2 Coalition’s facts archive and PR references are supplied with every answer.
https://co2coalition.org/facts/
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My question:
Search: How much Co2 is emitted by Australia and how much Co2 is absorbed by Australia’s forests,trees,grasslands,vegetation and sea waters?
Their answer:
Nothing found.
Hope they keep looking to find the answer.
What beats me Nev, and I’m just a dumb old tradie, but it seems to me that this is the nub of the question that the whole Net Zero scam is based on. Show Australia is net zero already and their whole scam comes crashing down to reveal the evil/stupidity of those pushing this scam.
Where’s the opposition hammering Labour on the point of proving that Australia is not net zero already, it’s almost like they are of the same mind.
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Ian Plimer wrote in The Spectator that ‘Australia is already at Net Zero’
https://archive.md/jenTU
The CSIRO says it varies from year to year, as to whether Aus is a nett sink or not. But says emissions from all sources are higher than all sinks.
https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/State-of-the-Climate/Greenhouse-gases
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In bingo calls that would be
“Mumber 9 mthe party line”?
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“Where’s the opposition hammering Labour on the point of proving that Australia is not net zero already, it’s almost like they are of the same mind.”
Probably not all ‘of the same mind’ – although it’s a bit hard to tell.
In Opposition, adherence to the Net Zero myth is largely political defence. Despite it’s obvious national destruction, it remains in policy place to neutralise Labor scare attacks and placate the nodding, fearful Liberal voters.
It’s one of the bowel loosening aspects of ON’s rise in the polls. A party eating your lunch while trampling all over your war-gamed and carefully prepared Canbra playing field.
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Back in the day when Angus Taylor was energy minister.
‘Taylor writes that Australia is “responsible for only 1.3 per cent of global emissions, so we can’t single-handedly have a meaningful impact without the co-operation of the largest emitters such as China and the US.” (Guardian)
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The history of so called renewables and net zero emissions is not black and white blended into one fits all side of combined political parties
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Rusty, your last 9 words nailed it old Mate………..one and the same……….
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When did One Nation make that statement?
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The greatest con over the last few decades was the RCP 8.5 scenario and every government con merchant and BS artist flogged this to death.
But Dr Pielke jr recently announced the death of this stupid climate related fantasy scenario and yet very few reports so far in the English speaking MSM.
Some good comments below Roger’s blog link. So how much longer will we have to listen to these con merchants and liars?
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/media-coverage-or-not-of-rcp85-rip
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We are not currently on the RCP 8.5 trajectory because most countries have ben making concerted efforts to reduce their CO2 emissions. RCP 8.5 always was the “business as usual” scenario, what would happen if we do nothing.
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It wasn’t a business as usual scenario.
According to Google AI RCP8.5 “implies a five-fold increase in coal usage”.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-the-high-emissions-rcp8-5-global-warming-scenario/ says
“The creators of RCP8.5 had not intended it to represent the most likely “business as usual” outcome, emphasising that “no likelihood or preference is attached” to any of the specific scenarios. Its subsequent use as such represents something of a breakdown in communication between energy systems modellers and the climate modelling community.”
As for your “We are not currently on the RCP 8.5 trajectory because most countries have ben making concerted efforts to reduce their CO2 emissions”.
While some countries have made small cuts, China has more than doubled emissions and India tripled theirs since 2000. These increases from just China and India have far outstripped the not so significant reductions of others. Also, some cuts are smoke and mirrors cuts through credits.
The truth is RCP8.5 was an outrageous scare scenario that can no longer be presented with any credibility due to our measured observations being so far from it, despite our ongoing CO2 upwards trajectory. Not because some countries have made an effort. But because it was never plausible and the IPCC needs to walk it back as gracefully as possible without trying to give the game away.
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RCP 8.5 assumed global GDP growth continues and energy generation using the same technologies as in the past. The good news is that we use energy more efficiently now and that wind, solar, geothermal, and natural gas has replaced lignite.
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Sure. It assumed using a lot more coal. It was projecting to a worst case possible scenario. Not a likely business as usual scenario. A worst case impossible scenario actually.
RCP8.5 is not wrong because we are using energy more efficiently. The world is using far more CO2 emitting energy than it did and atmospheric CO2 has continued on its trajectory in a business as usual way. RCP8.5 was an exaggeration, and the effects of CO2 were overstated.
The efficiencies are small and insignificant. The extra energy use is huge.
See the wind and solar and “other renewables” is just 6.4% of the mix, and the fossil fuel use has grown massively.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-energy-substitution
RCP8.5 was just simply never going to happen.
CO2 is not having the effect they imagined so they’re trying to find a way to explain it that doesn’t say CO2 is not as bad as we feared.
