@Lats@aus.social avatar

Lats

@Lats@aus.social

My home is in south eastern New South Wales. I have interests in: #climatechange as it seems the world many be a very unpleasant place for my kids and grandkids, the #environment for a similar reason, #physics as it makes our civilisation possible, #astrophotography because it’s cool, #photography as I like capturing the moment, #renewableenergy as it’s the only way out of the #climatecrisis, renewable powered vehicles as #evs and hydrogen is the way of #fossilfuels.
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golgaloth, to Electricvehicles
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Nearly all major car companies are sabotaging EV transition, and Japan is worst, study finds

https://thedriven.io/2024/05/14/nearly-all-major-car-companies-are-sabotaging-ev-transition-and-japan-is-worst-study-finds/

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@golgaloth given that Labor has reinstated the Methane Led Recovery I would have to say the anti climate action lobbying is definitely working.

GryphonSK, to random
@GryphonSK@techhub.social avatar

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@GryphonSK if a country is truly democratic then nasty policing should eventually be fixed at the ballot box. Countries with serious gerrymanders have serious authoritarian tendencies and it is evident in their suppression of people who they don’t like.

Lats, to climate
@Lats@aus.social avatar

From a year and a half ago. Has anything changed?

Jakra, to auspol
@Jakra@aus.social avatar

Shame! Disgraceful! Time to split the Murdoch ‘news’ empire.
Anatomy of News Corp: What's behind a Sky News headline?

https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/04/29/sky-news-australia-news-corp-headlines/

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@Jakra I like the hubris assessment of Murdoch people being the authoritative source for the headline/story. Essentially an opinion piece masquerading as a news story. As they say, Murdock press is infotainment not news.

TexasObserver, to FreeSpeech
@TexasObserver@texasobserver.social avatar

“When members of the public are engaged in a peaceful #protest in a public space—assuming they are not obstructing traffic, or disrupting campus activities—there is very little legal basis for law enforcement to demand they leave.”

From yesterday: A UT professor and expert on freedom of expression weighs in on the controversial arrests of 57 individuals on campus. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-palestine-first-amendment/

#FreeSpeech #UTAustin #Palestine #activism #Austin #Texas #police #StudentSpring

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@TexasObserver it is interesting that the US has all these rights built in to the constitution and acts of congress to uphold the individuals rights yet some administrator can send in the cops to trample those rights and the people who call the shots never seem to be penalised.

dromografos, to climate

155 dead in Tanzania floods as El Nino continues to wreak havoc thanks to

https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-news/2024/04/25/tanzania-el-nino/

At least 155 people have died in Tanzania as torrential rains linked to El Nino triggered flooding - a scene repeated across East Africa

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@dromografos these sharp weather events are the way climate change is probably going to play out. Not a slow heating and gradual change but sharp swings.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/were-thinking-about-climate-risk-the-wrong-way/

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@ajsadauskas @just_kitten @Seagoon_ sounds like a workplace psychopath. John Clarke’s “Working With Monsters” has people who sound like this.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/working-with-monsters-9781740511544

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@ajsadauskas @just_kitten @Seagoon_ it was as it explained a few things about some people I worked with. They also made a TV version.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Happy Easter.

Via Ron Filipkowski:

On Easter morning, posted an article in two separate publications that said he is “The Chosen One” and “a miracle” who was “sent by God” to save America.

Via Aaron Rupar:

Trump on Truth Social this Easter morning again posted a photo of Judge Merchan’s daughter and followed that up by comparing himself to Christ. https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/C5L4NsXra1K

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@GottaLaff sounds like Trump needs a stint in a psychiatric hospital. Most others who spouted rubbish like that wouldn’t be asked before being sectioned.

davemark, to science
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

"MIT chemical engineers have devised an efficient way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, a chemical precursor that can be used to generate useful compounds such as ethanol and other fuels."

Science!!!

https://news.mit.edu/2024/engineers-find-new-way-convert-carbon-dioxide-useful-products-0327?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@davemark a useful form of carbon dioxide removal that helps replace fossil fuels but will it help reduce the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?

LeftistLawyer, (edited ) to climate
@LeftistLawyer@kolektiva.social avatar

Can someone please explain why, on a planet with 5 billion too many people and , declining birthrates are a problem?

I'm at a loss.

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@LeftistLawyer a number of economies are based on immigration to sustain population growth (read Australia). It looks like if you don’t have enough additional people then companies can’t generate enough profit which means less dividends which leads to cost cutting and hence unemployment. A bit odd really given that generally there is a shortage of workers.

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@tinyimportance @LeftistLawyer it’s odd that we have money for wars, pandemics (if we want to) tax cuts and a myriad of things but everything else needs to be balanced.

