Steve Bull's Blog, page 110
July 21, 2023
Climate Engineering to Fight Global Warming? What Could Go Wrong!
Labor’s Bill Shorten and Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly visit the Royalla Solar Farm in Canberra, Australia, on June 28, 2016. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)Two years ago, a documentary, “The Dimming: Exposing The Global Climate Engineering Cover-Up,” was released by Dane Wigington of Geoengineering Watch. The documentary claimed that climate engineering had been going on for decades, and there had been a massive cover-up.
In fact, Yahoo Finance reported in 2019 that “Bill Gates backs plan to tackle climate change by blocking out the sun.”
Note that the UK already has a feasibility study project of its own about a decade before this called SPICE, or Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering. It states on its website that it is “investigating the feasibility of putting particles into the stratosphere in order to affect global temperatures.”
On June 30, the White House published a report about research into a possible plan to artificially block sunlight to prevent the warming of the Earth.
What could go wrong with that? Besides, it is a solution looking for a problem.
Climate changes! It is driven by the sun, not human activity. And even if you believed humans, with their cattle grazing and farming practices, make a contribution, it is infinitesimal compared to the effects of the sun on climate.
Global Warming? Cooling?
According to David Archibald, a Perth-based climate scientist, the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on world temperatures is minuscule, and what has caused the slight warming of the temperature in the last decade of the 20th century was the sun.
In the previous century, the sun was more active than at any time since the “Medieval Warm Period.”
“The existence of the Medieval Warm Period is corroborated by the Greenland borehole temperature data, which shows that Greenland was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer 1,000 ago than it is today …
…click on the above link to read the rest…
Experts Warn Renewable Energy Creates ‘New Opportunities’ for Chinese Grid Attacks
Wind turbines are viewed at a wind farm in Colorado City, Texas, on Jan. 21, 2016. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)America’s increasing reliance on intermittent power sources and batteries is creating novel risks, according to grid specialists who testified before Congress on July 18.
Many of the greatest among them emanate from a key geopolitical rival, China.
That’s partly because the new technologies frequently use inverters. When solar panels, wind turbines, and battery systems generate or store direct current electricity, inverters turn it into the alternating current electricity that flows through the grid.
Paul N. Stockton, a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, opened what he called a “rabbit hole” in response to a question on inverters during the House Energy & Commerce hearing.
“Do we have a satisfactory supply of inverters for all of the renewable energy that’s being brought into the grid?” Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) asked Mr. Stockton, who also holds positions on subcommittees in the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.
“Manufacturers in China are important producers of inverters being deployed nationwide, across the United States,” Mr. Stockton responded.
He explained that the country’s reliance on Chinese inverters could jeopardize grid security.
“Sure, we’ve got inverters. Some of them are made in China. Others may be manufactured for final assembly in friendly nations, but they might have components—hardware, software, and firmware—that could provide attack vectors. And the constant updating of firmware from the cloud and by service providers—who’s on top of that for maintaining adequate security? Congressman, that’s an opportunity for progress,” Mr. Stockton said.
Solar Panels With Parts From China
The United States’ use of solar panels with parts from China that are assembled in Southeast Asia has been a source of controversy in this Congress. President Joe Biden vetoed a bill that would have ended his temporary pause on tariffs affecting those panels.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
July 20, 2023
A Catastrophic Debt Implosion Can Be Incredibly Quick
Will the world experience a catastrophic debt implosion?
Just like the Titan Submersible that recently imploded, the global debt bubble can implode “within just a fraction of a millisecond”. More later in the article.
Are we now in the third circle in Dante’s Inferno?
Dante describes the 9 circles of hell. The 3rd circle is Gluttony which is fitting for a self indulgent Western world with excessive consumption of both material and financial resources.
Each circle represents a gradual increase in evil, culminating at the centre of the earth where Satan is held in bondage. The sinners of each circle are punished for eternity in a fashion fitting their crimes.
Financial markets have also been dominated by gluttony for an extended period. This has led to the biggest asset bubble in history.
But in spite of unprecedented risks in investment markets, for the few investors making the right choice, now is a period of great opportunity not just to preserve wealth but also to enhance it. More later.
END OF THE CURRENT WESTERN EMPIREBut here we are in the 21st century with the current Western Empire in the final stages of a secular decline which looks very similar to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Wars, debts, deficits, collapsing currencies, decadence, corruption and socialism – Plus ça change (the more things change, the more they stay the same).
Whether this cycle is the end of a 100, 300 or 2000 year era, only future historians will know the answer to.