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‘ … what would happen if we do nothing.’
Nothing, because CO2 in the troposphere doesn’t cause global warming.
During the Holocene Climate Optimum, locally known as the dream time, temperatures in Australia were two degrees warmer than today, yet CO2 levels were low. What do you make of that?
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It’s more a case of the sinks being massively underestimated.
RCP8.5 roughly corresponds to Hansen’s Scenario A, which didn’t seem unreasonable when the paper was published 30-odd years ago.
A couple of years ago, emissions were tracking Scenario A, but concentration was nearer to Scenario B (RCP 4.5, give or take a bit).
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Voting patterns in the West show a trend,
And swing right is the message they send,
As their many great wins,
Knock the left like nine pins,
Bringing climate-change phoneyism to an end.
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A further thought on Snowy 2.
Let’s accept that it will not be operational till 2030s. That puts it past the next election.
What will One Nation do when they win government – Stop Snowy 2 with only a few years and a few billion to spend or accept it as sunk cost and keep the taxpayer spigot flowing?
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I would expect One Nation to do a proper study covering all options, and I would expect that study to find that it is most economic to scrap Snowy II and all its infrastructure and all its power lines and most of the wind and solar farms that it takes power from, and replace them with power stations that work and are near where the power is needed. The expected reason for the finding would be that wind and solar variability is highly disruptive and pushes up costs to the point that replacing most of them would cause rapid cost reduction. The sooner Snowy II and the wind and solar farms are scrapped and the sooner the working power stations are installed, the sooner the cost savings would start to flow through.
What One Nation will not be able to do is to recover all the money that has already been wasted.
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“wasted”. That’s a funny way to spell “rorted”.
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And I am sure that the promoters would pronounce it ‘invested’ …
Auto
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RickWill, considering Snowy 2.0 probably won’t be much further advanced in 2028 than what it is now, IF a conservative party wins (hopefully), they could decide to scrap it. Or to stop the money laundering/ trough gouging and continue it to completion at a reduced budget?
One Nation have a big issue with their energy (power grid) policy, where I’ve seen both Pauline and Barnaby advocating for household rooftop solar while also advocating for coal fired generation. As we all know on this forum, solar eats the lunch of coal daytime generation making in uneconomical and causes large fluctuations of coal generation output, to the point where in WA at least, one of the 5 remaining coal generators and the largest capacity unit of Collie A is regularly turned off /on to follow grid load. These fluctuations in run time accelerate wear and increase running costs.
Their policy is nonsensical.
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My solar/battery system is almost invisible to the grid. Before I put the battery in, it would be throttled by street over voltage in late spring and early summer every day. Since putting the battery in, it hardly ever gets throttled.
All new rooftop solar systems have remote control to limit output rather than rely on street over voltage. My neighbour is limited to 3kW export unless the grid needs more and they crank up his export.
It will be more than a decade to being on a new coal fired power station. Rooftop solar and batteries can be implemented very fast because there are no environmental or First Nations approvals required. The installed capacity of household batteries already exceeds the installed capacity of grid batteries.
The way forward is to change bidding from 5-minute to at least 24 hour. That will automatically prioritise coal. Grid wind and grid solar would only be used after the coal is running flat out.
There are too many rooftop solar owners to piss them off. One Nation can strive for energy abundance. Rooftop solar/battery will be part of the picture until there are new coal fired stations being rolled out every couple of years to see Australia into the 22nd century.
This is basically what I recommended in my recent ISP 2026 submission:
https://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/isp/draft-2026/consultation-submissions/willoughby-richard.pdf?rev=c5f5c2bf59ff4b28b2d1b8e84c27e615&sc_lang=en
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FWIW
More on that NYT climate change item starting here –
“In our second Babylon Bee-style story to grace the Times’ website, two days ago the Grey Lady ran an op-ed headlined, “Democrats Don’t Have to Campaign on Climate Change Anymore.” If that headline sounds like the Times telling its readers what to think, just remember its primary purpose: to define liberal permission structures.”
More at
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/tainted-monday-may-11-2026-c-and?
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WE need oil,coal,gas,….. no oil,no coal, no gas,no OZ.
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US Interior Secretary Doug Burghum is very clear. Transition from traditional energy was always a fantasy. And a very expensive and destructive one.
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We could probably have built a tunnel to Tasmania for less than Snowy II.
Or a gas pipeline from the NW Coast for much less.
Snowy II will now be more expensive than the English Channel tunnel and three times as long to complete, if it is ever finished and works and does not collapse.
It’s already twice the cost of the Panama Canal or likely the Suez.
And it could still sit there unused, the greatest waste of money in the history of the country or many countries.
All because people are scared of the sixth element in the Periodic Table because pure carbon is black. Except when it forms a diamond.