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@4am @Fake4000 too true. The same quality issue was levelled at Japan 50 years ago and now they are the go to for quality cars. My kids have a Polestar (not cheap) made in China and so far no faults and they love it.

mondoweiss, to Palestine
@mondoweiss@social.mondoweiss.net avatar

UN expert: Israel is engineering famine in Gaza

UN Special Rapporteur Michael Fakhri says Israel’s intentional starvation of Gaza is unprecedented. “We’ve never seen a civilian population made to go hungry so completely and so quickly,” he tells Mondoweiss. “Never in modern history.”

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/un-expert-israel-is-engineering-famine-in-gaza/


@palestine @israel

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@mondoweiss @palestine @israel the Polish ghetto in the Second World War comes to mind.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Stay to the very end.

Then share like crazy.

nailed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6e4ruziZBI

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@GottaLaff it’s odd that people associate Trump (variously called a narcissistic/sociopath) with caring about their interests. I suppose it’s possible if their interests coincide but…

RealJournalism, to random
@RealJournalism@mastodon.social avatar

I saw a frightening ad on FOX News today raising the question of whether Joe Biden would last a second term. It showed a cackling Kamala Harris, as though that were a bad thing. Joe Biden showed in his State of the Union Address that he will be here for a good long time to come. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/7/2228166/-Biden-just-kicked-Republicans-asses-all-over-the-field-and-left-them-to-wince-in-pain?pm_campaign=trending&pm_source=sidebar&pm_medium=web

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@alexisdyslexic @PeachMcD @RealJournalism I read something a while ago about how the republicans, in the 60’s, made a pact with the devil to prevent the white vote being diluted. The evidence was said to be the systematic gerrymandering and vote suppression and attempts to establish a culture of non voting in non white communities. So much for the principle of one person, one vote.

Lats, to climate
@Lats@aus.social avatar

Ross Gittins sums up much of my thoughts on and fears on climate change and climate inaction, though I’m younger and most likely see a lot more strife than him.
“I fear for my five grandkids’ future (as I may have mentioned before) but, to tell the truth, I’m glad I’ll be dead and gone before it reaches its worst. What we must do, like all those who voted teal at the last election, is to press both major parties to speed up our efforts and make Australia a leader rather than a laggard in the global push to limit how bad it gets.”

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/i-ll-be-dead-before-the-worst-of-it-but-i-m-fearful-for-those-who-won-t-20240305-p5f9z5.html?btis

timrichards, (edited ) to auspol
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

Good stuff:

"We keep forgetting that the purpose of taxation is to pay for the services that our society demands, and which are best financed collectively.

"So when we award ourselves a tax cut we can’t afford, the first thing we do is condemn ourselves to continuing unsatisfactory existing services, and few of the additional services we need."

Ross Gittins: Contrary to appearances, the stage 3 tax cuts will leave us worse off https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/contrary-to-appearances-the-stage-3-tax-cuts-will-leave-us-worse-off-20240303-p5f9dk.html

(maybe paywalled)

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@timrichards $20bn stimulus that the RBA had already factored into their inflation forecast was said to make the tax cuts ok. Hard to fathom as if they were cancelled totally then the inflation risk would have been reduced and a fewer number of rate increases as a result. Talk about a lack of balls for the RBA to not stridently highlight the inflation effect of .

CelloMomOnCars, to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

"Rather than using their own furnaces, boilers, fireplaces or electric baseboard heaters to heat buildings, consumers would receive heat directly from a utility.

In Europe, 67 million people enjoy heating from thermal networks and systems supplied by a variety of sources in a mix that is increasingly less reliant on carbon."

https://theconversation.com/thermal-networks-the-missing-infrastructure-we-need-to-help-enable-carbon-free-heating-224054?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars I wonder how many people will live close enough to these industrial processes especially nuclear power plants. There are significant health downsides to living too close and piping heat long distances must have losses.

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars thanks. I suppose that I was considering the Australian context where heating is not a big issue in a lot of areas and for a lesser time than in the north. The distances between the industrial areas and the residential areas can be quite large. It would definitely work better where the population density is higher.

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to climate
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

If you care about the planet, please make sure you sit down before you start reading this post about ExxonMobil.

So.

The CEO of ExxonMobil just said this in an interview: "We’ve waited too long to open the aperture on the solution sets in terms of what we need, as a society, to start reducing emissions."

https://fortune.com/2024/02/27/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-pay-the-price-for-net-zero/

Who's the most influential voice on climate change? Who's to blame for inaction on climate change?

According to the CEO of ExxonMobil, it's environmental activists.

No, really:

"Frankly, society, and the activist—the dominant voice in this discussion—has tried to exclude the industry that has the most capacity and the highest potential for helping with some of the technologies."

Oh, and the CEO of ExxonMobil also apparently thinks consumers are to blame for climate inaction:

"Today we have opportunities to make fuels with lower carbon, but people aren’t willing to spend the money to do that."

Gets better.

He thinks unnamed 'people who generate emissions' should pay for it. (Rather than, say, major transnational oil companies.)

