...As Stupid Does.

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As political and business leaders assemble in London to talk turkey on the trillions it's going to cost, James Lovelock comes over excessively congruent on our prospects .

The Nature of Authority

How Scientists Think

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.

On The Rebound

Researchers suggest that our self indulgence might cancel out our cleverness, as we consume more of what we save in a "rebound effect".
Which is, apparently, a variant of the Jevons parradox (thanks to Marc Hudson)
What price water and food when there's no water and food.

Elsewhere, Russia reserves the right to wage its own wars for oil; the planet becomes increasingly unbalanced; marine wildernesses go the way of all fish.

Some fine urban pollution materials here, at Urban Emissions.info

I haven't been through this, but it looks very interesting - Recalibrating the Law of Humans with the
Laws of Nature: Climate Change, Human Rights, and Intergenerational Justice.

Con-Fusion?

Whilst the usual oodles and squillions change hands across the boardroom tables, the actual hardware upon which we are apparently doomed to depend turns out to be a bit shit.

It seems we only stop shitting in the kitchen when we're constipated

The part of the brain that finds cars irresistible seems to be missing in my case, so I'm probably embarrassingly late with this. The Honda hybrid is called the Insight. Oh how we laughed.

Elephants in da house

I didn't have room for the elephant.

We're going through the housekeeping like there's no tomorrow, borrowing ourselves into the middle of next week, whilst the tabloids bark nonsense. Oh well, what's the worst that can happen?

Some interesting background to the swine flu pandemic, from Craig Mackintosh

From each according to their ability?

The wealthy in the UK are throwing all manner of hissy fits at the very idea of paying their fair share to help pull our collective fat out of the fire. They are once again threatening to leave the country in droves unless we all pucker up. Perhaps a concerted drive is needed to finally establish a clear distinction between the concepts of 'earn', 'receive' and 'deserve'. These people are deeply confused.



From each according to their ability. To each according to their need.

As the emissions of rich nations continue to rise, the push for carbon capture picks up steam in a last ditch attempt to create tools to save the likes of orchards, fish and humans from the consequences of habitual greed.

The spying game continues...

When Fixes Need Fixing?

Grist provides these two links to reports of pending agricultural collapse in the Punjab due to (profit driven?) over-exploitation of resources.

The Huffington Post posts this , by Lise van Susteran, on Moral Obligation

Fred Pearce on consuming vs population. Did I post this already?)

I just saw this - Ian Tomlinson's death at the G20 demonstrations now being treated as possible manslaughter

The most terrifying video you will ever see?

Any Questions?

Nuclear sites are posited and arguments are made and consumption of electricity continues to expand, replacing one problem with another

Carbon trading and carbon offsets turn out to be less than the panaceas they were sold as. I for one am deeply shocked.

Two takes on coral evidence of rapid sea level rise

When you can't trust Auntie, you have to look further afield

Three Times Denied?

This weekend many of you will be celebrating the annual festival of Easter - when we commemorate the point at which our nation traditionally goes into ecological debt - consuming beyond our means and damning us and the rest of the planet to a joyful future of instability, expensively shagged soils and dry taps. We celebrate this with over-packaged chocolate eggs to demonstrate that we are blessed with the requisite amount of kiddy-friendly blind faith, and that we really couldn't give a toss.

The prognosis is poor, and we don't have time to "rinky-dink" with half-arsed, poorly financed quarter-measures.

Some folk would have us believe that what we need is to wait for the same people who got us into this mess - respectable, wealthy folks in nice suits - to come up with a new visionary realism that supersedes the green agenda and saves us at the last minute without upsetting anybody. And if they fail? Well, after 3 days we shall rise again....

We are steeped in messianic, exceptionalist thinking.

But on a brighter note - check out Kate Evans' new revamped website for a host of comic goodies.