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It’s hard to find a precedent in Australian history that was as disastrous from a public policy government point of view. That is, one that includes some form of infrastructure build.
The closest I can ever think of is the stupidity of having states build their own different railway gauges in the 1800’s. For those overseas visitors to this site, yes that did happen!! Our 2 most populous states (Victoria and NSW ) had connecting rail lines that did not match. If you caught a train between Sydney and Melbourne you had to swap trains at the border.
That problem continued until the late 20th century, when a national standard gauge rail line was connected between all states. However, the internal train lines in Victoria are still not standard gauge, with broad gauge still the metric in that state.
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Wasn’t that Colonial Governments 1800s, Federation of States, Commonwealth of Australia established 1900
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As I said Dennis, it’s hard to find a precedent.
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Three different states, three different rail gauges, marvellous.
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The wisdom of hindsight. Excusable. Distances were vastly greater then. And mountains were a real problem, the blue mountains were not crossed until 1813. Trains did not exist in Australia. Then the systems we imported were Irish and English, differen gauges at home. It was not uncommon across countries. It’s what stopped the German invasion of Russia. Standards over very long distances seem so much more obvious now we can fly these distances in an hour. And the WA boundary was set as distance from the Portuguese/Spanish border on the Treaty of Tordesillas in Spain. In the 1700s such things mattered! France and Spain were huge naval powers until 1815 and Waterloo, or even 1805 and the battle of Tralgar against both French and Spanish navies. It was a long time to the creation of a single country in 1901. Who would believe such world powers would be scared into submission by an unknown tiny gas.
The first Melbourne/Sydney train trip was only in 1883, although passengers had to change trains. As happened across Europe too. In Europe, even countries were still coalescing, Italy in 1865 and German in 1870. International standards were a 20th century requirement. Train lines were often privately owned and built by speculators, not governments. It was a very different world.
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And the later Irish gauge was wider and provided a better, more stable ride. But the British were stuck with older trains and rails.
“The primary difference is that Irish gauge is a “broad” 5 ft 3 in 1,600mm standard, while English gauge is the narrower 4ft 8 in 1,435 mm “standard gauge“. Established by the Regulating the Gauge of Railways Act 1846, Ireland adopted the wider gauge as a compromise to improve stability. It is also used in parts of Australia (Victoria and South Australia). Britain standardized on Stephenson’s narrower gauge to match the majority of its existing rail network.
And the engine of rapid development was Victoria with the gold rush in 1851. Ultimateliy what became ‘standard gauge’ was inferior, but better developed in England, Wales and Scotland.
Standard Gauge 1,435 mm: Predominant in NSW, for interstate lines and WA iron ore lines.
Narrow Gauge 1,067 mm: Common in Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania.
Broad Gauge 1,600: Used in Victoria and parts of South Australia.
A lot had to do with which locomotives were available at the time until we manufactured our own. We had then our own complete and independent governments. They had no reason to cooperate at the time.
I do not see any of railway development as waste in this huge continent, but a result of rapid parallel development of different colonies.
In huge contrast, every cent spend on reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a complete and utter waste of money, resources, people and taxation. There is not a shred of truth in it. CO2 levels in the atmosphere CANNOT be controlled. It is the vapour pressure of a dissolved gas! Nothing more. Slightly warmer oceans means slightly more in the air.
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The wisdom of hindsight…Context is better than hindsight.
Thx TdF.
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I think the ALP were a wake up to this fact before the last Federal election. That is, that talking about CC has becomes electoral poison.
These days I don’t consume much MSM but my perception was that CLIMATE CHANGE (needs capitals to make it sound scarier) was not debated that much during the campaign leading up to the election in 2025. Also the election before, whereas Bill Shorten went BIG on it and was defeated in the 2019 bunfight.
So, we had an election on CLIMATE CHANGE in 2019 and it was soundly defeated. But, we also had a referendum on the VOICE and now have a number of states who have introduced a Treaty. Any wonder us voters are annoyed. We vote and the ruling class seem to take no notice, so more people vote ON, because they at least will listen. Every time Barnaby Joyce gets on TV or Radio and describes how the Dept of Climate Change will be just closed down, the ON votes go up.
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Briefly in the news recently but avoided by left leaning media was the quietly dropped Albanese Labor since May 2022 Renewable Energy Target of 82% Installed Capacity, and of course never admitted that is unobtainable on average with AEMO capacity factor rating being 30-35% of installed capacity.
Albanese and Minister Bowen have quietly dropped RET 82%
I have no doubt the decision followed former Minister for Energy Taylor and Canavan being appointed Coalition partner leaders and immediately talking about returning Australia to exploiting minerals and energy natural resources, producing transport fuel and fertiliser and generally tackling all economics and manufacturing, immigration etc problems, and based on 2028 election.