WAR DRUMS AND NATO
To diffuse the real reasons for the collapse of the Western economy and the Financial System, there is nothing like starting a war. Leaders love to play real war games although most of them have never been near the front line…
…click on the above link to read the rest…
Why We Cannot Prevent Collapse
my own graphic; right click on image to open in a new tab and enlarge or download
Yes, I know — every box in the ‘vicious cycle’ graphic above is hugely debatable. But you know, I’m just tired of debating it. I think it describes what’s going on in the world both at an individual and at a collective level, for just about all 8 billion of us mildly deranged apes, reflected in our public behaviours, our public discourse, and in the heads of people I’ve met of every political persuasion and position of authority.
Derrick Jensen famously said that if we pay attention to the natural world and ‘listen to the land’ we will know just what to do. That’s the ‘know’ in quotation marks in this chart, which attempts to explain why, for very human reasons, although we ‘know’, we don’t, with few exceptions, and can’t collectively at any scale, do anything about it.
I’ve used “mass coherent collective action” (aka “the Great Turning”) as the example of salvationist thinking in the chart; it’s the “humanist” style of salvation myth of most people I know. I could have easily used any of the other classical or current salvation myths — the rapture, nuclear fusion, carbon capture, geoengineering, “great transition”, neosurvivalism, posthumanism etc — they all serve the same useless (in practical terms) comforting function. Nothing wrong with them as long as they’re seen for what they are, and are not.
Thanks for the inspiration to a number of collapsnik writers who have been musing helpfully on this subject, particularly about personal and collective human agency, about our human propensity to obfuscate and put out of mind truths we don’t want to deal with, and about our inclination for disingenuous wishful thinking — including Erik Michaels, Indrajit Samarajiva, and Tim Morgan.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
UK Looks To Boost Energy Security With Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
The UK launched on Tuesday a competition for small modular reactor (SMR) technology and created a new nuclear body, Great British Nuclear, in a bid to provide more zero-emission energy from locally-developed sources.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) is expected to drive the rapid expansion of new nuclear power plants in the UK, to boost UK energy security, reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports, create more affordable power, and grow the economy.
The nuclear industry is estimated to generate around $7.9 billion (£6 billion) for the UK economy, the government says.
As of today, companies can register their interest with GBN to participate in a competition to secure funding support to develop their SMR technology, which could result in billions of pounds of public and private sector investment in small modular reactor projects in the UK.
SMRs are considered to be the future of nuclear power technology because they are smaller than conventional reactors and can be manufactured in factories, making nuclear power stations cheaper and faster to build.
In the UK, Rolls-Royce has been developing SMR technology, which, the company says, can deliver cost-competitive and scalable net-zero power for multiple applications – from grid and industrial electricity production to hydrogen and synthetic fuel manufacturing.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
Electric Vehicles for Everyone? If the Dream Was Met, Would it Help the Environment?
Even if you are 100% convinced in man-made climate change, the idea the EV’s will help reduce CO2 emissions is nonsense.
The Impossible Dream
Hello climate change advocates, please open your minds and consider the Manhattan Institute report Electric Vehicles for Everyone? The Impossible Dream by Mark P. Mills, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow.
A dozen U.S. states, from California to New York, have joined dozens of countries, from Ireland to Spain, with plans to ban the sale of new cars with an internal combustion engine (ICE), many prohibitions taking effect within a decade. Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in a feat of regulatory legerdemain, has proposed tailpipe emissions rules that would effectively force automakers to shift to producing mainly electric vehicles (EVs) by 2032.
To ensure compliance with ICE prohibitions and soften the economic impacts, policymakers are deploying lavish subsidies for manufacturers and consumers. Enthusiasts claim that EVs already have achieved economic and operational parity, if not superiority, with automobiles and trucks fueled by petroleum, so the bans and subsidies merely accelerate what they believe is an inevitable transition.
It is certainly true that EVs are practical and appealing for many drivers. Even without subsidies or mandates, millions more will be purchased by consumers, if mainly by wealthy ones. But the facts reveal a fatal flaw in the core motives for the prohibitions and mandates.
Executive Summary Key Points
No one knows how much, if at all, CO2 emissions will decline as EV use rises. Every claim for EVs reducing emissions is a rough estimate or an outright guess based on averages, approximations, or aspirations. The variables and uncertainties in emissions from energy-intensive mining and processing of minerals used to make EV batteries are a big wild card in the emissions calculus……click on the above link to read the rest…
July 16, 2023
The Vulnerabilities Of A High-Tech Society
Life has become more complex as we transferred the task we did in the past to machines, and this could come back to haunt us. Our growing dependence on computers and devices such as smartphones and computers has dumbed down society. This has compromised the skills we need to endure and survive. We have reached the point where many people can not do simple math or read a map.
