Climate change actions and motivational madness generates push-back in the developed world

It seem obvious in the current environment around the world that the “net-zero” push to eliminate GHG (green house gas emissions) is falling out of favour with the general population of most developed countries. Let’s look at a few!

Australia:

In Australia it seems the Aussies are not happy as a recent article in the NCA NewsWire suggests!  A rally was just held on their parliaments opening day in Canberra with hundreds of attendees including several politicians pushing back on renewable energy.  One Senator addressing the crowd stated: “I drove to Broken Hill and through to Coober Pedy and nothing angered me more than the sight of wind turbines. Especially after hearing from regional Australians about what it means to clear their land, what it means to have to dispose of these horrible eyesores.“ Yet another article from an anti-renewable group in Australia named “Stop These Things” titled “Destroying the Planet to ‘Save It’: Green Hypocrites Demand Even More Wind & Solar“ went into great detail about the harm caused by renewable energy starting with the opening sentence which stated:  “Leaving a wake of environmental destruction wherever it plies its subsidy-soaked trade, the wind industry is the Grand Master of green hypocrisy.“

As a matter of interest Australia’s major Exports in 2021were:  “In 2021, Australia was the world’s biggest exporter of Iron Ore ($118B), Coal Briquettes ($54.3B), Raw Nickel ($3.71B), Wool ($2.28B), and Zinc Ore ($2B)“ and China was their largest buyer. 

United Kingdom:

A fairly recent article in CNN about events in the UK highlighted the same dilemma we are experiencing in many parts of Canada by stating : “Across Europe, a backlash against net-zero policy is underway,” Brett Meyer and Tone Langengen at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a think tank, wrote in August.“ The article went on to note: “While polls show that an overwhelming majority believe climate change is a problem and support policies to address it, that support starts to fall once green policies come into force and people begin to experience their costs“.  It seems obvious that the “climate change” cult have convinced the Brits it is the major global threat but the costs of achieving “net-zero” emissions is weighing too heavily on people’s lives and they can’t afford to purchase EV or those heat pumps. While EV sales are tanking the conversion cost to install heat pumps are “around three to seven times more expensive than a typical boiler powered by natural gas when accounting for both its price and the installation cost. In Britain, even the more generous £7,500 ($9,400) government grant that Sunak unveiled in September won’t fully offset the difference in many cases.“ Despite the obvious, the “climate change cult” such as the Grantham Institute are still screaming as one quote from the article suggests; “There is no scenario in which delay is the cheaper option with climate change,” said Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute.“

Germany:

Wow, a recent article in BNN Bloomberg titled “German Industry Slams High Energy Costs as ‘Self-Made’ Problem“ points out how Germany’s small and mid-sized companies are being hammered by increasing bureaucracy and high energy costs.

Another recent article about Germany noted a Joint Economic Report confirmed a forecast by the IMF (International Monetary Fund)  that Europe’s largest economy was going to shrink. One of the major causes was “skyrocketing energy prices” and businesses concerned about “political uncertainty”.  Naturally the Russia/Ukraine war was cited as one of the causes of skyrocketing energy prices. We Canadians should imagine how we could have benefited by being at the ready (pipelines to the Atlantic and Pacific) which would have reduced the affect on European countries of energy shortages. Instead of the foregoing those reports and forecasts about Germany sound similar to what we have been hearing and experiencing here in Canada!

European Farmers Revolt:

Farmers Forum is an Ontario Ottawa based newspaper aimed at supplying Ontario’s farmers with news appropriate to what is happening in Ontario and elsewhere. In respect to the latter they recently posted an article about how angry farmers in Europe have held impressive protests (presumably inspired by Canada’s trucker’s convoy).  The article noted the protests were focused on “climate driven” policies aimed at everything from reducing nitrogen emissions, taxing farm diesel fuel, farmland conversion, etc. etc. In some of the countries where the protests have taken place such as  Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Scotland the policies are aimed at trying to reduce the annual deficits created by those “climate driven” policies! Just more punishment for the harm caused by the politicians influenced by the “climate change cult”! The article goes on to note that  Canadian farmers are reluctant to protest due to the Trudeau led governments “Emergency Act” initiation associated with the “trucker’s convoy” even though it has been found to have violated our Constitution. 