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” They lie about everything ”
That is the best way to summarize the entire Glowbull warming / climate change cult .
The entire thing is a house of cards in which each card is a lie .
Here is one point that seems to go unnoticed : They keep telling us that Australia’s emissions are 1% of global emissions . WRONG !!!!
Natural emissions of carbon dioxide are between 95% and 98% . According to the activists at the CSIRO human emissions have increased from 2% to 5% since the start of the industrial revolution .
So we can say that Australia emits 1% of 5% of the CO2 AT MOST !!!!!!!!!
So how is that going to change the climate or weather or anything .
Anyway , the entire Glowbull warming thing is based on a complete misunderstanding of how the atmosphere works . They assume that long wave IR leaves the ground and heads out into space and some is intercepted by ” greenhouse ” gasses to retain the heat in the atmosphere . No
All of the LWIR is absorbed quite close to the ground .
So how does the heat get to the upper troposphere ? Two ways : CIRCULATION of the atmosphere . Heat rises . Ask a glider pilot . And the latent heat of evaporation of water . A giant air-conditioner in which the refrigerant is water .
The heat is radiated to space from the TOP of the troposphere .
Also : Have a look at the absorption bands of water vapor and CO2 across the LWIR band . Water vapor covers most of the band . CO2 has 2 narrow bands . Anything CO2 can do WV can do better !
That’s my 2 bobs worth .
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But even the Greens are not stupid, or politically suicidal, enough to advocate reducing water vapour in the atmosphere.
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Planning permits for wind turbine installations vary significantly by region, as each state and territory in Australia has its own regulations and approval processes. In some areas, local councils handle approvals, while in others, state governments are responsible, leading to a complex and often confusing regulatory environment.
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FWIW
“Head’s for thinkin’, feet’s for tap dancin'”
“Trump Administration Gets Strategic With Offshore Wind”
“The full terms of the settlements with the developers of Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have not been disclosed. However, if these deals are structured as settlements of claims, they are likely to be much more insulated from judicial interference than mere administrative orders as had occurred under Plan A. Also, this structure makes it much more difficult for a subsequent administration to reverse course and get these projects back on track.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/05/11/trump-administration-gets-strategic-with-offshore-wind/
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FWIW
“DNI Tulsi Gabbard Investigating 120 Foreign Biolabs Funding by U.S. Government – More than 40 are Located in Ukraine
May 11, 2026 | sundance | Leave a comment”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/05/11/dni-tulsi-gabbard-investigating-120-foreign-biolabs-funding-by-u-s-government-more-than-40-are-located-in-ukraine/
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Sorry Jo, the “conservatives” you reference in Farrer are not the Liberals – that label should rightly go to One Nation.
The Liberals stopped being conservative about the time Bob Menzies bowed out.
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The political establishment in Canada spent years insisting mass immigration, soaring housing prices, and debt-driven consumption represented economic strength. In reality, much of the apparent growth was built on artificial liquidity, real estate inflation, government spending, and population expansion rather than genuine productivity growth. Now the pressure is beginning to show directly inside the labor market.This is Australia…!!!!!!!
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What is sad is that the scam will die because it is too expensive, too ridiculous, too wasteful and doesn’t work anyway. Not because it is absolute fantasy science fiction!
I would love to think that the thousands of Australian scientists (like the 6,000 people in the CSIRO) who said nothing should be held accountable for their utter silence or total support for a ridiculous idea with no basis in reality.
“university researchers (including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) represent a significant portion of the 81,090 full-time equivalent (FTE) research workforce. Academic staff, including researchers and teachers, form part of a larger total workforce exceeding 141,000”
Where the bloody hell were you?
Why was the fight for truth left to the common sense of the workers, the farmers, the laborers, the electricians, the plumbers, the miners and a woman who ran a fish and chip store to feed her children and went to jail for her beliefs?
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It boils down to whom signed their paychecks.
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So, Check out the Roman successful cultivation of GRAPES in southern England.
Just for giggles, grape growing in the same regions is STILL carried on.
Medieval Warm Period?
Little Ice Age? (Skating on the Thames).
MANY things in Nature are cyclic / intermittent / variable, etc.
Weather, seasons, eras / epochs, human fads and fashions……..
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Young Canadians cannot afford homes. Many cannot even afford rent without multiple roommates despite holding degrees that were sold to them as tickets into the middle class. In Toronto and Vancouver, housing prices have become completely detached from reality. The average young worker understands they may never own property under the current system no matter how hard they work. Meanwhile, food costs rise, debt burdens climb, taxes increase, and wages fail to keep pace with the actual cost of living.Just like Australia.
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