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“They had a charter that said 60 percent of food in the village had to be vegan friendly and the day before the opening ceremony they ran out of meat and dairy options in the village because they hadn’t anticipated so many athletes would be choosing the meat and dairy options over the vegan friendly ones. The caterer had to rejig their numbers and bring in more of those products because surprise, surprise — world class athletes don’t have vegan diets… let me tell you, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Roger Federer — none of those guys are on a vegan diet.” //
The Olympic Village in all of its eco-friendly glory was clearly not designed and planned by anyone who has participated in sports at a high level. But as has already been demonstrated, the 2024 Paris Olympics are not so much about the spirit of competition as they are about political correctness and, apparently, climate change. //
The Real Liekitisn’t (not Parody)
@liekitisnot
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$1.6b environmentally friendly Olympic village has no AC, backbreaking cardboard beds, vegan food (and food shortage), and small bathrooms that have to be shared by 10 people.
Sign me up for the New Green Deal!
6:44 PM · Jul 29, 2024
To get specific, the Bureau of Land Management shows that 3,377 permits were issued in 2023, supposedly outpacing the 2,507 that Trump's admin approved in its third year in office. This would bring the total number of permits approved to 9,522, leaps and bounds over the 6,541 permits approved by the Trump admin. This was heralded as a victory by press outlets like Politico, despite them all being eco-warriors in every other situation.
But the real numbers were revealed later when technical errors they blamed on the Trump administration were fixed according to the Beacon:
The spokesman added that the agency couldn't vouch for the data from the Politico report in January. And he noted the "online reporting tool can be interpreted in various ways."
BLM's online system was undergoing a system outage at the time of this report.
In February 2023, meanwhile, BLM quietly revised separate figures, lowering the number of unused fossil fuel drilling permits it had approved. The agency changed that number from 9,000 unused permits to less than 6,700, blaming the error on a Trump-era technical change.
The actual number from the Trump administration was 10,795. I'm not a mathematician, but that seems a far larger number to "less than 6,700."
Councilwoman Vickie Paladino @VickieforNYC
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We must destroy the environment to save it!
Once every Joshua Tree is uprooted to make room for acres solar panels and the whales and birds are killed by windmills, and electricity is expensive and intermittent for all but the wealthiest, we’ll have saved the planet!
This is all much better than building a few modern nuclear plants.
John Solomon @jsolomonReports
Joshua trees growing for over 100 years will be cleared for solar farm in California https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/joshua-trees-growing-over-100-years-will-be-cleared-solar-farm-california
8:55 PM · Jun 7, 2024
The proposed rule, aiming to transition 50 percent of vocational vehicles, 35 percent of new short-haul regional tractors, and 25 percent of new long-haul trucks to zero emissions by 2032, called for over 40 percent of all heavy-duty trucks to be emissions-free.
Under the finalized rule, approximately 30 percent of heavy-heavy-duty vocational trucks and 40 percent of regional day cabs are mandated to be zero-emission by 2032. //
That leads to the problem of charging infrastructure. The establishment of a comprehensive and widely accessible charging infrastructure tailored to the unique needs of EV trucks will require an entirely new network distinct from existing trucking options and from those of passenger vehicles. //
A report by the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC) highlights the monumental challenge of electrifying the U.S. commercial truck fleet, estimating nearly $1 trillion in infrastructure investment alone. This investment includes over $620 billion from the trucking industry for chargers, site infrastructure, and electric service upgrades. However, the trillion-dollar figure does not encompass the cost of new battery-electric trucks, which can be two to three times more expensive than diesel counterparts.
Under the new plan, however, all such habitats would be categorically off-limits as soon as it is discovered that the land is occupied by a listed species. Any potential impacts to endangered species habitats that are discovered in the course of site surveys (usually after millions of dollars have already been expended on the project application) would kill the project entirely.
The permitting risk, already prohibitive for many new projects, could put whole states beyond the reach of all but the most hardy (or foolish) developers. The solar energy areas under the new solar plan overlap substantially with areas containing multiple endangered and threatened species. This endangered species exclusion alone would eliminate virtually all new solar development in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, which lead the nation in solar capacity per acre. //
Even for the 14% of BLM land left available for solar project development after all these exclusions, the new plan imposes onerous permitting requirements. These include some 600 mandatory design elements.
Some of these verge on the comical. BLM proposes a blanket prohibition on “grading” (leveling out land), which is indispensable for access roads, utility-scale batteries, transmission poles, and construction staging. The plan also prohibits development within 200 feet of ephemeral streams (those that come into existence, for example, after heavy rainfall, and then go away) and requires 75% residual vegetation around the development.
