Pachauri's Sustainability Circus in New Delhi

In case you have not yet noticed, "South Asia's leading Multimedia News Agency" ANI brings us this piece of cheerful news from New Delhi: 

TERI's flagship summit ends with international consensus on resource-efficient growth

New Delhi, Feb.3 (ANI): Expressing concern at the mounting environmental challenges, global thought leaders unanimously emphasised on the need to adopt resource-efficient innovations at the final session of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2013.

The summit, organised annually by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) since 2001, provided an international platform for comprehensive discussion on issues pertaining to resource efficiency, climate change, clean energy and sustainable development.

Continuing the series' rich legacy, DSDS 2013 featured an illustrious array of distinguished luminaries from more than 35 nations across the world.

Among the Heads of State attending the discussions were the Former President of Finland, Ms. Tarja Halonen; President of the Asian Development Bank, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda; President of African Development Bank, Mr. Donald Kaberuka; President of the sixty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser; Member of the House of Lords, UK, The Rt. Hon. The Lord John Prescott; Nobel Laureate and Scientific Director of Germany's Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Carlo Rubbia; renowned economist and Director of The Earth Institute at USA's Columbia University, Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs; and noted author and Foreign Affairs Columnist of The New York Times, Mr. Thomas L Friedman will also be leading the sessions

I wonder whether someone has counted how many times such "illustrious luminaries" and "global thought leaders" as Labour Lord Prescott, NYT columnist Thomas Friedman, professor Jeffrey Sachs, former president Tarja Halonen and their likes have criscrossed the globe - of course flying first class and staying in five star hotels, directly or indirectly at taxpayers' expense - on this kind of useless sustainability/climate change/global warming junkets? 

ANI also reports that R.K. Pachauri revealed the theme for next year's "flagship summit":

 'Energy, Water and Food Security for All'. 

No doubt Friedman, Sachs and the rest will be there - and where ever similar gatherings are  happening - to provide an "illustrious array of distinguished luminaries". The Sustainability Circus show must go on ....

Bob Lutz on the "green jobs" scam

Bob Lutz, the legendary automotive industry top executive, explains why "green jobs" are - and will remain - a failure: 

But as result of the belief that fossil fuels are bringing on global warming, governments, federal and state, have created a new job category called “green.” This category flies in the face of all accepted economic theory, in that the goal of this employment is not to increase economic efficiency (thereby providing lower costs, higher profitability, an increase in capital which, in turn, permits more investment and still more jobs) but, instead, to DISPLACE energy sources that are cheaper and more readily available.

“Green” job creation, almost always supported by massive government subsidies, does not further economic activity — it is actually harmful. Assigning massive amounts of capital, private or government, to a business or industry with a negative payback is a misallocation of resources, much like a car company spending hundreds of millions on a vehicle that either fails to sell, or sells at less than it costs to produce.

The wind turbine industry, as well as the current generation of solar cells, are prime examples of “new” industries created in the name of “sustainability.” With massive infusions of taxpayer capital, accompanied by mandates that energy companies have to use a certain percentage of the output “or else,” new “green” workers are hired. Their product costs more than the market price of traditional energy sources, so the economic effect is negative. Energy costs are the very core of a nation’s industrial competitiveness. High energy costs have what economists call a “multiplier effect”: they raise the downstream cost of every process in the system until the end product reaches the consumer. They suck wealth out of the system through lower sales, lower margins, reduced returns on investment and slower capital formation, which, in turn, reduces new investment and legitimate job creation. This is not how the private enterprise system is supposed to work. Centrally-directed investment and job creation into activities that produce negative economic value is the stuff of Socialism. As history has proven time and time again, it only works until all the money is gone. That doesn’t sound like “sustainability” to this writer.