"People who are generating the emissions need to be aware of [it] and pay the price. That’s ultimately how you solve the problem."

https://fortune.com/2024/02/27/exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-pay-the-price-for-net-zero/

Worth including a quick reminder here that Exxon-Mobil made a US$36 billion profit in 2023: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-beats-estimates-ends-2023-with-36-billion-profit-2024-02-02/#:~:text=HOUSTON%2C%20Feb%202%20(Reuters),higher%20oil%20and%20gas%20production.

Not gross revenue.

Profit.

So, remind me again. Who knew about climate change before most of the public?

"Exxon was aware of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue... This knowledge did not prevent the company (now ExxonMobil and the world’s largest oil and gas company) from spending decades refusing to publicly acknowledge climate change and even promoting climate misinformation."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

And just who, exactly, stood in the way reducing emissions all these years?

"ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change, according to previously unreported documents...

"The new revelations are based on previously unreported documents subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general as part of an investigation into the company announced in 2015. They add to a slew of documents that record a decades-long misinformation campaign waged by Exxon, which are cited in a growing number of state and municipal lawsuits against big oil."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/14/exxonmobil-documents-wall-street-journal-climate-science

@fuck_cars

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@TomSwirly @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars a lot of people are experiential, if it didn’t happen to them then they can’t relate to it. It isn’t real. If some of these people got caught in a bushfire and then got flooded and had their boat sunk by a cyclone, they may get it. Till then….

CelloMomOnCars, to Hydrogen
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

‘Blue’ Hydrogen Could Produce 50% More Warming than Burning Fossil Fuels

"[Canada] “is betting big on #BlueHydrogen, a fossil fuel-derived chemical masquerading as an energy solution."

This research should finally lay to rest the unfounded hope that creating incentives for fossil #hydrogen production in Canada is any kind of solution for the climate, or for economic development.”

https://www.theenergymix.com/blue-hydrogen-could-produce-50-more-warming-than-burning-fossil-fuels/

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars the cost of adding CCS to just doesn’t look to be sensible. The process to create blue hydrogen costs energy and CCS also costs energy just as it does to all those fossil fuel using industrial processes then more energy is needed/wasted. It all seems counterintuitive and that green hydrogen would be a better solution. Must be a billionaire or two in there wanting it.

ajsadauskas, (edited ) to auspol
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

Peter Dutton's nuclear plan is just terrible public policy.

The truth is that, in an Australian context, with nuclear power more expensive per kilowatt hour than either grid scale solar & storage or coal, nuclear just doesn't make economic sense.

The UK has a mature nuclear industry. Its new Hinkley Point C plant, started in 2016, is now expected to not be complete until 2031, and costs £35bn.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/23/hinkley-point-c-could-be-delayed-to-2031-and-cost-up-to-35bn-says-edf

So how much would it cost to replace all of Australia's coal power plants with nuclear ones?

We'll, at current exchange rates, £35bn — that's the cost of just one Hinkley Point C sized reactors — works out to A$67.6 billion.

So building just 10 nuclear reactors the size of Hinkley Point C costs $A676bn, making the AUKUS subs look like Home Brand corn flakes in comparison.

(Just for comparison, ScoMo's AUKUS subs cost $368bn, and Daniel Andrew's Suburban Rail loop is estimated at around $100bn.)

That's assuming Australia, starting from scratch, could build nuclear plants as quickly and cheaply as the UK, which was one of the first nations on Earth to split the atom.

So is it debt & deficit to fund this? Big new taxes? Even by the LNP's own measuring sticks, it's a crap policy!

The Australian Federal Government has previously examined the prospect of building nuclear power plants in the Switkowski report: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080117214749/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/79623/20080117-2207/dpmc.gov.au/umpner/docs/nuclear_report.pdf

The big thing that's changed since it was published is that grid solar + storage is now cheaper than coal or nuclear power.

So would you support holding up the closure of coal plants for 15 years until nuclear plants are completed, then paying substantially more on your power bills, while the federal government pays hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies, while also hiring thousands of additional public servants to regulate it all?

#auspol #nuclear #ClimateChange #australia @australianpolitics

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@Ardubal @ajsadauskas @australianpolitics the key to this is that it’s not an either or situation. If we want to do nuclear then it can’t be by defunding renewables like that LNP and many populist pundits want. We need to decarbonise our economy as quickly as we can. Stuffing around trying to derail renewables really is a recipe for disaster.

Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@Rayspekt @MicroWave the upfront cost is just one of many. EVs are significantly cheaper to run, the electricity is cheaper than fossil fuel and the maintenance is also much cheaper as there are a lot fewer parts to maintain. When you add it up, there big savings whole of life.

dgar, to random
@dgar@aus.social avatar
Lats,
@Lats@aus.social avatar

@dgar looks like climate got the message!

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