Off Topic The Politics Thread

Commentary: China is building 184 coal plants – Guess what that will do to carbon emissions?

By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam on December 8, 2020, 8:10 am MST
A man drives his tractor past a coal coking factory at sunrise in Linfen, Shanxi Province, China. Getty Images photo

There’s a dearth of sensible analysis when it comes to reasonable ways in which to decrease carbon emissions.

Some point fingers at Canada’s oil sands, or oil and gas more generally. They imagine if that industry disappeared, somehow carbon emissions would magically evaporate as well.

The reality is that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions are 1.6 per cent of the total world emissions (with the oil and gas sector’s emissions at 0.3 per cent and the oil sands at 0.1 per cent included in that 1.6 per cent Canadian total).

Moreover, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity has fallen by 30 per cent since 2000. Between 2000 and 2018, GHG emissions intensity in Canada fell from 0.5 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MT of CO2e) per billion dollars of GDP to 0.35 MT of CO2e per billion dollars of GDP.

Also, oil sands emissions intensity has been falling. Between 2011 and 2018, oil sands emissions intensity fell from 0.086 tonnes of CO2e per barrel to 0.067 tonnes of CO2e per barrel, a decline of about 22 per cent.

That’s the record in Canada. Meanwhile that progress on reducing carbon emissions is about to be wiped away, this by the dramatic increase in coal-fired electricity plants now being built worldwide.

As of 2020, 350 coal-fired power plants are under construction. They include seven in South Korea, 13 in Japan, 52 in India, and 184 in China with the rest underway in other parts of the world.

China is also building and financing hundreds of other coal-fired power plants in countries such as Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh.

This matters (or should) to sensible discussions about how much pain — lost investment, killed jobs, lost incomes, and potential foregone tax revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars — that Canadians should endure in attempts to squeeze reduced carbon emissions out of Canadians in the future.

After all, consider that Canada’s total energy-related emissions (just 0.6 Gt in 2018) were about one-half of the emissions from just India’s coal-fired power plants (never mind all other emissions). They are about one-eighth of just the emissions from China’s coal-fired electricity—never mind all of China’s emissions.

 

If I’m totally honest then no I’m not that fussed.....they almost certainly won’t die from it (my kids and probably my grandkids when I have them) and we as a species will learn to adapt....it’s what nature does and humans are pretty good at adapting.
So why would I worry about spending a fortune on a new electric car when there are still major polluters in the third world.....it really doesn’t worry me in the least. It’s something I have no control over so I’m not gonna lose sleep over it

I’d say individuals on both sides make a fair few quid and don’t do all that work for nothing

 

goodbye british sea power. hello sea power…
news 09 August 2021
After much reflection and soul-searching, the band formerly known as British Sea Power have modified their name to simply Sea Power. We’ve been British Sea Power for 20 years – an amazing 20 years, when we’ve been able to continually traverse the British Isles, to travel the world, encountering many friendly faces, not least in the band’s remarkable audience. But the name British Sea Power had come to feel constricting, like an ancient legacy we were carrying with us. When we came up with the name British Sea Power there were at least two different lines of thought behind it. There was, literally, sea power – the elementary power of the oceans. Alongside this was the historical idea of “British sea power” – Britannia ruling the waves; the naval power that once allowed Britain to dominate the world. When we came up with the original band name, Britain no longer ruled the seas. The band name was intended with a kind of wry humour. The idea of British sea power in the historical sense was an obsolete thing. It was now just the name of a rock band… Now, 20 years later, we’re recasting the name. In recent times there’s been a rise in a certain kind of nationalism in this world – an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism that we don’t want to run any risk of being confused with. It’s become apparent that it’s possible to misapprehend the name British Sea Power, particularly if someone isn’t familiar with the band or their recordings. We’ve always been internationalist in our mindset, something made clear in songs like Waving Flags, an anthem to pan-European idealism. We always wanted to be an internationalist band but maybe having a specific nation state in our name wasn’t the cleverest way to demonstrate that. We very much hope the band’s audience won’t be affronted by this adjustment to the name. We’d like to make it clear that removing the word “British” does NOT indicate any aversion to the British Isles whatsoever. We all feel immensely fortunate to have grown up in these islands. Several or our songs are filled with love and awe for this place. We do love these lands. We all still live within the British Isles, but we are now just Sea Power. We feel the name change comes in part from the band’s audience – who at a good show will shout out, “Sea Power! Sea Power!” Maybe this name change has been there for years, shouted in our ears. It’s just taken us this long to realise – to hear what was there in front of us…

 

Are they any good steelsie+

 

French priest executed by a Rwandan immigrant who was already being prosecuted for torching Nantes Cathedral. There's some bad stuff going on in France...

 

Surely not...they wouldn't need this publicity otherwise

 

Not for much longer
It's all coming to you on a dingy

 

I'm hoping the Channel dingy immigrants will eventually be ordinary French families fleeing the violence in France

 

Dingies full of priests due to arrive any time soon

 

I've seen them a few times, always enjoyed their shows. Received the email from their website that you've posted above.

Some great tunes, new album coming out in Feb, and the lead single was played on 6Music yesterday

They're not the sort of band that courts publicity. Very avante garde, lots of songs about wildlife, they have their own birdspotting club, gigs include a large polar bear walking on to stage. They play their gigs at unusual venues - museums, libraries, churches, fields in the middle of nowhere.

Several top 20 albums, numerous awards, including a Best Live Act.....maybe you should widen your horizons instead of jumping to conclusions.

 

It must be mortifying for them, then, to find they have this amount of publicity when all they did was announce to the world that they were abandoning the word "British" because of antagonistic nationalism.

Happy to take your word on the merits of their music and performances

 

Ex-minister William Hague calls for drug use to be DECRIMINALISED


https://mol.im/a/9879435

Never liked the bloke but at least he’s talking sense on this one

 

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Three things that are utterly predictable Death. Taxes. The
@guardian
finding a racism angle during a moment of national jubilation

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Guardian news
@guardiannews
· Aug 10
Team GB still too white and suburban, says Sport England official
https://theguardian.com/sport/2021/...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1628526735

 

Just seen that 45% of all A level grades were A* or A. Arguably better than last year's fiasco with the algorithm, but still silly. Not sure what they could have done in the circumstances though. Must be a nightmare for universities.

 

The Good Law Project are amazing and I will have backed them financially in the past.

This video only touches on the subject, but no one can defend the government on this. It is corruption.

I strongly suggest joining The Good Law Project's mailing list.

 

I think I’ll pass thanks…..their executive director is a vile piece of **** who likes to club foxes to death and then brag about it in social media.
But hey ho, each to their own I guess

 

Who is that?

 

Isn't it a bit concerning however that the percentage of A’s given out (on teachers perceived grades) are far higher for kids from privately funded education than they are from state schools ? Seems like inequality starts from an early age and some in power never want the gap shortened

 

Jolyon Maugham. A vile **** of the highest order