Read the entire article here

The ultimate sustainability project: "Recycling the Dead"

By 2061 humankind will have failed to harness a single reliable renewable alternative energy source. Much of the fossil fuel supply will be depleted, and what remains will be too expensive for many to afford. As these fuels are depleted, CO2 emissions increase, and rapid global warming will occur. Atmospheric temperatures will increase by 7 degrees resulting in global climate change, large areas become uninhabitable and the population is redistributed. The effects of global warming will affect the climate and our existing way of life dramatically.

Kerry Greville and Coralie Bonnet,  MA Textile Futures

"Salvage explores a pragmatic approach to issues of material scarcity, exploring how cremated remains could be utilised to create woven textile products."

Kerry Greville, MA Textile Futures

Finally fashion is catching up with enviro-fundamentalism: A University of Arts London designer is excited about her project "Salvage - Recycling the Dead": 

Kerry Greville believes that the human body has resource potential after death. The Central Saint Martins student, who's pursuing a master's degree in textile futures, is exploring the provocative notion that we can—and should—extract chemical components from cremated remains. "It is my belief that the only resource we can lay claim to is our body," Greville says. "Every other resource is taken without consent." Just one problem: Humans are sentimental creatures. "Could we allow ourselves to become detatched from our loved ones so that their bodies could be seen as a resource?" she asks.


“As a designer, I am concerned and driven by the ways we are able to detach ourselves from the source of our resource,” the designer tells Ecouterre. “Many in the western hemisphere see humankind as being separate from nature, as opposed to part of it. We identify materials as being ‘man-made,’ [which suggests] that the resources used in the making did not originate in nature. We are at odds with what is and should be available to us.”


The human body, after all, is a gold mine of base and precious metals, including copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, and iron. Extracting these elements for textiles and other products would require us to reconcile our desire for pragmatism with the social and emotional implications of such a move.
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Greville’s line of questioning is only the beginning. “There is much more to be investigated and I hope to continue develop my ideas further over the coming years,” she adds. “The next phase will focus on interrogating the material qualities within the ash.”


Read the entire article here


It will be interesting to see which of the newly "green" fashion manufacturers - e.g. H & M or maybe even Gucci - is going to be the first to introduce an eco fashion line based on Greville´s innovative concept. It is bound to be a great hit in eco trendy environments like Hollywood. 


As for myself, I have to admit that I am not very much looking forward to a future as part of Penelope Cruz´s or Brad Pitt´s - or any other "green" celebrity´s - underpants or other clothing. 

A summary of Rio+20 + a reminder about COP 18/MOP 8

The bright lights of Doha are waiting for the COP 18/MOP 8 delegates

AP summarizes the UN Rio+20 sustainability conference, attended by 100 heads of state and over 50,000 participants from 193 countries:

"In the end, this conference was a conference to decide to have more conferences."

The never-ending Environmental Circus must go on ...

PS

A reminder to Rio+20 delegates who want to build on the "success" in Rio:

Have you remembered to make your hotel reservations for the COP 18/MOP 8 in Qatar, November 26 - December 7? We hear that suites at Doha´s five star hotels are 
already almost fully booked ... 


There is a whole new world to experience in Qatar according to the COP 18/MOP 8 organizers: 


Visitors can search for bargains along the alleys and stalls of Souq Waquif, wander spellbound among one of the world’s most extensive collections of Islamic art in the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art or take the family for a stroll along the scenic Corniche or beaches and shops of Katara. For the more adventurous, a short drive yields everything from abandoned forts, archeological sites and old cities along the northwestern coast to singing sand dunes and desert adventures in the south. And that’s just the start. Qatar's natural heritage goes far beyond the desert and camels many expect to find. 


Qatar’s trademark hospitality makes it easy to relax, but we invite you to explore this amazing gem of the Arabian Gulf during your time in the region.


And car rental is a bargain in Qatar: For a liter of unleaded gasoline you pay only 0.23 USD!

