It’s always great when people who aren’t anywhere close to being experts, or even amateurs, in a field like to tell the experts how to do their jobs

How farmers could fight climate change (and make a profit)

Agriculture has never been a principal focus of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. But farm emissions — which make up about 10% of the U.S. total — are coming under increasing scrutiny as Democrats take the reins of agricultural policy and farmers themselves awaken to the threats of climate change. One strategy in particular is getting attention this year: encouraging farmers to view emissions reduction and carbon sequestration as potential sources of income.

The idea is fairly straightforward. Farmers would take steps to reduce their carbon output, such as reducing tillage to avoid releasing soil carbon, planting cover crops to hold carbon in the soil, applying manure treatments and “digesters” to limit emissions of methane, and using nitrogen fertilizer more precisely to lower nitrous-oxide emissions. In return, they could sell credits to companies looking to reduce their own climate footprint. Private markets for such credits are already springing up, and Congress took measures to encourage similar exchanges in the 2008 Farm Bill.

So, Democrats are going to use government force to “encourage” farmers to not use their fields to grow food, and to use older, less safe processes like spraying shit instead of modern treatments on the growing food. And the farmers will somehow make money by selling credits on these mythical private markets for credits, which are really backed by and mandated by Government.

But much about this concept has yet to be worked out, notably the basic question of how to measure the climate value of various farming practices. Here the U.S. Department of Agriculture could help. A Senate bill introduced last year would direct the USDA to create standards for measuring the effectiveness of climate-protection measures on farms, certify people to help farmers take such measurements and verify their value, and work with the Environmental Protection Agency to monitor private carbon-credit markets.

More government interference and control of the agriculture sector. Which means cost increases for food. All for a mythical problem.

Such exchanges could go a long way toward encouraging farmers to reduce emissions and sequester carbon. But they won’t work unless regulators can ensure that they’ll actually bring substantial climate benefits. The danger is that a carbon-credit system might instead mainly enable airlines, investment funds, energy firms, agribusinesses and other companies to excuse their own greenhouse-gas emissions by purchasing inexpensive and largely meaningless offsets.

It won’t make a difference in the climate at all. It will make farmers, who are independent spirits, resist like heck.

By setting standards for measurement and verification, and monitoring the private markets, the USDA can maximize the potential of “carbon farming.” It can also extend the benefits beyond the big operations, which can most easily demonstrate emissions reductions, to smaller farms — by helping them participate in collective efforts. If such measurements proved reliable, the Biden administration’s proposal to create a government “carbon bank” — which would buy credits from farmers for a guaranteed price per ton — might act as a powerful incentive for farmers big and small.

Sure sounds less like a private market and more like government dominance, eh?

That said, carbon trading does hold significant promise for limiting emissions on the farm — so long as it’s based on verifiable practices that will allow markets to accurately value the credits. The first step is to get the right data.

I suggest that would start implementing these types of carbon trading schemes on credentialed news outlets, print, TV, and even Internet, let’s see if they’re good with trading schemes when they apply to their own industry. No? They’d be mad? Huh.

This begs the question: will the LA Times give up their own use of fossil fueled vehicles to gather and disseminate the news? Will the members of the editorial board declare they have each given up their own fossil fueled vehicles? Perhaps the paper can mandate that employees do not own fossil fueled vehicles? It would be fun to see how the whole of greater LA County runs without fossil fuel vehicles

Editorial: To save the planet from climate change, gas guzzlers have to die

The numbers paint a daunting picture. In 2019, consumers worldwide bought 64 million new personal cars and 27 million new commercial motor vehicles, a paltry 2.1 million of which were electric-powered. Climate scientists tell us that we have less than a decade to make meaningful reductions in carbon emissions — including those from internal combustion engines — if we have any hope of staving off the worst effects of global warming.

Yet manufacturers are still making, and consumers are still buying, overwhelming numbers of vehicles that will, on average, continue to spew carbon into the atmosphere for a dozen years after they first leave the lot. That means new cars bought this year will still be on the road well into the 2030s — long after the point when we should have slashed emissions.

Like we said, a daunting picture.

