Climate change is a problem. But our attempts to fix it could be worse than useless - Telegraph: "The UN Climate Panel came out with its final report yesterday. It is a summary of its 3 main reports, published over the last year. It tells us that global warming is real and a significant problem. And as usual, the media hears something else – in the words of Mother Jones magazine, how future warming will be “ghastly, horrid, awful, shocking, grisly, gruesome.” In between the alarmist hype and the reality of climate change we once again risk losing an opportunity to think smartly about energy and find a realistic way to fix global warming.
We need to realise that the world will not come off fossil fuels for many decades. Globally, we get a minuscule 0.3pc of our energy from solar and wind. According to the International Energy Agency, even with a wildly optimistic scenario, we will get just 3.5pc of our energy from solar and wind in 2035, while paying almost $100 billion in annual subsidies. Today, the world gets 82pc of its energy from fossil fuels, in 21 years it will still be more than 79pc. The simple reason is that cheap and abundant energy is what powers economic growth...
As the poor half of our world is reaching for a similar development to that of China, they will also want much, much more power, most of it powered by coal. Even the climate-worried World Bank president accepts that "there’s never been a country that has developed with intermittent power." Realising that fossil fuels will be here for a long time means stronger focus on moving from coal to gas, since gas emits about half the greenhouse gasses. The US shale gas revolution has reduced gas prices and lead to a significant switch from coal to gas. This has reduced US CO₂ emissions to their lowest in 20 years...
While global warming will be a problem, much of the rhetoric is wildly exaggerated – like when UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon calls it “an existential challenge for the whole human race.”
Global warming pales when compared to many other global problems. While the WHO estimates 250,000 annual deaths from global warming in 30 years, 4.3 million die right now each year from indoor air pollution, 800 million are starving, and 2.5 billion live in poverty and lack clean water and sanitation. When the UN asked 5 million people for their top priorities the answers were better education and health care, less corruption, more jobs and affordable food. They placed global warming at the very last spot, as priority number 17.
Climate policies can easily cost much more than the global warming damage will – while helping very little. The German solar adventure, which has cost taxpayers more than $130 billion, will at the end of the century just postpone global warming by a trivial 37 hours. While a low carbon tax in theory could help a little, the political reality is that climate policies almost everywhere have been ineffective, done little good while sustaining the most wasteful technologies. The IPCC warns than less-than-perfect climate policies can be 2-4 times more expensive. Biofuels, for instance, have driven up food costs, likely causing an extra 30 million starving, with prospects of starving another 100 million by 2020. And it is likely that biofuels cause net increase in CO₂ emissions, because they force agriculture to cut down forests elsewhere to grow food. This is why we have to be careful in pushing for the right policies. For twenty years, the refrain has been promises to cut CO₂, like the Kyoto Protocol. For twenty years these policies have failed. We should instead look to climate economics to find smarter solutions."
"Art Historian."
"The public sucks. Fuck hope. That's a nice campaign slogan... I don't vote... it's meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago."
"I on the other hand, who did not vote, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created that I have nothing to do with."
Corn flakes were invented to keep you from masturbating. True Story. #knowyourhistory
Sleep: You're Doing It Wrong - Lift Big Eat Big: "I know this isn’t easy for everyone, but going to bed at the same time every night makes a huge difference in the quality of your sleep. Our bodies like to be in a rhythm, and when the time you go to sleep is all over the place, you will have trouble falling asleep, which is another reason why people get poor quality of sleep. Make it a priority at least during the week to go bed at the exact same time every night...
In your bedroom make sure there is absolutely no light coming in at all. I make my bedroom into a cave with my entire window blocked off. Our bodies are very light sensitive, so just a little light shining through can disrupt you...
Make sure there are no noises that can disrupt you. Sometimes this is out of your control, so it’s a good idea to have some white noise to cloud other sounds out. A loud fan will generally work well here...
Having a routine before you go to bed can be a great help in falling asleep faster. Watching movies, television late at night can be very stimulating that can keep your mind racing for a few hours after. Also doing stressful work before bed can do the same. Our bodies also like to sleep in a cooler temperature, around 66-72 degrees is ideal. For myself nothing is worse than not being able to sleep because you are too hot.
This is an obvious one but of course, avoid caffeine and other stimulants later in the day. If you train later in the day then I would recommend taking a smaller dose to start to see how your body reacts. Start applying these habits and you will feel more energized and motivated to train harder and longer."
No comments:
Post a Comment