Rio+20 beach party gets into serious business

It looks like the Rio+20 mega beach party is finally getting into serious business:

On Wednesday, the first session of the high-level summit was addressed by 17-year-old activist Brittany Trilford of New Zealand, who challenged leaders: "Are you here to save face or are you here to save us?"


Ban suggested that the highly criticized final document could still be revised by world leaders before the summit ends on Friday.


When asked by reporters about that possibility, he responded: "Why do we have a summit meeting! Why have I been inviting and urging leaders, heads of state and government? They are the ones who can make political decisions, who can make a choice".


Obama, Merkel and Cameron are among the many leaders not attending. But maybe UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that e.g. King XVI Carl Gustaf of Sweden and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, who have arrived in Rio, are the ones to "make a choice"?

But where is Britain´s bonnie enviro-fundamentalist Prince Charles? Well, he has been busy in Ascot:

Prince Charles, reigning clothes horse of the British Royal family, gave an excellent lesson in how to wear a pocket square yesterday at Royal Ascot.
Chaz knows that a well-chosen pocket square gives even the most formal suit a refreshing change in tone, creating an atmosphere of sartorial friendliness.

Perhaps the Prince thinks that his prerecorded  video message about the "catastrophic" consequences of inaction, is enough to save the world?

Delingpole on the madness of the Rio+20 conference

James Delingpole´s take on the usefulness of the Rio+20 conference is rather damning - and true:  

Like the disastrous Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban  summits before it, the Rio event looks set to be another damp squib, beset by bickering, achieving nothing other than a few vague, non-binding commitments to do something serious some time in the future. 

How much simpler things were in the early Nineties. The Intergovernmental Panel on  Climate Change (IPCC) had just produced its first Assessment Report in which the world’s most expert scientists all apparently agreed that the world was doomed to burn in hellfire unless man amended his wicked ways.

The three IPCC reports since then have confirmed this prognosis with increasingly shrill certainty. 

But, unfortunately, no one outside the Government and the green movement takes  them very seriously any more, because the real world has  stubbornly refused to act in accordance with all the climate scientists’ scary predictions.

Sea levels have not risen dramatically. ‘Threatened’ regions such as Tuvalu, the Maldives and Bangladesh have not drowned. 

Polar bear populations continue to thrive. Arctic sea ice is recovering while the Antarctic ice is expanding. 

But, most damningly of all, global warming stopped at the end of the last century.

And if we’re to believe Fritz Vahrenholt in his bestselling book Die Kalte Sonne (The Cold Sun) it’s in no danger of starting any time soon.

Vahrenholt’s thesis – based on the observations of increasingly respected scientists such as the Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark – is that the main agent  of climate change is not CO2 but solar radiation.

Much of the mild global warming we’ve experienced in the past 150 years (a rise of about 0.8C) was, it would appear, the result of solar activity (detectable in the number of sun spots) which is now slowing down.

We are entering a period of ‘weak’ solar cycles, and this decline in activity is expected  to continue until about 2040, by which time – according to some pessimistic predictions – global mean temperatures will have fallen by 2C.

For many of us, in other words, ‘global warming’ is something we will never experience again in our lifetime. From now on we can expect drabber, wetter summers and colder winters. 

And as if that weren’t depressing enough, here are our political leaders regulating and carbon taxing our economies as if the non-existent global warming problem was still something to fear.

This is madness – and one day future historians will see it as such. They will gasp in astonishment that in 2011 the global  carbon trading market climbed to a record $176 billion (£113 billion) – about the same as global wheat production. 

They will  ask how CO2 could be valued as highly as the essential foodstuff that supplies 20 per cent of the calories consumed by the seven billion people on the planet.

A good place for them to start would be the hysteria and optimism of that original Earth  summit, in which a mix of panic and good intentions were allowed to override common sense. In short, blame it on Rio.

Yes, madness it is indeed, the entire sad story about catastrophic human caused global warming, as MIT professor Richard Lindzen has pointed out: 

“Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age.”


