We be baaaaad

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Last updated on March 6th, 2018 at 12:30 am

Greens senator Bob Brown has flown his hemp-hulled solar jet to Kyoto so he can celebrate Super Important Planet-Saving Protocol Day:

“Everyone here in Japan knows that the Australian government is an environmental bad boy,” he said.

Everyone? Bob presumably doesn’t include the business leaders who refused to meet Mister Monotone during his sushi holiday. Oh, and in a BBC comments thread on Kyoto, Oxford’s Terrance Webster observes:

If America do not respect the planet how can they respect man kind?

Poor guy can’t write English. Is there a school of some kind in the Oxford area? Even a university, maybe? Perhaps a reader with local knowledge can help Terrance out. God knows, there’s no helping Kim Beazley:

The Labor leader, Kim Beazley, has ranked global warming next to nuclear proliferation and militant fundamentalism as a major threat to the world’s security.

That’s the sort of thing a determined-never-to-be-elected-idiot says. Speaking of Beazley—who oftentimes proves himself not to be an idiot, making his global warming comments all the more puzzling—junkscience.com presents an online measuring device:

JunkScience.com is announcing real-time counters that display the costs of the treaty and the changes in temperature allegedly due to its greenhouse gas emission caps.

Now you can check on the treaty’s “progress” everytime you visit JunkScience.com.

Posted by Tim B. on 02/16/2005 at 11:23 AM
    1. “For the bargain price of just $100 trillion we could theoretically lower global mean temperature by about 1 °C.”

      Let’s not bother and see what happens.

      Posted by rexie on 02/16 at 12:17 PM • permalink

 

    1. I think Bush should propose a giant orbital space cloud that could blot out the sun using the money saved by not implementing Kyoto.

      This would
      A) have amusing headlines “Bush to blot out Sun”
      B) Annoy all the right people.

      Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Gowan, Go on!

      Posted by Rob Read on 02/16 at 01:02 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Everyone here in Japan knows that the Australian government is an environmental bad boy,�?

      As a skip in Japan who speaks with Japanese people every day, I would say that most Japanese people I meet are either not aware of this Kyooto nonsense or largely indifferent. Also, the most common impressions of Australia are:

      a) Santa on a surfboard in a blue truckie singlet
      b) Roo steak
      c) Ian Thorpe

      None of this “environmental badboy�? garbage. I like to mess with them and tell them we eat koalas too.

      Posted by Drunk Fade on 02/16 at 01:05 PM • permalink

 

    1. Wait! Wait! We’ve totally forgotten about over population… that was supposed to be killing us off right about now – that’s what they told me back in 1968!  Do you mean they might have been lying to me??? No… say it ain’t so….

      Posted by Teresa on 02/16 at 01:40 PM • permalink

 

    1. Theresa,

      The Population Bomb was a dud, wasn’t it?

      The best way to provoke an apoplectic fit in Kyotobots is to ask them to explain why the Protocol exempts China, the second largest “polluter” and which by most estimates will be THE worst by 2030.

      Posted by Spiny Norman on 02/16 at 02:01 PM • permalink

 

    1. Hey Drunk Fade,

      Does Kyoto mean “God, I’m stupid and so are you” in Japanese?

      Posted by Gary from Jersey on 02/16 at 03:27 PM • permalink

 

    1. As someone who went to Cambridge, I am not at all surprised about Mr Webster’s grasp of the English language (and reality for that matter too). Oxford is for inbred jackasses.

      Posted by brucey bonus on 02/16 at 03:31 PM • permalink

 

    1. Brucey, maybe the place went to seed once CS Lewis died.

      Rob Read – the Montgomery Burns strategy.  Me likey.  It probably wouldn’t be too hard to launch a series of satellites in close formation and then have a shuttle fly from one to the other, stringing up sections of a huge tarp.  Or better yet, sections of stained glass, so all the Red Staters could behold the smiling face of Jay-zuss 24/7.  I think there would be atomic wedgies in every major newsroom and college faculty lounge in North America.

      Posted by Nightfly on 02/16 at 03:40 PM • permalink

 

    1. From Cato;

      Bert Bolin, the former chairman of the United Nations’ body of experts on global warming, says that the present plan would, if fully implemented, cut warming a quarter century from now “by less than 0.1 degree C, which would not be detectable.”

      Posted by rog2 on 02/16 at 03:42 PM • permalink

 

  • I’m curious about that last paragraph in the article, “… did not reflect the overwhelming public support for the treaty.”

    Is that true?  Does anyone know of any CREDIBLE survey or numbers to substantiate his statement?  Is there actually overwhelming public support for the treaty?

    Posted by JustaGoober on 02/16 at 03:46 PM • permalink

 

  • This American do to respect mankind.

    I know this might fly right by your average ELF member but when the US Senate, the political body which has to ratify treaties, votes against a treaty 95-0 that is pretty overwhelming. It might be the 4.5 million jobs that will be lost and it might be that there are no restraints on China and India and it might be that most Americans think this is a lot of hooey. [or a combination thereof.] I wonder if the signatories will actually meet the standards? So far most of them have been going the other way.

    I hear that the US actually has cleaner air than most European countries because they have simply traded one pollution for another. For example thanks to California environmental laws the restrictions on diesel engines in this country are much stricter.

    Posted by terryelee on 02/16 at 04:29 PM • permalink

 

  • If the eco-doom mongers believe what they say about the world getting warmer, then why doesn’t Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth or some other nutjob group put their money where their mouth is and start buying land in the Canadian and Greenland tundra region which will surely be worth a fortune once the ice melts.