Choice and Prosperity

It's a conundrum, isn't it? Development and climate change. Such a dilemma -convoluted and labyrinthine, loaded and provocative. Whilst India pushes for escape from endemic poverty by pursuing a Nano for everyone, its' islands start to disappear, as do its' neighbours. The result of success will be failure. Hmm. Tricky. Plenty of arguments to be had there. Good job we're all totally focused on it and not distracted by beer and football.

Elsewhere the Murray dries up, as do the Cedars of Lebanon. Bankruptcy beckons.

The poles are not so far apart after all.

When even the CBI say we're not doing enough, we know we're in trouble.

More nails in Satire's coffin

Truth is far stranger and dumber than fiction.

Noel Lynch brought the Tesco idiocy to my attention thus;

"Today's Guardian has a half page advert for TESCO. It is headed 'Turn lights into flights'. It shows a low energy light bulb and says that if you buy it you can get a clubcard voucher that you can turn into 60 Airmiles. So that's save a small amount of energy by buying a low energy light bulb and then consume a large amount of energy by flying an extra 60 miles. Doh!"

Quite so.

The Earth Hour folk drop a bollock with Alanis -really quite breath-takingly numb of them.

The Masters of the Universe would rather not be regulated, thankyouverymuch

We're probably all fucked now.

OPEC denies any part in Climate Change


An excellent cartoon from Martin Rowson in the Grauniad

Not a good week, on the whole. A lot of Obama-fueled Gordon Brown-nosing, coupled with a handful of pseudo-anarchist wankers playing to a phallanx of pseudo-journalistic cameras made for a poor display. Too much kettling and containment and predictably OTT PCs. A couple of non-committal half-statements at the end of an economists communique may quickly fade away.

Here's an excellent lecture by Dieter Helm. Succinct and informed and inarguably respectable.
(thanks to Marc Hudson)

Ernestly Frank

Today's cartoon is humbly submitted in the interests of extending reasoned debate amongst the battened down boutiques and containment pens of old London town....


Meanwhile, a rainbow alliance of corporations seek to derail any climate progress

Can the Can

The G20 and space-toilets

I can't imagine why this didn't end up extremely graphic and somewhat disturbing.

Following Orders

More than 7 million quids worth of police will be ensuring that protestors don't contaminate the G20 summit with any new ideas, thus making the world safe for inadequate investment, climate chaos, dehydration and myopia, with some open-ended blank cheques thrown in.

So, all in all, a nice little inheritance for the kids. But Nil Deperandum. The revolution starts at home.

Baby, you're a rich man too.

Opportunities abound for those who dare, as China asks he who calls the tune to pay the piper, and we are all cordially invited to Cap the rich

Elsewhere, both Shell and the UK government go into bat for the opposition

Equal Rights and Stern Warnings

Stern warnings followed by stern warnings, as drought pushes up grain futures

At least the handle is one of us.

The
steady
drum-beat
of
increasingly
bad
news

with a syncopated back-beat

The title of course refers to the old joke; An axe wielding lumberjack sets about hacking down a forest. One tree turns to another and says... "At least the handle's one of us!"
Cold comfort

Conditionality

The expected punch lime was unfortunately a victim of structural adjustment.

This was sparked off by watching this video (which I must admit I abandoned half way when the flying saucers appeared) and reading this interview with Uncle Noam.

Char wallahs

BioChar seems set to be a nice little earner for those unable to fill their boots with biodiesel. But before everybody runs away with the idea that this is some sort of tried and tested technology, lets have a little look at the downside, shall we. (with thanks to Almuth Ernsting and Rachel Smolker)
Especially in light of the unsettling ups and downs of the palnet's forests, the state of the larder and the urgency of the task

This is something of first for Throbgoblins International:
Of all the links we have included over the past year we have never had occasion to link to that great British arse wiper, the Sun. But there's always a first time, and their splash coverage of "The Age of Stupid" can be seen here.

Much ado about nothing

Things get worse and get worse quicker, and the media fudge and the businessmen run for cover.

Lots
of
bad
news
today

...so I'm posting a curate's egg of a cartoon, putting my feet up and watching some crap TV