German professor speaks out about the latest efforts to save the euro and Greece

Another German professor, who is prepared to speak out about the latest effort to "save" the euro and prevent Greece from bankruptcy:

Nearly 86 percent of private investors have agreed to join in the debt-swap deal that will help Greece avoid an uncontrolled default. But is that good news? Many experts have their doubts. In a SPIEGEL ONLINE interview, economics professor Harald Hau argues that not only will the plan put the burden on taxpayers, but it will mean an even bigger crisis to come.


SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is the debt haircut enough to free Greece from its worst burdens?

Hau: No. The agreed-upon debt haircut is insufficient. No matter what, there will be a second, proper bankruptcy. It will probably take another nine months to three years, but then there will be a really big crisis, both economically and politically. The problem has only been deferred. The next time it will only affect the taxpayers, though.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why?

Hau: The banks have been stalling for time over the last one and a half years. They wanted to take as many interest payments with them as possible. Now they realize that time is running out and have thus changed their strategy. They are just trying to pass on as many debts as possible to the public sector. From their perspective, this is a smart move. But it will be a catastrophe for taxpayers in the end.

Read the entire interview here

Merkel, Sarkozy and the rest know all this very well, but they all have their own reasons to behave as though they would be saving Greece and the euro.

China blocking Airbus orders worth $12 billion because of EU´s senseless emission trading scheme

Representatives of the Brussels EU bureaucracy are still insisting that the inclusion of aviation in the European Union´s  senseless emission trading scheme will take place as planned, but - as we have pointed out earlier - this is a fight the "EUSSR" will loose.

Trade war is looming, and China is blocking Airbus orders worth at least $12 billion. And this is just the beginning of a process that is bound to seriously hurt the already now weak EU economy. It cannot take long before saner voices will replace the Connie Hedegaard and the other Brussels climate fanatics:

China is blocking orders for at least $12 billion worth of Airbus jets to protest the European Union's emissions trading fees, in a new challenge to the program aimed at fighting global warming, the planemaker said Thursday.
With some analysts warning of a brewing trade war, Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said his company is seeing "retaliation threats" from 26 countries, "in particular from China."
Speaking to The Associated Press, he said 35 orders by Chinese airlines for A330 planes are on hold because China's government is refusing to approve them. He said orders for another 10 A380 superjumbos are also under threat, and that the combined list prices of the aircraft is $12 billion.

Read the entire article here

Study: Replacing all coal plants with renewables would have practically no cooling effect 50 or 100 years from now

"I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration"

Al Gore




Robert Rapier, writing in the Consumer Energy Report, summarizes a new paper in Environmental Research Letters, which must be rather depressing reading for Al Gore, Greenpeace and the rest of the anti-coal warmists:


Even if you could in theory shut down all of the coal-fired power plants in the world and replace them with wind, solar, and hydropower — in 50 years the projected temperature is only one-twentieth of a degree C cooler than the base case of continuing to use coal. In 100 years, if I could replace all global coal-fired power plants with firm, renewable power — the temperature is only projected to be about 0.2 degrees cooler than under the coal base case. And the way this is being spun is that the 0.09 degree reduction from switching to natural gas is equivalent to an effect of “zero”, but the 0.2 degree reduction in hypothetically replacing everything with wind and solar power 100 years from now is significant. About the natural gas case, Romm literally said the 0.09 degree lower temperature in switching to natural gas means that “natural gas is a bridge fuel to nowhere”, but the 0.2 degree lower temperature in switching to renewables is “the worlds only plausible hope to avert catastrophic temperature rise.”
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Bear in mind that this is for a global replacement of coal — most of which is used in Asia. Good luck trying to sell China and India on a 0.2 degree temperature difference in 100 years if they quickly abandon their coal-fired power plants and replace them with wind power.
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To be honest, if I was devoting my life to fighting against the threat of climate change, this would be one of the most depressing papers I have ever read. If we could convince everyone in the world to shut down their coal-fired power plants — which we can’t — and replace them with renewable power — which isn’t available in quantities sufficient to replace coal-fired power — then by the end of my life there would still be no statistically significant temperature change to even be able to tell if my life’s work was successful.