Manufacturers are still making because consumers are still buying. Consider that the local Honda dealers has 152 regular Accords and 38 Accord Hybrids in stock at the moment (I know they are we low on EXL inventory, with a lot on order). An EXL regular Accord is $32,440. The comparable hybrid is $33,885. The difference in costs is not that much with hybrids these days, but, people still prefer the horsepower of a regular. It’s those who drive a lot or really want the fuel economy (30 city/38 highway vs 48/48). The difference between a Civic and an Insight (really, almost the same car) and a CRV and CRV Hybrid are similar monetarily. It’s simply a choice. And way more will choose the non-hybrid. The thing is, all these hybrids, including Prius’ and plugins, still run primarily on gas, with an electric motor assist. So, they would have to go. Most people have zero interest in a straight plugin. The rollout of the Honda Clarity was such a disaster than they only sell them on the west coast, not even the NE states that had been selling them.

The only straight plugin really selling well is the Tesla, and not many can afford a vehicle in the upper $30k’s.

What will it take to throttle back the gas burners and expand exponentially the number of vehicles that run on electric batteries, hydrogen fuel cells or other non-fossil energy sources? Political will, strong government thumbs on the scale to favor zero-emission vehicles over gas burners (an all-out ban on their production and sale is likely too radical for the world, but it would certainly help), and increased spending on developing and producing clean energy sources, battery technologies and charging capabilities.

In other words, it will take Government flexing their authoritarian muscle. That’s not democracy, as the Dems like to put it, nor is that what takes place in a Constitutional Republic. But, hey, it’s easy for elites who make lots of money to demand these changes which will utterly hose the middle and lower classes.

Still, ending reliance on fossil fuel to power engines will be crucial, and among the most challenging tasks given how deeply insinuated such vehicles have become in global commerce and transit systems, from the personal vehicles we use to fetch groceries to the vessels that move products around the world to the airplanes that take a few hours to shuttle people to places that used to take days or weeks to reach by train or ship.

So, by gas guzzlers the LATEB seems to be also including planes and sea going vessels. I suppose this would include pleasure craft such as SeaDoos and small ski boats. This would hit Leonardo DiCarpio hard, as no more big pleasure yachts. Would this ground high flying Warmists like John Travolta and Harrison Ford? What would be the hit on California, which imports and exports huge amounts of goods via their ports on fossil fueled ships. How many would be out of a job? Warmists just think this stuff can happen without major economic disruption and pain. Because they’re nuts and cultists.

Wait, aren’t apprenticeships typically unpaid positions? It’s 2021, not the Middle Ages

Boost pandemic recovery with 250,000 green apprenticeships, Friends of the Earth urges

A vast skills pipeline of 250,000 green apprenticeships leading to full-time jobs across the burgeoning low carbon economy could address both climate breakdown and the post-Covid crisis in youth unemployment, research released today by Friends of the Earth contends.

Carried out by analyst firm Transition Economics on behalf of the green campaign group, the study sets out how a major skills push backed by £10.6bn of government funding to cover wage subsidies and training schemes across the UK could create much-needed jobs in renewable energy, woodland creation, and peatland restoration.

The training could be delivered at a network of national and regional ‘Centres of Excellence for Zero Carbon Skills’ at further education colleges, while diversity measures such as bursaries of £1,500 could help promote participation in green apprenticeships among disadvantaged groups including Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, women, and disabled people, it argues.

Researchers also identified the regions with the greatest potential for green apprenticeship creation. Among combined authority and metro mayor areas, London leads the pack with an estimated potential for over 44,200 green apprenticeships, while West Midlands comes second with 19,400, followed by Greater Manchester with just over 14,000.

But against its estimates for green apprenticeship potential, the report also highlights the current bleak employment outlook for young people in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. If all young people currently without a job remain unemployed for a year, it could result in £39bn in lost wages in the UK over the next two decades, it warns.

That’s around 15 billion U.S. dollars to train people for jobs that barely exist to replace jobs that COVID lockdown killed off. With wage subsidies, because the jobs really aren’t worth all that much on the market (apparently, green jobs are like working at a fast food spot). Especially since they are apparently lots of manual labor jobs, and how many of these youngsters, especially from the cities, are willing to work these types of low skill jobs in the countryside? And, of course, they have to put the racial elements into their little scheme. Why do Leftists always think that “minorities” cannot do anything without the Helpful Hand Of Government? Isn’t that rather racist?