Professor Richard S. Lindzen of the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave a seminar to the House of Commons Committee Rooms in Westminster, London on 22 February 2012.

The European Union defines success in Rio: A definition of "green economy"

The European Union is sending a huge delegation to the Rio+ 20 UN mega conference, due to begin in Rio de Janeiro next week. Today EU überwarmist Connie Hedegaard and environment commissioner Janez Potocnik briefed the press about their expectations: 


Hedegaard said that the fact that the concept of the 'green economy' is recognised and is on the international agenda is already an acquis.For Hedegaard, Rio+20 will have to build a strong global vision of what this concept covers.


In response to a question about what would make Rio a success, Potocnik said that binding commitments are not necessarily required. He explained that even though it would only be partial success, he would be satisfied with arriving at the adoption of a document with a clear definition of 'green economy' and concrete targets, along with an agenda on the 'pillars of life'.

Hedegaard, Potocnik and more than 50,000 other politicians and bureaucrats are flying (by private jet or first/business class) to Rio in order to discuss how to define "green economy"! The European Union is "satisfied" if the conference  adopts "a document with a clear definition of "green economy". 

Considering how many hundreds of meetings and conferences in different exotic holiday resorts have preceded the Rio+, the "green economy" document will probably be the most expensive definition ever adopted. 


But that is only the best case scenario. The more likely outcome is that yet another mega conference - or maybe two - is needed before the "green economy" has a definition. All paid for by the taxpayers of the "rich" countries. 

Nobody of any real importance is going to Rio

Nobody of any real importance is going to the (hopefully) last UN mega sustainability/climate change conference about to open in Rio de Janeiro next week.Other, more urgent matters need the attention of world leaders: 


Next week, the world of environmental summitry descends again on Rio de Janeiro, for what is being described as “Earth Summit +20”. But the mood is very different. Barack Obama, David Cameron and Angela Merkel are not expected to attend; Obama’s presence in particular is deemed counter-productive to his re-election bid, as the Democrat president attempts to win over climate-sceptic voters in swing states


Still, among the 50,000 or so global warming/sustainability tourists expected to arrive in Rio, there are a number enviro-fundamentalists who act and speak like nothing would have changed, among them the Scottish minister for climate change, Stewart Stevenson. He seems to live in a parallel universe, full of imaginary "green" jobs and abundant (non-existent) renewable energy:

The aim is to establish the credentials of the “green economy”. The Scottish Government is to form part of the UK’s delegation to the summit, also known as the Conference on Sustainable Development, keen to promote its own credentials as a promoter of low-carbon growth. Stewart Stevenson, the minister for environment and climate change, says: “The low-carbon economy offers a huge opportunity for us, creating tens of thousands of jobs and re-industrialising our economy. And as we create green jobs at home we are helping other countries develop renewable energy, and also tackling the devastating impact of climate change on the world’s poorest. It is this joined-up vision that I will take to Rio.”


Read the article here

UNEP is scaremongering on the eve of the megalomaniac Rio+20 conference

The megalomaniac UN Rio+20 conference is soon to open in Rio de Janeiro. True to its traditions, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) is trying to hype the event with a new version of the armageddon awaiting us if the "world leaders and nations meeting at Rio+20" do not agree on "a decisive and defining transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient, job-generating Green economy".

The usual UN scaremongering is included in the fifth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5), "launched on the even of the Rio+20 Summit":


The report cautions that if humanity does not urgently change its ways, several critical thresholds may be exceeded, beyond which abrupt and generally irreversible changes to the life-support functions of the planet could occur. 
"If current trends continue, if current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources prevail and cannot be reversed and 'decoupled', then governments will preside over unprecedented levels of damage and degradation, said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
GEO-5 reminds world leaders and nations meeting at Rio+20 why a decisive and defining transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient, job-generating Green Economy is urgently needed, said Mr. Steiner. ―The scientific evidence, built over decades, is overwhelming and leaves little room for doubt."The moment has come to put away the paralysis of indecision, acknowledge the facts and face up to the common humanity that unites all peoples, he added. ―Rio+20 is a moment to turn sustainable development from aspiration and patchy implementation into a genuine path to progress and prosperity for this and the next generations to come.


