But first, a bit of news about he who defines the term “Moonbatâ€, though the term was not begun because of his name.
George Monbiot, the environmental campaigner, scourge of the automobile industry and champion of not owning cars, has finally bought himself . . . a car.
Notwithstanding pledges to live a green lifestyle and be a model to others, he has given in to temptation and acquired a secondhand Renault. The car industry will be silently celebrating the news. Monbiot has championed an anticar movement that has grown rapidly in influence to the point where many owners now feel guilty about using their cars.
His most recent book Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. He once described the pro-car lobby as “antisocial bastards†and has blamed cars for ruining children’s lives. “Our children are growing upsocially stunted: instead of playing together they are playing alone on their computers, partly because the streets are both dangerous and choked with cars.â€
In what can only be described as a comprehensive U-turn, Monbiot has chosen a Renault Clio, an economical hatchback but not the most frugal in fuel consumption or carbon emissions. He bought it from a friend for an undisclosed amount. As zealots will be quick to remind him, it emits 115g/km , 10% higher than a Toyota Prius, the petrol-electric hybrid belovedof CO2 of the green movement.
Jeremy Clarkson, Monbiot’s long-standing antagonist, said: “I’m glad he hasn’t gone for a Prius – that would have marked him out as an idiot. I just hope the bonnet doesn’t fly up (Renault Clios have been criticised for faulty bonnet catches) because he’ll be killed – then where would the world be?â€
He says he only uses it as “transportation of last resortâ€, but for someone who said that very few people actually “need†personal automobiles, it sounds as though he has set himself up as a laughing stock.
Found at Tim Blair
And now, without further ado, some more false predictions from the early manifestation of the eco-chicken little crowd.
If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder by the year 2000…This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.
Kenneth E.F. Watt – Speech at the 1970 Earth Day Rally in DC
Dr. Watt gets his title from his degree in Zoology and he is a Board Member of the Center for the Study of CO2 and Climate Change.
I guess that he just couldn’t bring himself to join a group with “Global Warming†in their name.
This cooling has already killed hundreds of thousands of people. If it continues and no strong action is taken, it will cause world famine, world chaos and world war, and this could all come about before the year 2000.
Lowell Ponte – Author of The Cooling 1976
The only time it seems to get abnormally cold is when Al Gore stops in your town. But we should trust them this time around.
I suppose we could all hope that the “disaffected youth” find Monbiot’s Renault this summer and burn it to the ground, but then, that would be mean-spirited, wouldn’t it?
I can’t wait for the day when a benevolent dictator arises in some nation, and gives his subjects a choice: they can live and espouse the green life, and when a shortage of fuel or electricity arises, they have just volunteered to be the first to be cut off, or they can shut the f**k up and mind their own business.
Maybe you could start the “sign up or shut up” movement, Phil. A national list would be established online for one to flout one’s green creds, but in any event of a shortage of modern necessities, these greenies will have to agree, in advance, to forego all modern conveniences BEFORE the rest of us.
Thomas Sowell once noted that on a typical summer day in the temperate climates, the temperature rises thirty or forty degrees between dawn and Noon. A warmista would say that “if this trend continues, we’ll all be dead of heatstroke by nightfall!”
Trends are far less important than the processes that produce them. This is especially true for short-run and ambiguous trends. The old principle of primum non nocere — “first, do no harm” — is therefore paramount. Until we understand the processes behind a trend, we have no mandate to do anything about it. Especially not completely re-engineer the most successful society in the history of the world.