Smells like teen spirit

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Something of a stink in Beijijng

ut you really should be looking at this HERE

More Noxious Emissions

The first new Frank for a while. I'm still a bit rusty so I thought I'd start with some good old, reliable toilet humour, (and plagiarise some Polyp)



George Monbiot riffs on a Government report concerning it's offset-based carbon reduction targets.

Fuel Dump

It might need a revolution in the water-heavy way we process our own waste, but there's a lot of potential here, isn't there? If we need a massive infrastructural rearrangement, why not make it inherently sustainable.
If I'm talking shite, please tell me. (Please see very informative comment by Anonymous (Dr. J. Singmaster), below)

Elsewhere - despite continuing improvements in the technology, the "demand" ( now there's a can of semantic worms) for wind turbines declines .

An early-doors pointer to the potential problems we might face, should a nuclear future coincide with further economic collapse; Will capital run for the hills when the bills outweigh the profits and the dangers are on someone else's doorstep?

Pooling Resources

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.



Frank can't help it. He's old.

Australia wrinkles up and begins to fall apart, giving the world a taste of things to come.

It may look like we'll wipe everything out and poisonously ship it home for our supper, but while there is gobsmacking genius like the cardboard solar oven, there is still most definitely hope.

LabRats again

I'm posting these old things again because a) I'm rather fond of them and b) newcomers to the site may not have found them in the bowels of Blogspace and will thus have missed out on a rib-tickling, poop-based treat for all the family. Indulge me -The Labrats reside in a dark corner of Prof Boffin's lab at the Doc Fiendish Institute for Advanced Techno-Magic, and I like to let them out when I can.

Bang bang, you're dead.

Frank is a cartoon character. Shooting people is wrong. Of course Frank would never actually DO anything like this. It's probably just a dream. We'll all wake up soon.

The great ice sheets may not be set to completely collapse overnight, but the processes being set in motion today will make that collapse unstoppable.

With our current "democratic" processes falling short, and road traffic increasing 25% in just 15 years, it looks like we're grabbing the shit end of the stick with both hands

Thanks to Andrew C Revkin and Susan Anderson for this

News Corpse

Yes. It seems that Uncle Rupert will henceforward be using the unfathomable might of his media empire for good rather than, well, ...the other thing

meanwhile...In the spirit of quantative easing I went down to my local gargantmart with some freshly minted banknotes of my own design, in order to stimulate the economy. They didn't seem to appreciate the sound financial wisdom of my actions and there was an ugly scene involving a lot of shouting, some custard and a security guard. There's no helping some people.

In the news - there's a lot of stuff about Rainforests
and a lot of stuff about biofuels

Wipe-Out

Toilet humour. I know. It's not big. It's not clever. Some sophisticated souls pull their faces over material like this and end up looking like a bulldog licking piss off a thistle. They think it devalues the currency. I pooh pooh such notions.
Anyway...American's dedication to a luxury defecatory experience leaves virgin forests depleted, with a nagging feeling that they could have done so much more with their lives. Maybe they could have been the mainstay of continental water equilibrium. Rather water than water closets. Maybe in another life.

Trading Places

The carbon market, being as bolloxed as every other market, has screwed the price of carbon into the ground. One result of this is that the contribution to emissions reductions made by Germany's world-beating renewables industry is offset by the ease with which less scrupulous players can get their hands on the newly liberated excess permits - thus enabling carbon spewers to party like there's no tomorrow.

We're old hands at this

Cartoon Capture and Storage

I could have gone for a serious exploration of the food crisis, or a sober appraisal of the possibilities of solar technology...... but I went with a fart gag with a poop punchline. Come the revolution humour will be resilient and sustainable.

There is no such thing as clean coal.

A Fair C.O.P.

It might sound like Rex Tillerson is making a significant concession in recognising the reality of anthropogenic global warming and his industry's part in it. but, in the build up to Copenhagen, in the middle of a financial meltdown, Exxon seem to be seizing the initiative by putting their weight behind carbon taxation and against international regulation. That way they can stall meaningful action untill the public rebel and elect another bunch of redneck half-wits. Or am I being cynical?

That's not to say that Throbgoblins International are opposed to the idea of carbon taxation. Those pesky externals certainly do need internalising. But a toolbox that contains only hammers is no bloody use to anyone.