A video by City Prepping reveals just how difficult it would be to survive following a massive disaster where no help or aid comes forth. Imagine being forced to exist for months on your own. The video points out many people will die if such a situation would arise. Would you know what to do? Even if you do, many of the things that would help you and your family survive are easier said and done.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
The bell tolls for fiat
The importance of Russia’s announcement that a new gold-backed trade currency is on the BRICS meeting agenda for August 22—24 in Johannesburg seems to have gone completely over everyone’s heads, with mainstream media not even reporting it.
This is a mistake. China and Russia know that if they are to succeed in removing the dollar from their sphere of influence, they have to come up with a better alternative. They also know they have to consolidate their trade partners into a formidable bloc, so plans are afoot to consolidate BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the Eurasian Economic Union along with those nations who wish to join in. It will be a super-group embracing most of Asia (including the Middle East), Africa, and Latin America.
The groundwork for the new currency has been laid by Sergei Glazyev and is considerably more advanced than generally realised.
This article explains why Russia and China are now prepared to fully back Glazyev’s expanded project. For Russia, it is also now imperative to destabilise the dollar as a deliberate escalation of the financial war against America and NATO. China’s priority is no longer to protect her export trade, but to ensure that her African and Latin American suppliers are not destabilised by higher dollar interest rates.
Introduction
“The BRICS’s introduction of a gold-backed currency, which is supported by 41 countries with large and influential economies, will weaken the dollar and the euro and will benefit countries such as Iran, while Iranians in possession of gold will experience a wealth increase,” Mousavi added [the head of the South Asia Department at Iran’s Foreign Ministry]. The Russian government confirmed a day earlier that Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa would introduce a new trading currency backed by gold.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
Creating a World of Distrust
I remember a time when people were left to their own devices when determining what to pay attention to and what to ignore.
Remember “Bat Boy?” A strange Weekly World News (sister tabloid to the National Enquirer) creation set to terrorize and dismay. Did anyone really believe this? I doubt if many did. Some did, I’m sure, but what can ‘ya do?
I remember wondering about it. I was still young and impressionable (actually, I still wonder about it, I guess I am old and impressionable now). The operative word here is “wonder.” No government agency told me I was not allowed to wonder if something was “true” or not. I figured that out on my own. Why is this good?
Well, for one thing, you would have to be a nutcase to allow the government, or any authoritative power, to tell you what you were allowed to wonder about. Secondly, wondering is healthy. It hones your senses; you figure stuff out on your own. There is nothing more powerful than having to figure something out on your own. It takes something called “thinking”—which seems to be in low supply these days.
I just saw a meme with two heads speaking to one another. One head is visibly angry and is saying something like, “look at this!!!” holding up a cell phone. The other head says, “oh yeah, let me tell you what I think of that.” The angry head says, “shut up idiot!! You are not an expert!!” There’s more to it than that, but that’s enough to make my point.
Expert? Since when do you have to be an expert to have an opinion?
…click on the above link to read the rest…
Are You Willing to Starve for the Greater Good?
Central planners are pulling double shifts. Contriving plans and proposals to control what you consume, how you travel and cook, where your money is spent, and much, much more.
You know who we’re talking about. The Davos WEF crowd. The UN, IMF, World Bank, and central bankers. Washington lobbyists, NGOs, public/private partnerships, technical advisory committees, nonprofits, and everything in between. We’re also talking about your meddling neighbor, and many others.
What’s their deal? Do they think they’re making the world a better place? And, if so, a better place for who – them or you?
Could something more devious be guiding their advancements?
In Das Kapital, for example, Karl Marx bemoans capitalism for exploiting labor to produce surplus value. His main gripe was that 19th century laborers worked for mere wages while some factory owners got incredibly rich.
To eradicate this class struggle, as he perceived it, Marx proposed a socialist mode of production coordinated through conscious economic planning. He believed that distributing products “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” would bring about his vision of a workers’ paradise.
Many people took the bait hook, line, and sinker. They were all in. The promise of something for nothing administered by the state was too enticing to pass up.
Yet any country that has ever attempted to put these ridiculous ideas into practice has been left with an economy that fails to deliver the abundance for all which Marx advertised. Moreover, this comes at the expense of individual freedom and liberty.
Das Schnitzel
In this regard, what would Marx think of the political economy that’s currently pervading much of the western world?
Would he be in favor of the vast, elite political class that’s living off the surplus value produced by capitalism? Would he deduce that the political class is, therefore, exploiting labor?
…click on the above link to read the rest…