These requirements will be impossible to meet economically for many projects, and even where possible, would significantly expand the amount of land required per unit of electricity, thus defeating the goal of conservation. //
Most surprisingly, the new plan does not address any of the major problems that years of experience have revealed in the permitting process for solar and other energy projects on BLM land. On the contrary, it makes the permitting challenges even worse for existing projects applications, which are not “grandfathered” in any respect. Many solar project applications already in process will have to start over, and many of those applicants will prefer to cut their losses instead.
Many projects’ applications have been pending for years, and companies have already negotiated operational and power-purchase agreements of various kinds and would be bankrupted by having to start over.
This demonstrates a problem with heavily regulated sectors: Officials feel all too free to “move the goal posts” with little concern for the enormous losses they are causing developers and investors and little understanding that these are social losses that impact everybody.
For Americans to avoid a prolonged period of energy scarcity in the high-demand decade ahead, the nation will require a significant expansion in electricity generation. The bulk of that will need to come from nuclear and fossil sources, which are significantly more abundant, “energy dense,” and reliable than renewable sources like solar and wind. //
The new solar plan is being promoted as a partial solution, but even a brief review shows clearly that it will only make those problems worse. The plan is a clear sellout to left-wing environmentalists. And it shows that while those environmentalists hate fossil fuels, they don’t particularly love renewable energy—or energy of any kind.
They mean to save the planet for what they think is the planet’s sake, not for our sake. And if in the process they plunge the world into energy scarcity—a much grimmer fate than all the doomsday climate scenarios put together—in their minds, that’s just too bad for us.
Interestingly, no eco-activists are blockading the roads into Reinhardswald (site of Sleeping Beauty Castle), or tying themselves to trees to protect the “old growth forests” //
The energy suicide of Germany is rapidly becoming legendary.
Legal Insurrection readers will recall that the nation shuttered its last nuclear power plant in 2023. The German government decided to double down on net-zero dreams and renewable energy promises.
Germany is already big on wind: with nearly 30,000 onshore wind turbines, the country trails only the US and China.
But it’s not enough to meet the country’s climate goals. Today, only 0.8% of Germany’s land area is approved for onshore wind energy. By 2032, the government wants to have 2% of land area allocated for onshore wind power. This means installing between 1,000 and 1,500 new turbines a year, or four to five a day by 2030, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said.
Germany needs wind energy to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045, a target it’s currently in danger of missing, according to multiple studies. The country also missed its emissions reduction targets the last two years in a row, according to think tank Agora Energiewende. //
A large area of Reinhardswald, an ancient German forest featured in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, is being partially cut down in favour of 241-metre tall wind turbines.
Following a months-long construction freeze, administrative courts have allowed heavy machinery to raze parts of the forest, including some trees that are more than 200 years old.
Around 120,000 trees in the 200km² mountainous woodland in the Weser Uplands in the district of Kassel, Hesse, are said to have been condemned to the axe. //
Germany passed legislation in 2019 to shut down all its coal plants by 2038, and last year the country shuttered the last three plants in its once-formidable nuclear fleet (in 1990 nuclear provided a quarter of Germany’s electricity).
As a result, the country has been forced to import electricity and natural gas at substantially higher prices. Germany has recently been delaying planned closures of coal plants and is now also planning new gas plants as well, but the damage has been done. Germany now has some of the highest prices for electricity in the world.
As a result, the entire German economy is in the doldrums. Growth forecasts for this year were recently slashed to just 0.2%, and as inflation is forecast to come in at about 2%, that implies actual economic contraction. Other indicators are also dire, with orders at German engineering firms and overall foreign investment dropping dramatically. //
The study found that the older a tree is, the better it absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. In fact, the research suggests that almost 70 per cent of all the carbon stored in trees is accumulated in the last half of their lives. //
smooth | March 12, 2024 at 8:51 am
But the climate extremists always say plant more trees to remove CO2 from the air? //
smooth | March 12, 2024 at 9:40 am
France has 56 nuclear power sites. All EU countries combined have over 160 active nuke power sites. Germany going to boycott them all?
The Gentle Grizzly in reply to smooth. | March 12, 2024 at 9:57 am
Yes. Because the master race knows better. Why do things simply with existing technology when one can do it the German way: needless complexity for the sake of it, and then call it “precision engineering”. //
Through the European Green Deal, European bureaucrats are ignoring citizen opposition in deindustrializing Western Europe and reducing its agricultural production.
They’re using climate laws to attempt to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The agricultural policy provisions of these laws—the euphemistically named Farm to Fork Strategy—have European farmers uniting in protest like never before.
These laws are driving up food prices and reducing agricultural jobs while having practically no effect on the planet’s temperature. Using calculations from government models, even if the European Union had no emissions at all, it would only make a difference of 0.13 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
“The elevated costs associated with EVs persisted. Efforts to wrestle it down proved to be more challenging.” //
Because of low demand and high repair costs, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. will sell 20,000 electric vehicles (EV), one-third of its EV fleet. //
Hertz and everyone else had to know this would not work. You mean you couldn’t tell no one wanted to rent EVs?