    Posted by Ross on 02/16 at 04:47 PM • permalink

 

  • “Everyone here in Japan knows that the Australian government is an environmental bad boy,�? he said.”

    Everyone?

    God, don’t you just hate it when national leaders (including a certain failed former US president) trash their own countries overseas? No class.

    Posted by Butch on 02/16 at 05:35 PM • permalink

 

  • Yeah, Butch, everyone.  Mr. Brown interviewed ALL of them.  (Except for Puffy Amiyumi, who were on tour; but they’re rockstars, so you know…)

    Posted by Nightfly on 02/16 at 06:14 PM • permalink

 

  • Ross

    That’s what I always say to ignorant circle wankers who claim the world is running out of resource X.  If they’re so bloody sure why don’t they go out and buy futures in that resource?

    Posted by murph on 02/16 at 06:29 PM • permalink

 

  • I just read that Japan has 53 nuclear power stations and intends to build 16 more.  What a crazy-brave guy or Bob Brown must be to set foot on that contaminated soil!

    Posted by Barrie on 02/16 at 07:34 PM • permalink

 

  • It would be interesting to know who is footing the bill for Bob’s junket to Kyoto.
    I wonder, did he travel economy class; is he travelling alone or with an entourage; and where is he staying? Anyone willing to bet that it’s not at a 5 star hotel?
    Moreover, was his trip really necessary? Why would the presence of an obscure political activist be required?

    Posted by Boss Hog on 02/16 at 08:03 PM • permalink

 

  • I’m waiting for Bob Brown’s comments on news that traditional owners of Kakadu, in their ancient tribal wisdom, have agreed to talks with a French nuke firm about opening a second uranium mine in the area.

    Posted by cuckoo on 02/16 at 08:07 PM • permalink

 

  • Hey Theresa

    Remember Famine 1975! The world was going to run out of food by 1975, with massive famines in India and China.

    Then there was Paul Erhlich and the population bomb.

    A corollary theory was that humans were not unique and would eventually wipe themselves out and be replaced by another species as the masters of the world – cockroaches perhaps? This theory neatly cobbled together an armageddon of nuclear war, overpopulation, famine and global warming – something for everyone.

    We’ve heard it all.

    Posted by mr magoo on 02/16 at 08:38 PM • permalink

 

  • Everyone here in Japan knows the Australian government is an environmental bad boy

    Seeing as the designated ‘bad boy’ in a boy band is the only one who has a hope in hell of having a solo career, perhaps it’s best to be a ‘bad boy’ if we are to be going it alone on this, only without the gay vibe.

    If America do not respect the planet how can they respect man kind

    Was Margo Kingston educated at Oxford?

    We can easily stop the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, all we have to do is distribute a few million copies of the Kyoto Protocols of the Elders of Zion to some angry looking Saudi imams and relativist European girly men will drop the whole thing right away.

    Posted by lmbrjk on 02/16 at 08:51 PM • permalink

 

  • One of Johjn Ray’s readers has noted that humanity itself, by the process of breathing, creates alot of CO2.

    This gives new meaning to the term “hot air”.

    Posted by Louis on 02/16 at 09:04 PM • permalink

 

  • No, Mr Magoo, it was overpopulation, famine and global cooling.

    Posted by slatts on 02/16 at 09:17 PM • permalink

 

  • slatts, you’re right. But probably only cockroaches could survive both global cooling and warming, as well as nuclear holocaust and famine and the population explosion.

    Posted by mr magoo on 02/16 at 10:25 PM • permalink

 

  • Well, population explosion has taken on a whole new meaning since the second intifada…

    Posted by PW on 02/16 at 11:13 PM • permalink

 

  • I suggest that Bob Brownout should go to China nd lecture them on the evils of modernisation.
    With a bit of luck, they will shoot him and send the bill for the bullet to his party.

    Posted by blogstrop on 02/17 at 06:55 AM • permalink

 

  • Please!  Don’t call it C02, call it airborne plant-food.

    Extending Nightflys’ idea for my orbital sun shield idea with a matrix of coloured orbital panels, we could ensure France remains in permanent darkness, or we could make it pay for itself by having huge advertising screens on it, or both!

    “Bush linked companies to profit from blocking out sun!”

    Why isn’t NASA doing this?

    Posted by Rob Read on 02/17 at 07:26 AM • permalink

 

  • Boss Hog, what purpose did Howard and Crean’s recent overseas gallivanting serve? They were pretending to be interested in Southeast Asia. Brown may be on a government-funded flight, too, but his reason for being in Kyoto is less about political opportunism and more in line with the views he has advanced for several decades. Let’s not reserve our scorn for one bloke when they are all as bad as him, if not worse.

    Posted by nwab on 02/17 at 07:31 AM • permalink

 

  • I’m guessing (from a distance of several thousand miles and a full day behind) that your PM has a little more pull abroad than Mr. Brown.  The article does mention that many business leaders didn’t even bother to meet with the man.

    Part of Howard’s job is to lead his country and be its public face abroad.  What part of the Senator’s job description includes “go abroad and slag one’s own country”?

    Posted by Nightfly on 02/17 at 02:46 PM • permalink

 

  • nwab, no one in Australian federal politics is as bad as Brown.

    Posted by slatts on 02/17 at 11:00 PM • permalink