[The Weeping Angel]

I hate to be a spoilsport but Greta didn't provoke Andrew Tate into revealing his location.

https://www.calmdownben.com/p/romanian- ... ind-andrew

No Romanian journalist reported that the cops found him because of a pizza box in a reply to Greta Thunberg.

But there are lots of stories in the US and Britain claiming that. Why? Well, they’re all basically citing each other. But if you dig through the citations you eventually come to the Daily Star which cites an American Twitter account.

“According to Alejandra Caraballo, a writer and clinical instructor posting on Twitter: “Romanian authorities needed proof that Andrew Tate was in the country so they reportedly used his social media posts.”

That Twitter account makes the claim.

[Spoonman]

Indeed I read this morning that the Romanian police denied that it was the pizza box that led them to know Tate's whereabouts, and to be fair that would only appear to imply that he was present in the country anyway which I'm sure the local authorities would have other knowledge of. As their spokesperson sort of said, "It's a nice story, but no".

Still, don't fuck with Greta Thunberg.

[Bones McCoy]

Top Gamma (Or whatever he's called) further reduces his carbon footprint.

Romanian police seize luxury cars from Andrew Tate's property

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64273973

[Crabcakes]

Given Tate is a bullshit-spreading stain on humanity, I won’t lose any sleep over whether a story that paints him as even more of a self-owning loser is true or not.

What it 100% is, is poetic

[kreuzberger]

Ms Thunberg has also been across the news today. She doesn't have any posh motas either.

[Crabcakes]

In other news, I suspect this is the year when climate finally gets centre stage and is the tipping point for some serious action. Because this year looks like an El Niño year, and that means things are going to get dangerously unpleasant and unpredictable.

It’s a fucking travesty that it has to get to the point a lot of people die to make things be taken seriously, but by this autumn I think both the political and literal landscape may look very different. And locally at least, that could help Labour as any hint the Tories give a shit about the environment outside of using it as an excuse to prevent people doing stuff like camp on Dartmoor is long gone.

[kreuzberger]

Yes, I saw that El Niño article on the Graun and it is - um - chilling.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ate-crisis

If it is only half right, we are all in uncharted territory.

[Tubby Isaacs]

El Nino was bad enough in 1998.

[davidjay]

And the response will be, "It's all natural. Climate change is a hoax." Because whether it's man-made or not is utterly irrelevant. Natural climate change has wiped out life on earth before now; we could stop it happening again if we weren't so fucking stupid.

[The Weeping Angel]

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4062 ... tor-winter

New ECIU analysis shows how record generation from renewables meant UK was able to avoid 78 LNG tankers worth of gas imports
Renewables has overtaken gas to become the biggest single source of power on the UK grid so far this winter, with power generated by wind, hydro and solar reaching a record 34TWh from 1 October 2022 to 13 January 2023.

That is the headline finding from the latest edition of the Energy Climate and Intelligence Unit's (ECIU) Winter Power Tracker, which found that renewables have produced 2TWh more electricity than gas over the winter months to date.

According to the analysis, generating the same amount of power using gas power stations alone would have required an additional 68TWh of gas, which is equivalent to 7.4 million homes' gas use for the entire winter, or 78 tankers of liquified natural gas (LNG).

[Crabcakes]

But new coal mines, yeah?

[Andy McDandy]

Coal mining is manly and fucks off the hippies and allows the Tories to go "Aaaah, but we thought you all looooved mining!" if Labour complain.

Seriously, I think that's their actual strategy.

[mattomac]

I thought they scrapped that. (Think that was Fracking on second thoughts).

Anyhow reading Matt Winnings “hot mess” which I think is fantastic and I put it up there with Lynas for general reading on the subject.

[Yug]

I'm with the caahncil and CPRE on this one.

A gas discovery worth an estimated £123m in the Surrey Hills has been hailed by exploration firm UK Oil & Gas (UKOG).

The firm has been exploring the site at Dunsfold after the government overturned local opposition last year.

UKOG said the location's recoverable resources could help the UK's future energy security.