Go woke, and you waste a ton of money:
Hertz will record a non-cash charge in its fourth-quarter results of about $245 million related to incremental net depreciation expense. //
Corky M | January 13, 2024 at 9:50 am
Recent article by younger fellow discussed how after 7 years his Tesla S had lost 32 percent of it’s range. What was more amazing to me was that he said he would still purchase another one.
Oh, and a 7 year old internal combustion engine vehicle is likely to get the same miles per gallon today as it did when new.
The long-term damage to the economy demanded by the “must go all electric” crowd will just increase. Electrification of everything to save the planet is a canard for being able to completely control humanity.
Nada mas.
Removed (Banned) Dec 31, 2023
Comment removed
Colin Hunt Dec 31, 2023
"Degrowth has many great ideas that would correct social injustice."
Please explain who is expected to die off for everyone else. Also please explain how you expect this to be enforced. //
Removed (Banned) 22 hrs ago
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Colin Hunt 15 hrs ago
Typical ad hominem from people like you trying to avoid the fact that your recommendations will result in more poverty and death in developing nations. And you still refuse to answer the questions put to you.
Both energy industry officials and eco-activists are complaining.
Any time Gavin Newsom says, “Here are the facts,” brace yourself — you will not be getting the facts.
The reasons for the recent spike in California gas prices was expertly laid out by Valero executive Scott Folwarkow in reply to a September 30 letter California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild sent to California refinery executives regarding the issue. Hochschild’s letter was filed at the Commission at 1:26 p.m. that Friday afternoon, and he demanded a reply to his questions by Monday, October 3 — giving them just one business day to answer. //
We believe the Commission experts understand that California cannot mandate a unique fuel that is not readily unavailable outside of the West Coast and then burden or eliminate California refining capacity and expect to have robust fuel supplies. Adding further costs, in the form of new taxes or regulatory constraints, will only further strain the fuel market and adversely impact refiners and ultimately those costs will pass to California consumers. //
For Valero, California is the most expensive operating environment in the country and a very hostile regulatory environment for refining. California policy makers have knowingly adopted policies with the expressed intent of eliminating the refinery sector. California requires refiners to pay very high carbon cap and trade fees and burdened gasoline with cost of the low carbon fuel standards. With the backdrop of these policies, not surprisingly, California has seen refineries completely close or shut down major units. When you shut down refinery operations, you limit the resilience of the supply chain. //
the number of operating refineries in the state has decreased dramatically over the years. In 2000 there were 23 operating refineries, compared to just 13 in 2022. In 1983, when the state’s population was 25 million, there were 40 operating refineries. In 2020 there were 40 million people in California and just 14 operating refineries.
PETA
@peta
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We’re lucky turkeys would never do this to us—you don’t have to do it to them, either.
Art by @freebison
Readers added context
Turkeys are not vegetarians. Turkeys eat mice, lizards, frogs, and just about anything they can fit in their mouth. If turkeys were larger or had the technological means to farm and eat humans, their current diet reveals they likely would.
ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-lands…
Context is written by people who use X, and appears when rated helpful by others. Find out more.
6:00 PM · Nov 22, 2023
Dr. Tororu
@DrTororu
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Replying to @peta and @FREEBISON
This picture is fake .
Turkeys don’t celebrate Thanksgiving sitting around a table. They sit on a table resting on a platter.
7:57 PM · Nov 22, 2023 //
#ThePersistence
@ScottPresler
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Do you ever post about how many birds are killed by wind turbines?
8:22 PM · Nov 23, 2023 //
frylock234
an hour ago
The dirty little secret most vegans would like to ignore is that while there are a decent number of obligate carnivores in the world (felines being the most obvious that people know of), there are very, very few obligate herbivores. "Obligate" here means they subsist on a diet consisting solely of that type of food. Cats need exclusively meat, but most of the animals we tend to think of herbivores are not obligate. They can and will snack on animal protein if the opportunity presents ... it's just that it doesn't happen often and we seldom catch them at it. Birds like turkeys, chickens, etc., are more likely to be caught at it because they're fairly active hunters. Chickens are great at keeping insect pests out of your garden and they'll eat mice and other small animals they can catch. But your average cow is not above nibbling on the meat on a fresh kill if they come across it; they just don't possess the machinery or instincts to hunt effectively so you almost never see that happen.
If you want an obligate herbivore, try koalas for one of the few. They have to eat eucalyptus, and as a consequence, they are pretty slow and derpy as a survival mechanism.
anon-y65w frylock234
42 minutes ago
So, pandas with the bamboo may be with the koalas in the obligate herbivore category. Slow and derpy is a great description!