The UNEP also informs us about the enormous waste of resources which was required to produce this piece of green propaganda:


The report was produced over three years in a process that involved more than six hundred experts worldwide, who collated and analyzed data from every 
continent to build up a detailed picture of the world‘s wellbeing.

Rio+20 - The last UN mega conference?

The Rio+20 conference is about to open in Rio de Janeiro on June 20: 


The hype: 


"Rio+20 is everyone's conference, just as it is everyone's planet. Its goals, aspirations and its outcome will belong to all of us. 

Over 135 heads of state and government and up to 50,000 participants, including business executives and civil society representatives, will be present when the conference opens on Jun. 20. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon calls it "one of the most important conferences in U.N. history". 
Sha Zukang, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20

The reality: 

The largest-ever United Nations conference, a summit billed as a historic opportunity to build a greener future, appears to be going up in smoke.

U.S. President Barack Obama likely won't be there, and the leaders of Britain and Germany have bowed out.

And with fewer than six weeks to go until the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, negotiations to produce a final statement have stalled amid squabbling. Logistical snags, too, threaten to derail the event.

--

The average cost of a room in Rio during the conference has risen to $818 per night, according to a report this week by Agencia Brasil, the state-run news agency. And some hotels are taking advantage of the shortage of accommodations by requiring guests to book for an.  entire week, even if they intend to stay for just three or four nights.

 With a total of 33,000 beds for the estimated 50,000-plus visitors expected to flood the city for the June 20-22 summit, the mayor has resorted to asking residents to leave town and rent out their apartments to delegates.

The security:

Brazil will deploy 15,000 security forces for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to be held here in June, Defense Minister Celso Amorim said on Monday.

According to the plan, the Army and local police forces will patrol the streets, the Air Force and the Navy will patrol airspace and sea, and the Federal Police will be oversee foreign delegates' personal security.

The Army will also be in charge of the security of the People's Summit, a parallel conference to be held in another neighborhood and is expected to gather over 20,000 citizens.

PS

This is the positive scenario: The sheer madness of the entire Rio+20 undertaking could  - and should - make it the last UN mega conference. But, knowing that there are thousands of UN, EU, national and other diplomats and bureaucrats, who´s main occupation is to plan and attend this kind of senseless jamborees (paid for by taxpayers), this hope may be too optimistic. 

Most Rio+20 delegates will be delighted to know that there is at least one place in Rio which will remain free of charge: The Copacabana!


However, if you want to rent a beach chair, be prepared to pay at least five times more than the ordinary R$4.00.

Human engineering study co-author: Humanity should be "like a forest of quiet semiconductor trees"

The co-authors of professor S. Matthew Liao´s paper "Human Engineering and Climate Change" think that online critics have misunderstood what they really mean. One of the authors, Dr  Anders Sandberg, James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University, wants people to know that "human engineering on its own is unlikely to fix climate change. The methods we mention are all too weak, indirect and slow."

Sandberg then refers to his "little essay" in order to understand what he really means.

Here are a few highlights of Sandberg´s "essay":