But opponents warned of a "detrimental impact" on the landscape and nearby Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The government approved an application to drill in June 2022 after being refused twice by Surrey County Council...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-64718646

Stephen Sanderson, CEO of UKOG, described the find as "one of the UK's largest onshore gas discoveries" and hopes production can start in 2026.

He said once the site is depleted of natural gas by around 2036, UKOG will investigate its use to store about 1bn cubic metres of hydrogen.

He described it as "a further addition to the company's and UK's much-needed future energy storage portfolio".

But Waverley Borough Council said it objected in the "strongest possible terms" and that it was challenging the government's decision to allow the planning application at the site.

Councillor Steve Williams said drilling would lead to "irreversible harm" to the environment including the loss of ancient woodland, protected species and other local wildlife.

And Tom Fyans, CEO of countryside charity CPRE, said the plans "cannot go ahead".

"In light of the climate crisis and the urgent need to wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels, these plans are breath-taking in their audacity," he said.

He said the people of Surrey would be "aghast" at the prospect of a "decade of industrial gas drilling" on the edge of an AONB.

"It's hard to see how the project can go ahead without mass protests. It makes a mockery of the notion of local democracy," he added.

We should be building more windfarms, both inland and offshore, and installing solar panels wherever possible. There are thousands of acres of warehouse roofs which are ripe for electricity production. It should be compulsory for all new-builds, domestic as well as commercial, to have solar panels fitted as standard. What we shouldn't be doing is destroying the countryside in a search for atmosphere-damaging fossil fuels.

If this opinion marks me down as some sort of poisonous greenie-lefty yoghurt-knitting sandalista, so be it.

[Andy McDandy]

There are countries in central and south America that are fuelled mostly by renewable energy. Indeed, it's a bad month when Colombia's power is less than 60% renewable.

Also, one of the reasons energy costa are so high is because electricity prices are pegged to wholesale gas prices. Link them to renewables and whoopee, lower costs, more productivity, better economy, better dividends for the shareholders. Except the ones in gas.

Given the reception they got at the recent NFU conference (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... d-no-wheat), it seems that the government are now entirely fixated on shoring up the "fuck you, I'm well off and don't have to work again" vote.

[Yug]

Here we go again

Chemicals which caused the hole in Earth’s ozone layer are growing at alarming rates despite an international ban, a new study has found.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), man-made gases once widely used in air conditioners and refrigerators, were banned in 2010 in a landmark international agreement called the Montreal Protocol.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-c ... 4.html?amp

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Piers Corbyn has completely left his tree. Here he is haranguing Extinction Rebellion as minions of the devil because they believe in man-made climate change...

Note the 'gerroff me!' which is so reminiscent of Corbyn Minor.

[Youngian]

There was lots to enjoy from this George Monbiot interview from the tedium of conspiracists to a pragmatic pitch towards technological solutions to climate change. He described corporate green wash guff but also inspiring potential of post cattle industry protein farming and genetic modification’s role in reducing ploughing and pesticides. Some flaky stuff too but a third you like, a third you don’t and a third food of thought, makes for an engaging interview.

[Yug]

Laws to ensure the government is transparent about how they plan to reduce harmful air pollution are among those to be scrapped in the EU retained law bill.

A climbdown by ministers over the bill has reduced the number of EU regulations to be automatically removed from the statute books from 4,000 to 600, but key rules on air pollution are among those still expected to be removed.


The regulations being taken out of UK law impose a duty on the government to publish a pathway to meeting tight emissions targets by 2030 for five noxious pollutants...

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment ... pped-by-uk

The Tories haven't changed their policy on air quality for 40 years.

When she left formal education, my sister's first proper job was doing science-y stuff at the Warren Spring air pollution laboratory in Stevenage. This was a part of the Department of the Environment which Thatcher thought was an expensive irrelevance and had shut down. Forty years on, the Tories demonstrate that they still don't give a shit about air quality.

They might care a little bit if they could see a way to make a profit from fresh air. As it is, there's no way of monetising the stuff, so just let the plebs choke.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

As it is, there's no way of monetising the stuff, so just let the plebs choke.

The cheese sandwich response.