Michael Mann: What Biden Can Do on Climate
December 30, 2020
Dr Mann, who has, along with other climate scientists, received death threats, also discusses the “deadliness of science denial”.
with Peter Sinclair
Dr Mann, who has, along with other climate scientists, received death threats, also discusses the “deadliness of science denial”.
"The sharpest climate denier debunker on YouTube."
- TreeHugger
"@PeterWSinclair is a national treasure." - Brad Johnson, Publisher Hill Heat
January 2, 2021 at 6:58 am
Every Haliade-X 14 MW turbine built now will generate 220 TWh and reduce emissions by 1.6 million metric tons of CO2 by 2050. Each one built in 2050 will generate nothing and reduce emissions by 0 tons by then.
It’s not the deadline that matters for achieving zero emissions; it’s the area under the curve. That is, early investments pay off big and late investments are almost infinitely less worthwhile.
But it’s worse than that; a politician saying s/he’ll do something by 2050 is saying s/he’ll never do it. And saying we’ll reach net zero emissions by then is saying we’ll we’ll do less than nothing.
Biden saying he’s not for a ban on fracking but wants instead to pass a carbon price is saying he’ll never do anything about fracking, because it will take a majority of progressives in all 3 houses to pass a tax high enough to have any significant effect in time to matter for our survival.
Mann talking about the new denial that doesn’t completely deny climate catastrophe is happening while not blasting Biden and the Democrats is hypocriticality of the worst kind. If solutions that don’t move us off fossil fuels are, as he implies, lies, then the Democrats are lying as immorally and disgustingly as the Republicans. The Republicans have the excuse that they’re insane and can’t help themselves.
What’s the Democrats’ excuse?
January 5, 2021 at 12:44 pm
Aye, policies that have targets beyond a certain (short) political horizon are effectively vaporware.
Too many older politicians are treating climate change like any other social policy (LGBT rights, drug decriminalization, healthcare reform), rather than a relentless physical process that will continue to get worse and worse and worse.