For those unfamiliar with the reference . it is to the story of Sweeny Todd - the Demon Barber of Fleet Street - who killed his customers so that his mistress could turn them into pies.

A figure of Speech

I've been tediously going through all last year's cartoons to put them on a database for the new website (which WILL happen, honestly) and came upon this one, from September - which I'd forgotten about. It was originally published in Ethical Consumer Magazine. Whilst not wildly news related, it still holds water (!)


Contrasting sides of China compete for posterity - via Climate Progress and DotEarth

The US senate shows its contempt for the people of Gaza, whilst calls increase for an apartheid-style boycott of the Israeli state

Today's news features the welcome and long overdue re-education of the head of ExxonMobil, who has finally thrown in the towel and admitted that yes - we've screwed the climate. Hallelujah. But his main thrust seems to be trying to head off international action by putting the onus on domestic taxation - which is a safe bet in a recession. Once a Sith Lord, always a Sith Lord. Cartoon on this tomorrow. Just thought I'd mention it today

Re-Wild at Heart

Whilst capitalism eats itself, radical re-imaginings are dared.

Lipo-Diesel

Who needs Jonathan Swift when we have Californian plastic surgeons?
I wish I'd thought of that.

Here's an old set of LabRats strips based on a much weaker premise - for old time's sake.

Coitus interruptus

The pope fails the grasp the actual reasons behind the impending ecological debacle - preferring to characterise it as a vast gay conspiracy.


The great stain that is Clarkson continues with his "aren't I controversial" wankery by pretending that only petrol can save the world from ...petrol

The Police drum up business where they can

The Uk's public buildings emit more CO2 than Kenya.

I hope you all have a happy Yule, or whatever else it is that you may be celebrating.
Be of good cheer

Servicing business

No particular news link here - just generic Frankness. Inspired by a flier for the Gobsmacking Maplecroft Political Risk Report which was kindly forwarded to me by Dave Hampton (the Carbon Coach) as a suitable case for satire.
Thanks also to Jeremy Hardy for planting a seed.

But...in the news:-
A massive crackdown on pesticides is (provisionally) announced by the EU.
A massive crackdown on scientific illiteracy is announced by Barack Obama

The Met Office warns of catastrophic temperature rises

Israel's ongoing plans to destroy the Palestinian people continue apace

The new Manchester Climate Fortnightly (McFly) is available for downlaod.

Crap Crunch

The plastics recycling industry is suffering from the economic downturn as a reduction in consumption reduces demand and depresses prices. Thus we are asked to defeat ourselves in order to save ourselves. We even eat ourselves ironically.

A lack of political will is blamed for lack of progress on the green tech front - a state of affairs to be addressed by Barack Obama and to be exploited by the contemptible BP (whose name of BRITISH Petroleum is entirely coincidental)

Hill Farmers have created some of my favourite landscapes, and are now facing the extinction that so many other ways of life have suffered. I'm not sure how well these particular arguments stack up - as they seem a little jumbled up with passing economics and self interest (isn't everything?). I'd appreciate any light anyone might be able to shed on this.

Here's some more nicely turned sobriety from the New Internationalist, after the drunkenness of the ascendency

It's an ill wind

This cartoon is a last minute substitution.

Now that we've all been slightly re-energised by the unexpected good sense of the American people, this cartoon may seem inappropriate, but the problems haven't changed one iota, and inertia, capitalism and human nature remain the forces they ever were. But on we go, regardless of how hard the wind blows. (thanks to Marc Hudson again)

The inappropriateness may also be down to the fact that I've been offered a ticket to watch Manchester City vs FC Twente (cheers, Simon) so I'm off out in a bit. This means that today's unfinished topical cartoon will become tomorrow's (still) topical cartoon. It's funny. It contains bodily functions. You'll like it.

Appointing a new, dynamic, sane and competent captain for the Titanic seconds before impact is no cause for relaxation.

Link
Link

Back to Basics

The myopic and the greedy take centre stage in the struggle to secure a livable future

Petro dollars put to good use

And, as Jarvis would say - C*nts are still ruling the world

Infinity, and beyond....

This is quite an early Frank, - reposted here as an old favourite in a colourised version. The ones below are also reposts, on a similar theme collected in response to Andrew Revkin's post on Herman Daly on the most excellent DotEarth at the NYT. With thanks