Deck chairs on the Titanic

**RantyDave** · 3rd March 2008, 13:05

I would dearly love to dismiss this guy as a crackpot, but I don't think he is:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardia....climatechange

Short version: There is a coming environmental catastrophe and the current fads around windmills, recycling and carbon credits are just moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. He's also a big advocate of nuclear power, which I had to get in just to wind up those who think nuclear fission and plagues of locusts are somehow linked.

On the plus side he points out that if the green fads make no long term difference, then neither does whizzing round the countryside powered by rapidly combusting fossil fuels and we should get as much of it as we can

Dave

**Finn** · 3rd March 2008, 13:09

Easy for him to say, he's got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin.

**MIXONE** · 3rd March 2008, 13:20

After reading that I feel like going out and putting a new bike on HP so I can enjoy it before we all get wiped out.

**YellowDog** · 3rd March 2008, 13:52

They must be short of news at the monent if they have to publish stuff like that!

They just need a good old catastrophe to start filling the pages again.

T S U N A M I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

**James Deuce** · 3rd March 2008, 14:09

Originally Posted by RantyDave

He's also a big advocate of nuclear power, which I had to get in just to wind up those who think nuclear fission and plagues of locusts are somehow linked.

Nukes would be great if someone made a 100MW nuclear power generator. That's what our lowest draw is overnight. You should PM Jantar and ask for his explanation on NZ's power draw and grid architecture. Nukes don't work in NZ's environment YET and the closest to a usable solution is a Westinghouse product that generates 360MW. Still leaves 260MW to "dispose" of and would mean we could only have one Nuke plant up and running. You can shut down fossil fuel and hydro plants pretty easily. Nukes you can't shut down or start up quickly.

**Hitcher** · 3rd March 2008, 14:12

Apart from being a Grumpy Old Fart(TM), he is dead right about the futility of carbon offsetting.

**Finn** · 3rd March 2008, 14:15

Originally Posted by Jim2

the closest to a usable solution is a Westinghouse product that generates 360MW.

I hope they're more reliable than their fridges.

**Pwalo** · 3rd March 2008, 14:39

Originally Posted by Hitcher

Apart from being a Grumpy Old Fart(TM), he is dead right about the futility of carbon offsetting.

Yes indeed. Still someone's going to make a bucket load of money when it becomes mandatory.

Still we should be all right as the average global temperatures have apparently been decreasing for the past five or so years, so there should something new to worry about.

And can someone explain why carbon is evil?

**idb** · 3rd March 2008, 14:46

Originally Posted by Pwalo

...
And can someone explain why carbon is evil?

We'd be worse off without it.

**Ixion** · 3rd March 2008, 15:53

Originally Posted by Pwalo

Still we should be all right as the average global temperatures have apparently been decreasing for the past five or so years, so there should something new to worry about.

OMG. Oh Noes. So now we have to worry about global cooling AND global warming simultaneously!

Oh doom, doom, we're all doomed. We'll all be frozen on one side and boiled on the other. All the sea levels will rise because of ice melting and then when it's risen it'll freeze into giant glaciers.

Europe will turn into a giant swampy desert.

Doomed, I tells ya. Doomed.

**Swoop** · 3rd March 2008, 19:24

Saw the title of the thread and thought "this'll be about the labour party"...

Originally Posted by Finn

I hope they're more reliable than their fridges.

Probably leak about the same amount.

**Brett** · 3rd March 2008, 19:25

Excuse me while I go stab myself in the eye with a screw driver. That would be more cheerful. Not sure whether I buy into his pesimistic view...but as a race we sure have rooted this world.

**Pex Adams** · 3rd March 2008, 19:35

Are we able to get Carbon Credits for everytime Fatjim farts?
Actually come to think of it; can we make a case for it when his daughter does as well???

**Edbear** · 3rd March 2008, 19:41

Originally Posted by Finn

I hope they're more reliable than their fridges.

I heard their fridges were quite reliable. Heard about the woman who opens her fridge and there's this little bird in it? She asks what it's doing in there and the bird replies, "Is this a Westinghouse?" "Yes it is," she says. "Well, then", says the little bird, "I's westing!"