Climate Change – Page 7 – Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

United Premier 1K members warn us about the climate emergency

November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by philg

“World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency“ is signed by 11,258 scientists worldwide.

Let’s have a look at principal author Thomas Newsome’s conference papers, indicating travel from his Sydney, Australia base. In 2018 alone, he visited at least Cleveland, Minneapolis, Brisbane, and Hobart. How about principal author Phoebe Barnard? In addition to organizing and attending conferences around the world, she splits her time among Namibia, South Africa, and the U.S.

When will the climate emergency become so dire that these authors decide to use Skype rather than take transcontinental airline trips every few months?

Related only in the reference to United Premier 1K:

https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2018/10/05/new-version-of-the-boeing-787-announced/
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2018/10/11/if-christine-blasey-ford-was-permanently-damaged-by-brett-kavanaugh-what-hope-is-there-for-the-refugees-that-the-u-s-admits/ : “Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified that she was permanently damaged by Brett Kavanaugh, suffering from reduced academic performance, an inability to tolerate airline travel (except cross the Pacific to surf destinations in French Polynesia because driving to a California beach would be even more intolerable?), and various other maladies of PTSD…”
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2018/10/05/why-didnt-christine-blasey-ford-drive-to-manchester-new-hampshire/

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Shanghai has already accomplished what will take Californians more than 4 years

October 26, 2019 by philg

I’m planning a trip to Shanghai, November 13-24.

From the Okura Garden web site:

In accordance with the Shanghai municipal environment regulations, unless requested by staying hotel guest, the hotel no longer proactively provides single-use toiletry amenities such as toothbrush, comb, razor, nail file and shoe mitt from July 1st, 2019. If you have further inquiry please contact the hotel’s guest services.

I think this proves my theory that it will be the Chinese who will save Planet Earth. Californians will need until 2024 to achieve this goal (previous post).

Separately, who wants to get together in Shanghai, Suzhou, or Hangzhou?

What about hotels? Okura Garden comes up as “best value” in the booking engines. Is it better to stay right on the Bund? I will be visiting NYU Shanghai across the river, but mostly hitting all of the tourist sites, museums, etc.

(Airfares to China show the absurd lack of competition for domestic travel. The basic fare plus tax from Boston to Shanghai, 14+ hours of flight time, is $590 (United, with a connection) or $640 (Hainan, nonstop).)

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We are in a climate emergency, but Californians can wait 3-4 years

October 19, 2019October 19, 2019 by philg

Nobody can accuse Californians of being slackers when it comes to tackling the climate change emergency: “California bans hotels from using tiny plastic bottles” (USA Today).

When does the planet-saving ban take effect?

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday he had signed a law banning hotels from giving guests plastic bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner or soap. It takes effect in 2023 for hotels with more than 50 rooms and 2024 for hotels with less than 50 rooms.
Violators could be fined $500 for a first offense and $2,000 for subsequent violations.

So it will be 3-4 years before (a) hotels have to go to CVS and buy some Softsoap and shampoo with a pump, and (b) people can apply for government jobs (with health care and pension!) inspecting and fining hotels that are filled with hate for Planet Earth.

If we’re in an emergency situation and hotels don’t typically stock more than a few months of supplies, why wouldn’t the ban take effect sooner than 2023-2024?

“At $140,000 Per Year, Why Are Government Workers In California Paid Twice As Much As Private Sector Workers?” (Hoover): “Nationwide, government-worker compensation has been growing more rapidly than private-sector compensation for several years, but this trend is on steroids in California, where some state and local government workers are now paid roughly twice as much as those in the private sector.”
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2019/09/23/why-havent-democrats-realized-their-own-goals-in-democrat-run-states/

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Greta Thunberg’s climate strike

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019 by philg

Today is the big day for protesting climate change. Our virtuous neighbors will abandon their pavement-melting SUVs and ride the commuter rail (service ever two hours, whether you need it or not!):

This Friday, September 20, many members of the Lincoln community plan to attend the Boston Youth Climate Strike at Boston City Hall. We will board the 9:09 am train at Lincoln Station. Around the country and around the globe, young people and their adult allies will be leaving school and work to raise their voices to protect the Earth’s climate from further damage by human caused fossil fuel emissions.
St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Lincoln, invites anyone who is planning to take the 9:09 train to join us for a brief Liturgy for the Climate at Lincoln Station beginning at 8:45 am. Join our clergy and members of our congregation as we offer prayers of blessing for the Earth and acknowledge the climate emergency threatening the future of humanity. All are welcome!
You can find information about the Boston Youth Climate Strike on the web site for Massachusetts Mothers Out Front.
The school strike for climate, also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate and Youth Strike 4 Climate is an international movement of school students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change. Publicity and widespread organizing began after Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, staged a protest in August 2018 outside the Swedish Riksdag.
If you have not experienced Greta’s eloquence, please watch her Ted Talk. Greta recently took a sailboat trip from Sweden to New York City to be present for the strike with youth from New York prior to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Greta Thunberg was the object of derision among Scandinavians on our recent Northwest Passage cruise. She traveled to New York on an “emissions-free yacht” (New York Times) or “zero-emissions sailboat” (CNN). If you read unsanctioned news outlets, however, you’ll learn that eliminating one transatlantic flight required about $5 million in construction cost for the yacht (imagine how many trees could have been planted!) and multiple transatlantic flights for the crew (The Sun and Voice of Europe and Spectator).

Readers: What are your neighbors doing for the climate strike?

Update: Gridlock from all of the climate protesters trying to get home in their SUVs…

betterlincolnschools.wordpress.com: Our climate-conscious neighbors vote to bulldoze a school (newly built or renovated 24 years earlier) and spend $110 million on a same-size replacement (the market verdict on this project seems to be negative; neighbors trying to sell their houses are failing and prices are falling relative to other Boston-area towns)

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