Postbiological and green

My favourite long-term solution is simply to aim for not just a post-industrial civilization but a post-biological one. We can currently roughly foresee how we could go about it. We would fixate our brains (presumably when near biological death), scan them in detail, reconstruct the functional structure and recreate it as software. The successor version would then go on living in virtual reality, with occasional visits to the physical world using a robot, android or just remote controlled human body.
How efficient could a postbiological civilization be? The current IBM roadrunner does 376 million calculations per watts. If we take my mid-range estimates of computing needs, 10^22 to 10^25 FLOPS, then a single emulation would need 10^13 to 10^16 watts. The total insolation of Earth is about 10^17 watts, so this won't do - there would be space for just a few minds on the entire planet. But current research on zettaflops computing suggest we can do much better. A DARPA exascale study suggests we can do 10^12 flops per watt, which means "just" a dozen Hoover dams per mind. Quantum dot cellular automata could give 10^19 flops per watt, putting the energy needs at 200-2000 watts.
That is between 2 and 20 times the current wattage of a current human. However, we bio-humans get our energy through the inefficient method of having plants collect sunshine (at about 3%) efficiency, then we either harvest them and eat a small part of them (expending a lot of agricultural energy) or have animals eat them (at a few percent efficiency) and finally we eat the result, again with a few percent efficiency. A brain emulation of this type would just need a few square meters of solar panels (plus night-time energy storage). In terms of area and energy required, these postbiological humans would have far smaller material requirements than we do. They could also run slower to save energy.
--
Maybe the most sustainable thing we could do would be to aim at a future ensconced in cold datacenters under the subtropical deserts of Earth. Humanity would largely look like a forest of quiet semiconductor trees. We would indeed have become plants.

We should probably congratulate Oxford University for hosting such eminent scholars as Dr. Sandberg. The future of humanity seems to be in safe hands!

Schwarzenegger announces the creation of a virtual world of overpriced energy

The former Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday announced in Geneva the creation of Sustainia, "a virtual world featuring sustainable solutions", with himself, the two other superwarmists Connie Hedegaard and R.K. Pachauri, and eternal UN sustainability queen Gro Harlem Brundtland in the driving seat:

Sustainia will be a model of the world showing what it could be like if currently available technologies and concepts to reduce emissions were put in place in cities, homes, energy stations and transportation systems. Sustainia is built on the technology behind the virtual world Second Life.

Anders Eldrup, CEO of the Danish DONG Energy, "a main partner in Sustainia" explained the thinking behind Sustainia (which is a Danish idea):

The idea behind the world, Eldrup said, is "to illustrate for ordinary people, consumers and companies how a more sustainable society could look."
--
"It is possible to make significant changes over a rather short period of time," Eldrup said. "We want to broaden that to make other companies, cities and people take part in this change."
Developers are already working on Sustainia, and the world is set to launch between June and October. Once it's up, anyone will be able to visit it, inhabit it and participate in it as a sort of virtual construction site. Eventually the world is to host lectures, presentations, workshops and tours.


As the CEO of the the largest power producer in Denmark, with market shares of 49% for electricity production and 35% for heat production, Elderup was, without doubt, the right person to speak about what it means when "currently available technologies and concepts to reduce emissions" are "put in place in cities, homes, energy stations and transportation systems".


Elderup´s own Dong and the other Danish energy companies charge the highest household electricity prices in the world - about four times as expensive as e.g. Ontario (9.23 US cents/kWh) and five time as expensive as Washington (7.66 US cents/kWh) - because of energy taxes and subsidies to wind energy.


Thus, there is no real need to create a virtual "Sustainia", because a real version of it already exists -  in Denmark. However, a change of name might be useful; why not call it e.g. Expensivia, or perhaps even more fittingly, Stupidia.

UN High-level Panel on Global Sustainability delivers a final report

In August 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) "that bring together renowned world figures to formulate a new blueprint for a sustainable future on a planet under increasing stress resulting from human activities".

The Panel, which was co-chaired by Finnish President Tarja Halonen and South African President Jacob Zuma, met a few times - with Zuma not present on most occasions - to hear what the bureaucrats and "experts", who actually wrote the report, had on their mind.

The GSP launched its final report, "Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing" on January 30 in Addis Ababa.

As was to be expected, there has more or less been silence after the launch. Who in the world would be interested in yet another compilation of UN "sustainability speak"?!