Why does Government have to create these so-called jobs? If there was a call for them the private sector would have created them already.

Perhaps the UK, which was one of the worst nations when it came to lockdowns, could reopen their economy and the jobs could come back.

And reports today suggested tomorrow’s Budget is expected to include a £57m green jobs and skills package for Scotland, in part designed to help workers in the oil industry become skilled in working on cleaner technologies.

What if they don’t want to? What if they like working in the oil industry, and like the money? If the government has to spend lots to subsidize green jobs, perhaps they don’t pay that well.

BTW, if you don’t think the climate crisis (scam) isn’t about far left politics, look at this article and see how they write about it.

At the surface, it’s fun for Skeptics to laugh at this climate cultist, but, it’s not quite that simple

India activist Disha Ravi arrested over farmers’ protest ‘toolkit’

A 22-year-old Indian climate activist has been arrested after sharing a document intended to help farmers protest against new agricultural laws.

Police said Disha Ravi was a “key conspirator” in the “formulation and dissemination” of the document.

The “toolkit”, which suggests ways of helping the farmers, was tweeted by prominent activist Greta Thunberg.

Activists say Ms Ravi’s arrest is a clear warning to those who want to show support to anti-government protests.

As the Hindustan Times notes, she’s accused of “sedition, promoting hatred among groups and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).” Anyhow, what are these protests about?

Tens of thousands of farmers have been protesting for more than two months over the laws, which they say benefit only big corporations.

The new legislation loosens rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm produce which have protected India’s farmers from the free market for decades.

The farmers’ protests mark the biggest challenge India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced. His government has offered to suspend the laws but the farmers want them replaced altogether.

So, the government wanted more free market and less government control of farming and less price fixing. The farmers are not only not good with that, they want even more government involvement in fixing prices and protections. Remember that bit

Ms Ravi, one of the founders of the Indian branch of the Fridays for Future climate strike, was arrested by Delhi police.

In a statement posted on social media on Sunday, police said she had “collaborated” to “spread disaffection against the Indian State”.

It said she was an editor of the document and had shared it with Swedish climate activist Ms Thunberg.

Police have said the toolkit suggested a conspiracy in the run up to a huge rally on 26 January, which saw protesting farmers clash with police.

“The call was to wage economic, social, cultural and regional war against India,” Delhi Police Special Commissioner Praveer Ranjan said earlier this month.

“We have registered a case for spreading disaffection against the government of India – it’s regarding sedition – and disharmony between groups on religious, social and cultural grounds, and criminal conspiracy to give shape to such a plan,” he added.

So, she was instrumental in whipping up the farmers to protest against the government for …. more government, which led to violence in a few cases. That said, should Skeptics support her, at least her ability to organize protests? Because we do support freedom of speech, even though that isn’t quite a thing in India. But, free speech support is free speech support, something the Warmists are against if that speech is considered Wrongthink.

On the flip side, should Warmists be for her arrest, since she was engaged in “anti-government” activities? They are certainly massive Big Government believers, right?

That is all the surface thoughts. The deep thoughts are that these climate cultists are involving themselves and their cult with the concerns of farmers, whipping them up, causing problems, messing up the message of the farmers, all for their cultish beliefs. The protests really had and have nothing to do with the climate change scam.

Is CBS Columbia Broadcasting System Or Climate Broadcasting Sect? Jeff Beradelli takes a different tact from most Warmists, who are blaming the cold and snow and ice on the melting of the Arctic because you took a long shower followed by a fossil fueled drive to get a burger

Polar vortex brings most extreme winter weather in years

From wind chills near 60 below zero in the Upper Midwest to an ice storm all the way to the Gulf Coast, it is rare that winter weather gets this extreme. The culprit is a polar vortex teaming up a very active jet stream.

That means cold, snow and ice for hundreds of millions of Americans.

On Saturday, more than two-thirds of the nation was under some kind of winter weather alert running the gamut from wind chill warnings in the northern Plains to winter storm warnings for the Pacific Northwest. There were also winter weather advisories in South Texas and ice storm warnings in the Mid-Atlantic.

A few weeks ago, the polar vortex, which is typically located near the North Pole, broke into pieces — a natural occurrence that happens every couple of winters. Smaller daughter vortices scattered around the Northern Hemisphere, bringing pockets of Arctic air to Siberia, Europe and North America.

