Interesting article, and responses, over on the BBC Green Room, one of our featured main links.
Big Problems Need Big Solutions
It highlights the dilemmas 'we' face.
I am much more in favour of doing more than talking, so mention of solutions always catches my eye.
I am also, rather cowardly, on record as erring on dodging some highly polarised major issues, from 'climate change' to population, as so consumed and gridlocked by the extremes that I prefer to focus on where I can make more of a difference.
However, when you come to things like this you can't simply ignore the bigger pictures, and it all highlights to me how hampered we are by uncertainty.
Without going into justifications or not, the simple fact is that global geo-engineering projects will take trillions. Where the heck is that going to come from, especially short-term in a recession-ridden world, or longer term from a more populated one (unless taxes are ramped up)?
And when there is still such uncertainty, what about the law of unintended consequences. Humankind has not proven itself the best of meddlers with nature, and I think future generations might be a tad miffed if we blow our wad on a solar sunshade or unchecked algae growth that may make things worse.
Not for the first time I'm stumped. And much as I like positives, I do hope the media will not junp on bandwagons for certain endeavours without thinking to hard, just because they are big and sexy.
Friday, March 06, 2009
In the soup
An interesting set of 'servings' in this morning's news.
I was already unclear as to why our national broadcaster was devoting prime news time to the wife of a foreign country doing some photo op work in a soup kitchen, when it soon became clear as she had obviously just served the Plane Stupid protester who then lobbed the First Lady's dollop over Business Secretary Peter (I fear his ennoblement was a step too far for me to see any substance to the honours system any more, not that I did much before) Mandelson.
However, not that he is my favourite pol, I will concede that he conducted himself pretty well afterwards, I must say.
Which brings me to the protest, and its effect. The successful 'attack' on a high profile figure (what were the security up to... or not? Maybe they'd outsourced it to Pakistan?) will have the desired result to many, namely extensive publicity. However, my immediate reaction was sympathy for Mr. Mandelson, and that takes some doing. He claimed she stated no point during her action, but I'm pretty sure I heard her mouth off quite a lot, so who knows?* And in any case the scrum who interviewed her soon after left us in no doubt that it was about the 3rd Heathrow runway. Not a bad point with a climate conference held as soon as Gordon Brown has just landed back from one of his crucial overseas jaunts.
We also were treated a lot to the hundreds of thousands of green jobs (I still am trying to equate meeting environmental aims and targets with all the rhetoric about growing economies to satisfy growing, more aspirational populations).
My ears pricked up when Mr. Mandelson was asked about the car industry in this regard, as a few things didn't quite compute, and sadly the 'reporter' (some bozo holding a mike and script) failed to press him.
First up was that I think I heard he thought cars were the major CO2 emitters in the world. Not too sure that's true.
Second was in answer to why there are notions of propping up car makers such as Vauxhall if cars are not the best thing. Ignoring the 'costs' of making new ones and simply trying not to travel so much as options, the reply was that they have plans for an electric one on the drawing board.
I have to come back to what I bang on about so often in this regard. Electric cars do emit CO2. They emit it being made, and in the generation of the energy to run them; the exhaust pipe is just in another place.
Without sensible clean generation and distribution of 'leccy in place FIRST, I can't see how they match up on any enviROI level. So my box-ticking, target meeting, subsidy-collecting, lobbyist-satisfying antennae are aquiver.
Reuters - "Green New Deal" to help fix economy
Addendum -
BBC - Mandelson custard attack probed
BBC - Degree honour Clarkson hit by pie - Different event; different reporting?
*Addendum 2 -
Indy - Why I threw green custard over the Business Secretary - from the horse's mouth, as it were. I didn't even know you could get green custard.
Guardian - This is not youthful rebellion. We see the catastrophe ahead
Times - Why I custard-pied Jeremy Clarkson - Not getting the best reaction, it seems
I was already unclear as to why our national broadcaster was devoting prime news time to the wife of a foreign country doing some photo op work in a soup kitchen, when it soon became clear as she had obviously just served the Plane Stupid protester who then lobbed the First Lady's dollop over Business Secretary Peter (I fear his ennoblement was a step too far for me to see any substance to the honours system any more, not that I did much before) Mandelson.
However, not that he is my favourite pol, I will concede that he conducted himself pretty well afterwards, I must say.
Which brings me to the protest, and its effect. The successful 'attack' on a high profile figure (what were the security up to... or not? Maybe they'd outsourced it to Pakistan?) will have the desired result to many, namely extensive publicity. However, my immediate reaction was sympathy for Mr. Mandelson, and that takes some doing. He claimed she stated no point during her action, but I'm pretty sure I heard her mouth off quite a lot, so who knows?* And in any case the scrum who interviewed her soon after left us in no doubt that it was about the 3rd Heathrow runway. Not a bad point with a climate conference held as soon as Gordon Brown has just landed back from one of his crucial overseas jaunts.
We also were treated a lot to the hundreds of thousands of green jobs (I still am trying to equate meeting environmental aims and targets with all the rhetoric about growing economies to satisfy growing, more aspirational populations).
My ears pricked up when Mr. Mandelson was asked about the car industry in this regard, as a few things didn't quite compute, and sadly the 'reporter' (some bozo holding a mike and script) failed to press him.
First up was that I think I heard he thought cars were the major CO2 emitters in the world. Not too sure that's true.
Second was in answer to why there are notions of propping up car makers such as Vauxhall if cars are not the best thing. Ignoring the 'costs' of making new ones and simply trying not to travel so much as options, the reply was that they have plans for an electric one on the drawing board.
I have to come back to what I bang on about so often in this regard. Electric cars do emit CO2. They emit it being made, and in the generation of the energy to run them; the exhaust pipe is just in another place.
Without sensible clean generation and distribution of 'leccy in place FIRST, I can't see how they match up on any enviROI level. So my box-ticking, target meeting, subsidy-collecting, lobbyist-satisfying antennae are aquiver.
Reuters - "Green New Deal" to help fix economy
Addendum -
BBC - Mandelson custard attack probed
BBC - Degree honour Clarkson hit by pie - Different event; different reporting?
*Addendum 2 -
Indy - Why I threw green custard over the Business Secretary - from the horse's mouth, as it were. I didn't even know you could get green custard.
Guardian - This is not youthful rebellion. We see the catastrophe ahead
Times - Why I custard-pied Jeremy Clarkson - Not getting the best reaction, it seems
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