Here are a just a few excerpts to show you what was written in the name of these "renowned world figures":

The long-term vision of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability is to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and make growth inclusive, and production and consumption more sustainable, while combating climate change and respecting a range of other planetary boundaries. This reaffirms the landmark 1987 report by the World Commission on Environment and Development, "Our Common Future" (United Nations document A/42/427, annex), known to all as the Brundtland report.

But what, then, is to be done if we are to make a real difference for the world’s people and the planet? We must grasp the dimensions of the challenge. We must recognize that the drivers of that challenge include unsustainable lifestyles, production and consumption patterns and the impact of population growth.

The current global development model is unsustainable. We can no longer assume that our collective actions will not trigger tipping points as environmental thresholds are breached, risking irreversible damage to both ecosystems and human communities. At the same time, such thresholds should not be used to impose arbitrary growth ceilings on developing countries seeking to lift their people out of poverty.


It is time for bold global efforts, including launching a major global scientific initiative, to strengthen the interface between science and policy. We must define, through science, what scientists refer to as "planetary boundaries", "environmental thresholds" and "tipping points".

Most goods and services sold today fail to bear the full environmental and social cost of production and consumption. Based on the science, we need to reach consensus, over time, on methodologies to price them properly. Costing environmental externalities could open new opportunities for green growth and green jobs;

International governance for sustainable development must be strengthened by using existing institutions more dynamically and by considering the creation of a global sustainable development council and the adoption of sustainable development goals;

Note the key words and phrases:

• unsustainable lifestyles, production and consumption patterns
• The current global development model is unsustainable
• "planetary boundaries", "environmental thresholds" and "tipping points"
• Based on the science, we need to reach consensus, over time, on methodologies to price them (goods and services) properly
• the creation of a global sustainable development council

What these "sustainability socialists" want is in reality to have some kind of world (socialist) government to decide our lifestyle, production, consumtion, markets and prices. Fortunately, their dream will never come true, but it will keep hundreds - if not thousands - of highly paid bureaucrats and "experts" busy planning the next major totally useless "sustainability" reports.

Hilton hypocrites promoting another climate change scam

Some of the readers of this blog may remember the post about Hilton Hotels Worldwide "sustainability" hypocrites announcing the "shutting down of business center equipment", "dimming interior lights in lobby and reception areas" and "encouraging guests to switch off their room lights"  during the "earth hour" last year.

(Fortunately business executives in need of hotel accomodation were able to use the facilities of other hotels, not participating in this annual greenie stupidity.)

Now the same Hilton hypocrites are again busy promoting another climate change scam.

Hilton Worldwide and Sundance Institute announced today the winners of the newly launched Hilton Worldwide LightStay Sustainability Award program, which includes $25,000 for one feature film and one in-process category winner. The prizes will be presented at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival next week.

In a press release Hilton eulogizes the winning (bogus) documentary:

The Island President (Feature): President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives is confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced -- the literal survival of his country and everyone in it. As one of the most low-lying countries in the world, a rise of in sea level would submerge the 1200 islands enough to make them uninhabitable. A classic David and Goliath tale, The Island President captures Nasheed's first year in office, culminating in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit where the film provides an unprecedented glimpse of what takes place at such a top-level global assembly. A movie about one man's mission to save his nation, The Island President, is a riveting, uplifting story that is impossible to ignore

The reality is that Hilton´s "sustainability" efforts are just a way to look "progressive", cash in on the supposed "green" trend and at the same time reduce energy costs in their hotels.

And the selection of "The Island President" as the winning documentary is also a carefully thought out decision. As one of the biggest - if not the biggest - foreign hotel and holiday resort businesses in the Maldives - with three major resorts: Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, Hilton Maldives/Iru Fushi Resort & Spa and Waldorf Astoria Maldives - Hilton is of course interested in receiving favourable treatment by the Maldives government.

Awarding the film that glorifies the publicity hungry climate crusadeer president of the tiny island state is, of course, one way of securing Hilton´s future business interests in the area.