For the past week, one of the daughter vortices has set up shop, spinning near the U.S.-Canada border. As a result, temperatures have been frigid, at times dropping below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, but the coldest of air has been confined to the far northern U.S. That’s about to change as lobes of the vortex rearrange its orientation, sending cold air south.

So, polar vortices are normal and natural. Except Warmists have been trying to blame them on Mankind, because they want to make sure that they can blame Mankind for their cultish beliefs. They’ve been saying they have become more extreme. Jeff takes it in a different route

Despite being extreme, it’s not nearly as extreme as it could be. Over the past few decades, due to human-caused climate change, the coldest extremes are getting less extreme. As one example, in Minneapolis the coldest day each year is now 12 degrees warmer than it used to be.

And that’s the only example offered, and the attached graphic only goes back to 1970, you know, the time the Earth was in a period where they were worried about a coming ice age. How does UHI and land use come into play? Yes, they are Man-caused, but, not global. Anyhow, these doomsday cultists just can’t help but drag their cult into everything.

Another story of doom and gloom from the Cult of Climastrology, and it’s all your fault

Climate Change Could Shred Guitars Known for Shredding

It is the wood that the rock greats have sworn by—swamp ash, in the form of their Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars—for over 70 years. If you’ve ever listened to rock, you’ve probably heard a swamp ash, solid body guitar. But now, climate change is threatening the wood that helped build rock and roll.

In today’s podcast, veteran guitarist Jim Campilongo takes us through the finer points of swamp ash and what it would mean to lose it.

Unlike usual posts, that’s all there is. You can watch the video, which is as climacrazy as you’d expect. Just another bit of fearmongering from the cult

Here’s the thing: the majority of the Telecasters and Stratocasters, both Fender and Squier, are made of…..mostly maple, not pure swamp ash, which is generally refereed to as trees that grow underwater, though that can be stretched quite a bit. The necks are usually made from Maple, Rosewood (my favorite), and Kona, with a few others here and there. So, the whole thing story is hot garbage. A goodly chunk of other electric guitars are the same. But, how do we know that a slight warming won’t make the wood sound better? Scientific America tried this before, that’s the link in the story, from back in 2020. It’s always doom with these people.

Several days ago I mentioned this guy

David Ismay, the undersecretary for climate change under Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) administration, explained during a Vermont Climate Council meeting last month the majority of the Bay State’s emissions come from average people and there is “no bad guy left … to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will.” Rather, he told his fellow climate advocates, “We have to break your will,” a remark he admitted would not bode well publicly.

“You know one thing we found through our analysis is that 60 percent of our emissions come from, as I have been starting to say, you and me — except you guys are in Vermont,” he told the climate advocates at the January 25 meeting.

And now?

Mass. Climate Change Undersecretary Resigns Amid Backlash Over Comments

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Undersecretary for Climate Change has resigned, after facing criticism over comments he made during a Zoom meeting last month.

David Ismay sent in his letter of resignation on Wednesday night to Secretary Kathleen A. Theoharides of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, also offering an apology for the remarks he made at the January Vermont Climate Council meeting.

“It is with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively immediately,” Ismay wrote. “Serving the people of Massachusetts as part of the Baker-Polito administration has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am proud of the equitable climate solutions we achieved together.”

The comments drew criticism after they were posted in a YouTube video by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. In the video Ismay can be heard saying lawmakers must “break the will” of consumers to address emissions and climate change.

“Sixty percent of our emissions that need to be reduced come from you — the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right? There is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts, to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly.”

No, he apparently can’t say that publicly, because that’s letting the cat out of the bag regarding what this whole scam is about. Smaller fish in the Cult of Climastrology might be able to get away with it, but, not someone in a higher position of government. Ismay did attempt to walk his comments back a bit in his resignation, but, come on, he meant it. He was saying what the high poobahs of the CoC believe and want to do

When asked about Ismay’s remarks on Wednesday, Governor Baker said he thought the comments “did not speak for the administration in terms of tone, substance, style or anything else.”

“He does not speak for me,” Baker said. “I happen to think in all of these issues, the goal here is to balance the various interests that are involved.”

If Baker believes, why is he not giving up his own use of fossil fuels? Good luck with Massachusetts winters without fossil fuels.