Interestingly enough it turns out the EU Farmers protests have been effective as the EU suddenly has backed down as their recently released roadmap to cut emissions “no longer includes a reference to a 30% reduction target in methane, nitrogen and other gases linked to farming”.

There are many videos of the Farmers Protests in the EU and one highlighting how they recently stormed the EU Summit in Brussels to get attention from the EU politicians presumably caused the politicians to backtrack!         

Link to Farmers protest: Bing Videos

Canada:

Here at home in  our vast and frequently cold climate we Canadians have also displayed our push-back on the decarbonization/electrification agenda but our Federal and many Provincial politicians have continued to ignore us.  Despite the foregoing the fight continues as issues such as the plan to produce “green hydrogen” in Newfoundland raised the hackles of the local population!

Newfoundland’s Green Hydrogen Pushback:

Many will recall the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Newfoundland in respect to him seeking natural gas to help them with their energy crunch. Instead, PM Trudeau offered him “green hydrogen” which resulted in them signing a “joint declaration of intent” or what most of us would define as a “loosey-goosey” promise!  Green hydrogen is a very expensive way to create emissions free gas and a recent article with an analysis suggested it could cost as much at US 33.2 cents/kWh just to produce the hydrogen. The “joint declaration of intent” between Germany and Canada is contingent on utilizing industrial 164 industrial wind turbines to be located in Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland close to where the natural gas will be extracted before processing.  Needless to say, the Newfoundlanders living in the area are pushing back and planning a major Island-Wide Protest on June 14^th. It is also highly unlikely that the “green hydrogen” Trudeau promised to Scholz will be available in 2025 as he suggested!

Ontario May get More Industrial Wind Turbines but Wilmot pushes back:

After the Ford led Government was elected back in 2018, they cancelled the GEA and gave responsibility for approval of new energy contract (renewables included) locations to municipal governments. As a result of IESO recently announcing they are seeking more renewable energy; municipal governments are now being lobbied and one of those municipalities is Wilmot Township where Prowind Inc. has been active in attempting to line up support for two projects. Many local farmers have joined together however to stop those projects and have laid out four major concerns with the “impact on the neighbourhood” as their primary concern as well as “deterioration of prime agricultural land” and the “setback requirements”.  Obviously, they will be pressing their local municipal politicians to reject the efforts by Prowind to obtain approval.

USA and Arizona’s 180 on Renewables:

Just a few years ago Arizona was on the verge of passing a mandate to achieve 100% renewable energy, but times have changed!  Republican majorities in the state Legislature as well as the Utility Commission have brought a return to sanity and the rising cost of energy in the state by abandoning the 100% push.  While the Democrats and renewable energy companies were upset, we should presume households in Arizona will be pleased to stop the climb as one of the Commission members stated: “Nick Myers said that based on information provided by the regulated utilities, the mandates “imposed by prior Commissions” have cost Arizona customers almost $3 billion through monthly billing surcharges that help pay for solar and wind projects and rebates that drive energy efficiency. I believe it is time for the Commission to consider repealing these rules and mandates that appear to unnecessarily drive-up costs”.

Conclusion:

Needless to say the many push-backs highlighted above only scratch the surface as renewable energy projects globally increased energy costs and drove many households into energy poverty while accomplishing nothing related to changing the climate. No considerations over the years have been aligned with the harm caused not only by the rising prices of electricity from renewable energy but also by the mining of rare minerals and the effects of industrial wind turbines on birds, bats and humans!

Those of us who elect the politicians are speaking up and voicing our concerns and those concerns are growing louder and louder! The push-back needs to continue to gain speed and support.

NB: Illustrating the damage caused by industrial wind turbines in Germany!