One would not be surprised at all if President Mohamed Nasheed, who once organized a publicity stunt with an underwater government meeting, is already one of the regulars at the Conrad Maldives "unique Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant with spectacular 180° views of coral and marine life".

At least it would fit the real lifestyle of this darling of the "progressive" western media, who recently joined The Legacy Club for the super rich in Asia, which certainly has a lot of interesting activities to offer for its members:

The Legacy club "is, first and foremost, a lifestyle club. And like all lifestyle clubs, members enjoy a range of privileges that include investment opportunities, luxury hotel suite stays and wellness retreats, priority booking for private jets and once-in-a-lifetime experiences"

UN chief propagandists already hyping next year´s Rio sustainability carneval

The Welcome Ceremony at the UN 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development was a religion-resembling pageant venerating Mother Earth

"There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with Nature; there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result from eating from the tree of knowledge; and as a result of our actions, there is a judgment day coming for all of us. We are energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment, just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs imbibe".

          Michael Crichton, 2003



The enormous United Nations hype machinery, led by its South Korean Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has already gone into overdrive in its propaganda campaign leading up to next year´s mega event, The Earth Summit, also known as the Fourth United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or "Rio+20", to be helt in Brazil in June next year.

Thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, environmentalists and journalists have already made preliminary flight and hotel bookings for the Rio de Janeiro sustainability carneval, sponsored by the world´s tax payers.

And, of course, the main event is preceded by tens, if not hundreds of smaller gatherings in all corners of the world.

Only the other day the UN nineteenth Commission on Sustainable Development held a 10 day meeting in New York with "Government ministers from about 50 countries attending the segment, which was designed to give impetus to preparations for the Fourth UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, which will be held in the Brazilian city in June 2012."

The Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon himself spoke at the New York gathering:

Ban Ki-moon today stressed the need for fundamental changes in humanity’s resource consumption patterns and values, saying the planet’s natural environment is under unprecedented pressure with far-reaching social and economic consequences.

“We must also create an enhanced architecture for sustainable development governance at the national, regional and international levels. This is critical to advancing sustainable development. Our watchwords must be ‘implementation’ and ‘action’,”

A few days later, another of the UN bigwigs,  Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General of UNIDO was busy hyping the same themes in St. Petersburg:

The world must radically alter the way it produces and consumes materials if genuinely sustainable development is going to take root, the head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) said today. “This is how we can green our economies, our growth strategies and our industries, creating new green jobs, stimulating green investments and encouraging green innovations.”

Before anybody gets too excited about the UN "Rio+20", it may be useful to read what professor Philip Stott ( Emeritus Professor of Biogeography at the University of London) wrote about its predecessor, "Rio+10" in 2002:

'Sustainable development' is just dangerous nonsense

Where conferences on "sustainable development" are concerned, Schumacher's precept, "small is beautiful", has been long abandoned. Later this month, 65,000 delegates will descend on Johannesburg for "Earth Summit 2002" - the World Summit on Environment and Development.

These will include 106 government heads, 10,000 officials from 174 countries, and 6,000 journalists. The BBC team alone could top 100. Twenty UN bodies will be represented. A second parallel conference, comprising a kaleidoscope of lobbyists from ornithologists to oil magnates, has already received 15,000 registrations. Sustaining the whole caboodle will be 27,000 police, who may well be relieved that George W Bush is unlikely to attend.

Auden's Unknown Citizen might well ask: "What on earth is it all about?" The answer is, an empty phrase that Humpty Dumpty could employ to mean anything. "Sustainable development" was born out of the Green agenda of the 1970s and 1980s, including such apocalyptic constructs as the population timebomb and limits to growth, both of which proved false.

It received an initial airing in the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, but gained hegemony during the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Rio generated a programme, Agenda 21, for implementing sustainable development throughout the world. The Johannesburg jamboree is effectively Rio+10, a push for a revitalised and integrated UN system for sustainable development.