Read the entire article here

Another great speech by Daniel Hannan

Daniel Hannan, tory MEP, is without doubt one of the great political orators of our time. His recent speech at the Australian Institute of Public Affairs is further proof of his greatness:

Here is a link to more of Hannan´s speeches.

Over 1,3 billion people to "celebrate" Earth Hour on March 29

Hundreds of activists are now busy planning the 2012 Earth Hour, "the largest environmental event in history". According to the official Earth Hour website "more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change".

But we already know that the 2012 Earth Hour, on March 29, is going to be an even bigger success, with over 1,3 billion people "celebrating" worldwide, particularly in Africa:

“Some 1.3 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity – and 45 per cent of those live in Africa".

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General

PS

In spite of the expected high "attendance", the WWF´s African activists are working hard in order to emulate last year´s success stories, like this one:

Kenya first took part in Earth Hour in 2009 and is organised by WWF. The highlight in 2011 was a high-level cocktail reception ..

"Scottish pioneers of climate justice"

Alex Salmond - A proud "pioneer of climate justice"

Scotland´s First Minister Alex Salmond has suggested that 2012 should be the "year of climate justice". Consequently, the Scottish parliament has had the "first ever parliamentary debate" on "climate justice".

The World Development Movement blog enthusiastically summarizes the debate:



As SNP MSP Marco Biago said: “I am drawn to the World Development Movement’s phenomenal statistic—which I have no reason to doubt—that the UK emits more carbon dioxide in one year than Bangladesh has emitted in its entire history. When we have spent 200 years polluting our way to prosperity, the issue becomes not noblesse oblige—helping because we can help—but helping because we caused or contributed greatly to the problem, so we have an obligation to help.”

Politicians also recognised Scotland’s historic responsibility as one of the countries that created the modern world, with its reliance upon coal and oil for fuel. The image of the Scot as pioneer of old who ‘in coffee shops and taverns up and down the Royal Mile... put together the ideas that underpinned the modern world and the industrial revolution’, and who should now become a pioneer of climate justice, was a nice one promoted by Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie.

And as the Labour MSP Neil Findlay put it: “Scotland has been a world player in so many fields in past centuries, and I hope that over the next ones we will be seen as pioneers whose actions have environmental justice as a core philosophy, unhindered by balance sheets, corporate greed and further exploitation.”

Importantly, Neil Findlay also picked up on WDM’s concept of climate debt, saying:
“The World Development Movement argues that we in the west have accrued an adaptation debt because of our contribution to climate change internationally. It is calculated that our share of that debt is £22 billion over 40 years. I am not arguing that we immediately write a cheque to settle that, but it is morally right that we develop policies that try to repair some of the damage that we have inflicted. We should provide expertise and capability to assist countries in the developing world.”

The debate was also an opportunity for Stewart Stevenson ( Minister for Environment and Climate Change at the Scottish Government) to announce a new ‘climate justice fund’ that will help people in poor countries to adapt to climate change.


Meanwhile The Scotsman is reporting about "development movement" in the real world:

‘Twenty years of austerity’ for Scots public spending

SCOTLAND’S battered economy will remain flat throughout the first half of this year and public finances face an austerity chill of almost two decades before spending returns to its pre-recession high, the country’s chief economist has warned.         
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The study predicted spending cuts would last longer and have a far deeper impact than first envisaged. Some £51 billion will be lost from the Scottish budget – a third higher than the £39bn forecast last autumn. The cumulative loss would build up year on year and mean an 18-year austerity chill in spending. Holyrood’s budget would start to rise again in 2017-18, but it would be 2027-28 before it got back to its pre-recession high of 2009-10.
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Unemployment also showed little sign of picking up, with the rate in Scotland having more than doubled from about 4 per cent before the recession struck to almost 9 per cent.

Twenty years of austerity and spending cuts is on offer for the people of Scotland - and paying the £22 billion "climate debt", of course, comes on top of that. Perhaps we should congratulate the "Scottish pioneers of climate justice"?

(image by wikipedia)

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."
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"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.